Seen any Mennonites?

By Twila Yoder Brunk

The story is told that a few years ago in Newport News someone was heard to say that there used to be a lot of Mennonites around, but none had been noticed lately. So what happened to the Mennonites?
While it’s true that some who wanted to continue farming moved out of the Denbigh community, many of us are still around. It’s just that you can’t tell so easily by looking. Oh, we still cling, and give at least lip service, to many of the values of our forefathers. We believe in a simple life style, thrift, hard work, a walk that matches the talk, care of the environment, peace, solid family life, and deference to the group of believers with which we worship. As far as theology, we say the Apostles Creed along with our brothers and sisters in many other denominations.
The difference that has come with the passing of time has been a shift of emphasis and expression. Mennonites come in more stripes than an awning. The local communities in Tidewater belong to Mennonite Church, USA. This group has 109,000 members across the US in 939 congregations in 44 states. Though our more conservative relatives remind us that the Bible hasn’t changed, we have tried to relate to the time in which we live and find fresh and relevant ways to live out the truths we find in the Bible.
We trace our beginnings to 1525 in northern Europe when the Anabaptists (rebaptizers) broke with the church and government system that forced people into a particular religion. “True faith,” they said, “is voluntary.” Martyrs Mirror is a treasured book on many Mennonite and Amish bookshelves. In our day, reconciliation meetings have taken place between the persecutors and the persecuted. Because of the scattering that came with the persecution and hardship, and because of later mission efforts, Mennonites are now found around the world.
The Williamsburg Mennonite Church on the corner of Croaker Rd. and Maxton Lane had its beginnings in 1976. Several families with young children wanted to escape the urbanization taking place in the Mennonite Colony in Newport News. The 3-acre lots in Elmwood were just what they were looking for. These families were the charter group for the present church. In earlier years, several farming families in the Norge area had met for worship in what was then the Parish Hall of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, the building that now serves the present Mennonite congregation. When those families moved away, meetings were discontinued. One family that stayed throughout the transition was the Joe and Mary Wenger family.
I find it interesting that the history of the Mennonite Colony in Newport News parallels the beginnings of the Norge community. Lured by the special excursion rates offered by the C & O Railroad in 1897, several Mennonite land-seekers from northern states visited southeastern Virginia. They looked at “Kings Mill Colony” and Green Spring, but they decided those were too far from markets. Two of the group, preachers Hertzler and Yoder, made plans to visit a tract of land they had heard about in Newport News. Traveling by train, foot and boat they arrived at a sand bar in the Warwick River. Doc Young, the owner of Denbigh Plantation, had some hot coals prepared. He treated those two “Yankees” to an oyster roast before showing them the land. They bought the 1,200 acres of worn-out land for $10 an acre. The Colony grew as more families moved onto the land.
So, yes, we are here. We want to know our community and we want our community to know us. Anyone is welcome to visit any time our doors are open. We are planning a special event, a Fall Festival, on September 13. We hope in this way to meet many of our neighbors. To learn more about Mennonites visit www.MennoniteUSA.org