Not to be confused with Gilligan’s S.S. Minnow, Mennonites were the original supporters of Menno Simons, a Catholic priest (with two first names). He lived in the Netherlands in the 1500’s, and was de-frocked for questioning church practices. I am just glad we are not Simon-nites.

While the early Mennonites were ethnically identified as Dutch and German, people of other ethnicities have since then embraced the values of this Christian movement known for non-violence and non-retaliation.

The early Mennonites fled religious persecution to Germany and then from there and settled in Russian. During a period of spiritual revival in the 1800’s, a group of Ukrainian Christians called the “Brethrens” joined the Mennonites and they began the Mennonite Brethren Church. Many of these Mennonite Brethrens fled Russia in 1872 to avoid participation in a war, and settled in North America.

Today, there are over 240 Mennonite Brethren Churches in Canada, representing 20 nationalities and languages.