Explore Real Stories of Mennonite Life

What’s it like to be a Mennonite? What do Mennonites care about and what are they up to? Does being Mennonite matter?

Here’s where you find stories of everyday Mennonite life, from history or from today. See how Mennonites learn, grow, and impact the world. Or how we have fun, live out our faith, or express ourselves. Is there a topic you’d like to see a story on? Give us a call and let us know: 717-393-9745.

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Introducing Mennonite Life

It’s an exciting time to be a Mennonite history organization. Interpreting the past, and making stories available for today’s conversations, builds a better world for everyone. A name change to Mennonite Life is one way we welcome new communities and generations into the Mennonite history movement. Communication Changes As we daily meet the public and engage with Mennonites and others, there’s often a misperception that "Society" means a closed group of insiders. To the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society...

Welcome, Refugees

For Mennonites in Lancaster, loving your neighbor means welcoming new neighbors who recently immigrated. It’s just what we do. Every Lancaster congregation I’ve been a part of has proactively welcomed and helped immigrants resettle in Lancaster.I remember the day in our high school Sunday school class when we met the two high-school-age daughters of the Ukrainian refugee family who had recently moved to the U.S. It was the late 1980s, and they had just moved into a ranch house the church-owned adjacent to the meetinghouse in East...

Mennonite Artists

Beyond folk arts, Mennonites contribute significantly to visual, language, and musical arts. Learn about Mennonite artists Warren Rohrer and Jane Rohrer, whose work was recently featured in a Penn State University's Palmer Museum of Art exhibition "Field Language." Learn More Warren Rohrer, Field: Language 8, 1991, oil on linen, 54 x 54 inches. Collection of Paul W. and Judy S. Ware Warren Rohrer, Field: Language 3, 1990, oil on linen, 60 x 60 inches. Courtesy of Locks GalleryWarren Rohrer, Barley, 1972, oil on...

A Caring Revolution

Civilian Public Service (CPS) workers lived in camp settings and labored in assignments considered “matters of national importance” by the U.S. government. Some volunteered as human subjects for medical testing, some worked in the Forest Service fighting forest fires, some provided agricultural services such as milk testing for dairy farmers, and many workers served as staff in mental health institutions. Thousands of Mennonite men who were drafted during World War II chose to participate in the war department’s alternative...

Active Peacemaking

From violent debacle to active peacemaking . . . Anabaptism emerged in 16th century Europe under the same conditions that gave rise to the Peasants’ War, and many people showed sympathies for both. Charismatic Anabaptist evangelists and inspired spiritual leaders popped up in many different places. Some emphasized Scripture, or the outer word, as the key to following Christ while others insisted the inner word - listening to the voice of the Spirit - mattered most. Activity in Switzerland, in South Germany/Austria, and in North...