Menno Simons-Early Anabaptist Leader Biography

For the youth at Life Fellowship, here is the first of the promised biographies. Enjoy. (And I promise the next one will be shorter.)

Menno Simons was born in January of 1496 in Witmarsum in the Netherlands. He was educated in a nearby monastery where he learned Latin (as a priest this made it possible for him to read the service), a little Greek, and no Hebrew. In 1524 he became a priest and spent much time drinking, playing cards, and carousing, as did many priests of his day.

Not long after becoming a priest, Menno (why don’t we call him by his last name like all the other early leaders???) began to receive vibes through the grapevine from Protestant reforms who challenged Transubstantiation (the Catholic teaching that the communion bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ after it is blessed). This caused Menno also to have some doubts. He decided to investigate and do something he had never done before-read the Bible. Like most priests of his day, Menno was taught to believe that it was dangerous to study the Bible because the common reader could easily be led astray. They were taught that the Catholic church’s teachings were absolutely flawless, so there was no reason to read the Bible.

As Menno read, he found no evidence for Transubstantiation. He also discovered no basis for infant baptism. He continued reading the Bible along with the writings of the early church fathers and contemporary reformers. He began to consider himself an evangelical preacher although he remained in the Catholic church. In 1534, approximately nine years after Menno began reading Scripture, Jan Matthijs and his gang of sword-carrying “Anabaptists” attempted to bring about end times by setting up the “New Jerusalem” in the city of Munster. Taking their cues from the Munsterites, a group of three-hundred people tried a similar end times event near to Menno’s town. It is believed that his brother and several the members of his church were involved and were killed in the siege that followed.

Menno was appalled by what these people did, although he admired their courage. Inspired to stand for what he knew, he declared his new commitment to follow Christ and turned away from the teachings of the Catholic church. In 1536 he was baptized by one of the main leaders of the non-resistant Dutch Anabaptists, Obbe Philips. A year later he was asked to become an elder of the church. He accepted because he saw that many people needed teaching to lead them to truth and to avoid events like Munster.

Menno is attributed with bringing about the change in the way most northern Europeans thought about Anabaptists. The news of the Munsterites had spread to all parts of Europe and whether they knew the truth or not, officials used this example to discredit Anabaptists. Menno wrote diligently for years and as a result brought about a change in the way Anabaptists were viewed. They were no longer seen as crazed, polygamist, sword-wielding heretics; but as suffering, loving, martyrs. Menno also provided strong articulate teaching and leadership which helped to unify and stabilize north European Anabaptism. He was such an influential leader that those he lead began to call themselves Mennonites.

Just a year or two after his ordination as elder, Menno was a hunted man. For the next twenty-some years he and his family moved constantly, always being pursued by the authorities. At one point he mourned the fact that he and his family of young children could not even live in one place for half a year before having to flee. A huge reward was to be given to anyone who captured him, and anyone who was found aiding or talking to him, would be killed. Amazingly he managed to escape capture and died a natural death in 1561. He was buried in his garden.

Primary source: http://www.mennosimons.net/life.html

Additional reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menno_Simons

http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/mennosim.htm

http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/M4636ME.html