Trying to trace the origin and history of the Mennonite faith by ethnic or genealogical lines leads to confusion and error, much like those who trace the lineage of their church through a continuous line of ordination from the days of the apostles. One might be able to establish a historical connection from person to person, but sooner or later one will lose the faith connection.

In the second century, the anonymous author of the Epistle to Diognetus wrote: “For Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life. . . Yet, although they live in Greek and barbarian cities alike, as each man’s lot has been cast, and follow the customs of the country in clothing and food and other matters of daily living, at the same time they give proof of the remarkable and admittedly extraordinary constitution of their own commonwealth.”

In the 17th century, T. J. van Braght, the compiler of the Martyrs Mirror ,wrote that the lineage of the authentic Christian and evangelical faith can only be proved by the succession of persons holding to the doctrine of the Word of God. The essential proof of living that doctrine was that only believing persons could be baptized.

In the 20th century, Paul M. Lederach wrote A Third Way, a book defining how Anabaptists followed a way that was clearly different from the Catholic and Protestant ways. He makes the point that baptism plays a more central role among Anabaptists-Mennonites than it does among Roman Catholics or Protestants. “Baptism is administered to a believer, not on the basis of what he knows, but as the Scriptures and the historic Mennonite faith indicate, on the evidece of the new life.” “Baptism is the tool for gathering a redeemed society, a society of pilgrims, separated from th evils of the unregenerated world.” “At baptism one breaks with the past and commits oneself to Jesus Christ and to His people.”

Lederacn then adds: “But among the Anabaptists the testimony of the one baptized was not enough. The additional testimony of the congregation was needed. It was not enough for a person to come to the congregation and say, ‘I have received the Holy Spirit.’ The claim had to be authenticated by brothers and sisters, who could say, ‘Yes, we see the work of the Spirit in your life.’”

This insistence on the new birth and a life transformed by the Holy Spirit that was witnessed by members of the congregation has been the mark of the Apostolic-Anabaptist-Mennonite faith throughout history. It is impossible at times to track the person to person history of the faith, but we can trust that there has been such contact when we see this mark.

We can follow part of the history from the New Testament as the faith spread from Jerusalem into Asia Minor (now Turkey), Greece, Macedonia and Italy. In following years Christian teachers travelled thoughout the Roman Empire, using the road system built by Rome, and some went far beyond the Roman Empire.

Tracing the faith though subsequent years is difficult because of persecution, much of it by the Roman Catholic church which attempted to co-opt the name of Christian for their own exclusive use. A study of the remaining records reveals that there was a network of churches throughout Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa who held to the same faith and were in contact with each other. Roman Catholic historians have attempted to portray these as disparate groups, founded by some prominent personage in each area, and has accused them of all sorts of heinous beliefs and practices. The R.C. church attempted to destroy all evidence that would give a different picture, but enough has survived to give the lie to R.C. propaganda.

Tracing the historical connections between these groups is next to impossible, but historical facts allow us to draw some conclusions. One interesting fact is the the Celtic connection. In our day the only identifiable Celtic people are in Scotland, Ireland and Wales in the British Isles and Bretagne in France. Two thousand years ago Celtic tribes occupied large areas of Europe and even into Asia Minor. The Galatians were Celts and they were related to the Gauls of southern France. Most Celts were not Christians, but there were Christians among them and it appears that in some cases the Christian faith was transmitted from place to place among the Celtic peoples.

In any case, around 1100 A.D. we become aware of Christian people in the south of France who were called Albigenses by the R.C. church. They called themselves the people of God and said they had an unbroken history to the time of the apostles. They had lived peaceably among their R.C. neighbours and were related to many of them. By this time the Celtic Gauls had merged into the general population. The Albigenses had a strong connection to people of the same faith in Bulgaria, known as Bogomils. By 1100 A.D. the Pope had gained enough authority over the civil powers to launch the Inquisition, whose first target was to eliminate the Albigenses. A few years later the Pope launched the Albigensian Crusade to finish the job. Many Christians were massacred, no doubt others found refuge with people of the same faith in other parts of Europe.

The Waldensians lived in the Alpine valleys, not far from the Albigenses. The Waldensian name originated from the Latin word Vallenses, dense valleys, not from Peter Waldo. There were Waldensians long before Peter Waldo. A researcher who tried to find the family of Peter Waldo could find no record of anyone by that name in Lyon before his time. He speculated that Peter may have left the Waldensian faith, made his fortune in Lyon and then returned to the faith after his conversion.

The R.C. church claims that the Lollards in England were followers of John Wickliffe. It is more likely that it was the other way around, Wickliffe learned his faith from the Lollards. Lollards were simply Waldensians on English soil. The name Lollard originated in Flanders and is a description of their singing.

There were Celtic people living in the valley of the Po River that crosses northern Italy. There were people of the Anabaptist faith among them and they lived in peace for many years. Finally they were forced to flee from persecution instigated by the R.C. church. The passed through the St. Gotthard pass into Switzerland and settled in the canton of Bern.

Years later they were known as the Swiss Brethren and were a mix of people of Celtic, German and French ancestry. This seems to be the most likely place to look for the origins of the Mennonites. The influence of the Swiss Brethren spread beyond the canton of Berne. It is quite clear that they did not derive their faith from the Mennonites in the Netherlands. They were fully united in faith, but the Swiss Brethren came first.

Neither did the Swiss Brethren originate from Conrad Grebel, Felix Manx and Georg Blaurock who were martyrs in Zurich. These men are named in the Martyrs Mirror, but not with any indication that they had begun a new movement. In one of his books, Leonard Verduin mentions that there was a Waldensian congregation near Zurich and these three men and Ulrich Zwingli had at one time attended that congregation. The idea that the three men named above started a new movement comes fromn the Hutterite Chronicles, who needed to point to a new beginning for their new doctrine. Some years ago a Mennonite historian, C. Henry Smith, read an English translation of the Hutterite Chronicles and began promoting the idea that the Mennonite church sprang from these three men. It seemed much more attractive to him to point to well educated men, one of them from the lesser nobility, than to a series of humble unknowns. But this is not the way Mennonites of the past saw themselves.

The Martyrs Mirror contains the account of a group from a church at Theesalonica who came into western Europe seeking people of the same faith. First they visited a Hutterite colony but could not find a unity of faith. They then visited a Mennonite congregation and after a lengthy discussion concluded they were united on all points of their faith and then observed communion together. These men from Thessalonica were no doubt of the Bogomil faith. Thessalonica and Bulgaria being in close proximity.

The first Mennonites to come to North America were Swiss who were driven out of Switzerland by persecution and settled in Pennsylvania. Their first leader was Henry Funk who wrote a couple of books expounding the old faith and also was part of the group who arranged to have the Martyrs Mirror translated from Dutch to German and published in the USA. Another notable leader was Benjamin Eby, who moved from Pennsylvania to Ontario, Canada with a large group of Mennonites around 1800. In 1841 he wrote a booklet entitled Origin and Doctrine of the Mennonites in which he states that the Mennonites were descended from the Waldensians. The Eby name would indicate Celtic origin. Benjamin Eby laboured among the Mennonites in Ontario to maintain the vitality and unity of the faith. A number of people of other ethnic origins joined the Mennonites while he was bishoip. He died in 1849.

Another Mennonite leader with Swiss roots was John Holdeman who in 1859 became disappointed at the decline in the Mennonite church in the USA and began holding separate services. His aim was not to start something new but to return to the old ground and foundation of the Anabaptist-Mennonite faith. That small group from 1859 has grown into the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite with congregations around the world.