No Strings Attached

Boundary Lines in Pleasant Places: A History of Warren Street / Pleasant Oaks Mennonite Church

Rachel Nafziger Hartzler

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781620321799
  9781498263863
• eBook ISBN:
  9781621896357
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

No Strings Attached is the story of a Mennonite congregation in Indiana that existed for eighty-six years. The congregation began during the social and religious turmoil of the 1920s when some Mennonites in North America held to rigid doctrines and ethics implemented by central authority, and others operated with a congregational polity and became more assimilated into secular culture. The struggle between these two different understandings of faithfulness was most passionately played out in northern Indiana. Placing the narrative of this congregation within the context of 500 years of Mennonite history illustrates the grace and the tension that has both beset and empowered a unique group of people who began as radical reformers. Although "no strings attached" refers to the women's headwear during the 1920s, which had no strings, it could also be the story of the pastor eating lunch on the peak of the steep roof of the church building! Reflecting on stories of these Mennonite people is an invitation to move into the future with courageous hope. Believing and behaving differently has not prevented Middlebury Mennonites from treating each other respectfully, living in a community of love, joy, and peace, and offering God's healing and hope to each other and to the world.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part 1: A Summary of Growth and Schisms among Mennonites
• Chapter 1: Early Anabaptist Life and History
• Chapter 2: Practices, Growth, Schisms, and Unions in Mennonite Groups
• Chapter 3: Early Mennonite Institutions
• Chapter 4: The “First” Mennonite Congregation in Middlebury
• Part 2: History of Warren Street and Pleasant Oaks Mennonite Church
• Chapter 5: God’s Faithfulness to All Generations, 1923 to 1984
• Chapter 6: A Congregation Thriving through Growth and Decline, 1984 to 2006
• Chapter 7: Music, Mission, and Mennonite Youth
• Chapter 8: Lament and Celebration, 2006 to 2008
• Chapter 9: Reconciliation and Re-union, 2009
• Part 3: Imagining the Future of the Mennonite Church
• Chapter 10: Reflections Regarding Strings and Boundaries
• Appendix A: The Emergence of Anabaptism
• Appendix B: Dordrecht Confession of Faith
• Appendix C: Statement of Doctrine
• Appendix D: Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, 1995 Summary Statements
• Appendix E: Discipline in the Church
• Appendix F: Peace, Justice, and Nonresistance
• Appendix G: Joseph Stuckey
• Appendix H: Pastors
• Appendix I: Church Members
• Appendix J: Warren Street Mennonite Church
• Appendix K: Baptisms at Pleasant Oaks Mennonite Church
• Appendix L: Funerals and Memorial Services of Pleasant Oaks Members
• Appendix M: Memorial Gifts at Warren Streetand Pleasant Oaks
• Appendix N: Communication Protocol Document
• Appendix O: Sample Letter Sent on church letterhead in early November 2009
• Appendix P: Ending, Thanksgiving, and Blessing
• Appendix Q: Books on Homosexuality by Mennonite Writers
• Appendix R: An invitation to the congregations of Central District Conference
• Appendix S: WSMC and POMC Membership and Attendance Records and Summaries
• Bibliography