Amsterdam, the Netherlands – “A contribution to the public debate” – that’s what Fernando Enns, professor of Mennonite Peace Theology and Ethics calls euMENNet. This multimedia project aims to reveal the influence of five centuries of Mennonite migration, and to sharpen the Mennonite identity in Europe for the future.

For centuries the Anabaptists moved away, lingered, and moved on. The Anabaptist diaspora led the Mennonites throughout Europe, to countries like Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and others. Time and again there were reasons to stay and reasons to move on: oppression, economic malaise, economic prosperity, freedom of religion. To get to know our religious fellows, spread out all over Europe, the international multimedia project euMENNet has been conceived. This should be ready for use in the summer of 2014.

What connects this group of European Mennonites? And how much do they differ from one another? What is their story? What has been their influence on European history and societies? What can we learn from their stories? These questions will be answered by Mennonites throughout Europe, by videos, texts and data.

Fernando Enns, professor of Mennonite Peace Theology and Ethics at the Mennonite Seminary, is – together with others – in charge of the content element of the project. I met him at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, at the Faculty of Theology. All offices and workspaces have big glass walls, which gives this department a feeling of transparency. “Nobody here has a fixed workstation; they're all flexwork stations,” Enns says. “That's why it's been built so transparent. Only we Mennonites have been given our own room, which is actually quite nice.”

This is in remarkable contrast with the story behind euMENNet: the Mennonites, who in Europe and worldwide always had to search for new places. At the VU the opposite has happened. Here they are the only ones to have a fixed place.

Identity

“EuMENNet will help us, European Mennonites, to get to know each other. Every six years we get together at the MERK (European Mennonite Conference). We worship together, have a good time together, and at the end we say goodbye and that's it. Especially after the last MERK, I had the feeling that we will have to put more thought into creating a Mennonite identity in Europe, and I wasn’t the only one.” Enns thinks of euMENNet as one tool to do this. “It's necessary to establish something which will shape the Mennonite identity in Europe.”

The project tries to develop this identity through the stories of the Mennonites themselves. “It's not like scholars and church boards develop an identity and then tell the congregation what it is. We want to tell the stories from a bottom up approach with different facets from different regions. We're not only looking for the history of Mennonites from various areas in Europe, but also for the goals they have and the challenges they are facing right now.”

Europe

This multimedia project is about Mennonites, by Mennonites, and is very interesting and valuable for Mennonites, but, according to Enns, is also of importance to other Europeans. “The story of the Mennonites has a lot to do with the story of Europe. In the areas where they were allowed to settle the Mennonites have always contributed to language development, economy, culture, politics and theology. They also contributed to technological progress, for instance in the field of agriculture.”

As an example of the latter, Enns mentions Ukraine and the Netherlands. “In the Ukraine the Mennonites, as 'foreigners' set up farming-equipment factories, and in the Netherlands it was the Mennonite Cornelis Lely who conceived of and designed the Afsluitdijk (the enclosing dyck).”

Mennonites also had their role in the political history of Europe. “In the times of the Reformation Anabaptists/Mennonites asked for the freedom to choose for (adult) baptism. They asked for freedom of speech. They asked for freedom from conscription. All these freedoms which the often oppressed Mennonites fought for as a minority back then, are now seen as universal human rights. Mennonites of course weren't the only minority to ask for those freedoms.”

Enns feels that we can learn from all these contributions to history. “The citizens of Europe are incredibly varied. Nowadays everybody talks about the importance of religious freedom and tolerance. But in the meantime it is getting more and more difficult to actually deal with these concepts; we are facing the limits of freedom as well. How can we preserve diversity, without losing unity? As a minority which carries a lot of diversity within itself, yet always strives to preserve its unity, Mennonites can contribute to this debate.”

Public Debate

Enns does realise that the contribution to the public debate is only one thing. “Of course other religions and minorities have their stories, and they too can significantly contribute to this debate. But it is important that a Mennonite voice is heard, since many people don't know the Mennonites. If we don't tell our story, it might be lost.”

“Most churches have offices in Brussels and have regular contact with European politicians, but Mennonites don't.” Enns feels that, compared to other churches, the Mennonites don't let themselves be heard enough in the European public debate. “We must organize ourselves in a European context, and let our voice be heard. Mennonites hesitate to do this, but we do live in a democracy, and we do have the duty to join in shaping the future of our European societies.”

EuMENNet is not enough to shape this contribution to the European democracy, of course. But according to Enns it is a part of what needs to be done to come forward as Mennonites on this continent. “It is a way to determine our identity and show it to others. Other ways to do this would be appointing a European Mennonite Coordinator, or organising European meetings between Mennonites. Diversity within the European Mennonites will continue to exist. But we can try to answer the following questions: What is it that makes us call ourselves Mennonites? And how will we profile ourselves to the world around us?”

EuMENNet

As an initiative of Kees Knijnenberg (International Menno Simons Center) and Antoinette Hazevoet, five centuries of Mennonite Europe are being assembled with the help of euMENNet. Through a website which will be ready for use in 2014, a migration tour and other activities, stories of Mennonites throughout Europe will be told. EuMENNet is an international project to which various Mennonites in Europe are contributing.

Fernando Enns

Fernando Enns (48) is professor of Mennonite Peace Theology and Ethics at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. He started the ecumenical programme Decade to Overcome Violence of the World Council of Churches (2001-2010). He was born in Brazil, studied in Germany and the US and is currently teaching in Hamburg (Institute for Peace Church Theology) and Amsterdam.

Article by Jan Willem Stenvers, one of the editors of Doopsgezind NL, a publication of the Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit (ADS; General Mennonite Association) in the Netherlands.