Doctrine
Beliefs and practices of the Evangelical Mennonite Conference are presented in its "Statement of Faith" and "Church Practices," most recently revised as adopted in 1994. They reveal conservative evangelical Christian teachings such as the Trinity, the depravity of humankind, salvation through the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, conditional security, and the expected return of Christ. Underlying these beliefs are the supreme and final authority and infallibility of Scripture. The EMC is largely Arminian in theology.
Anabaptist distinctives such as baptism upon confession of faith, non-conformity, mutual accountability, church discipline, congregational governance, non-swearing of oaths, and non-resistance are maintained.
An Anabaptist emphasis is that belief in Jesus and discipleship in lifestyle are not to be separated. Individual discipleship is to be shown through togetherness with other believers and service to wider society.
The Life of Peace (Statement of Faith, Article 9) includes, "Instead of taking up arms, we should do whatever we can to lessen human distress and suffering, even at the risk of our own lives." In The State (Church Practices, Article 9) it says, "Christians should respect civil authorities and pray for them; pay taxes; assume social responsibility; oppose corruption, discrimination, and injustice; and obey all their requirements that do not conflict with the Scriptures."
Along with some other evangelicals and Anabaptists-Mennonites, the EMC officially takes a complementarian stance and does not ordain women into the ministry. Some women, however, do serve in associate or senior pastoral roles. Women can serve on national boards and committees and as church delegates. Many women are active in missionary work.
Three ordinances are held — believers' baptism, the Lord's supper, and feet washing, though the last is not widely practiced. Baptism is by pouring or by immersion.
Discussions on various theological and social issues are on-going. The EMC reflects a "community hermeneutic," the conviction and practice that the Scriptures are best interpreted by a gathered community, not simply as individuals nor as a clergy class handing down its decisions to so-called lay members.
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Famous quotes containing the word doctrine:
“It has been an unchallengeable American doctrine that cranberry sauce, a pink goo with overtones of sugared tomatoes, is a delectable necessity of the Thanksgiving board and that turkey is uneatable without it.... There are some things in every country that you must be born to endure; and another hundred years of general satisfaction with Americans and America could not reconcile this expatriate to cranberry sauce, peanut butter, and drum majorettes.”
—Alistair Cooke (b. 1908)
“What ails it, intrinsically, is a dearth of intellectual audacity and of aesthetic passion. Running through it, and characterizing the work of almost every man and woman producing it, there is an unescapable suggestion of the old Puritan suspicion of the fine arts as such—of the doctrine that they offer fit asylum for good citizens only when some ulterior and superior purpose is carried into them.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“When the doctrine of allegiance to party can utterly up-end a man’s moral constitution and make a temporary fool of him besides, what excuse are you going to offer for preaching it, teaching it, extending it, perpetuating it? Shall you say, the best good of the country demands allegiance to party? Shall you also say it demands that a man kick his truth and his conscience into the gutter, and become a mouthing lunatic, besides?”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)