Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit Information

National office for The Mennonites in The Netherlands, founded in 1811. We are a service center for finance, pay rolling, pension funds, ICT, education and commerce. The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons (1496-1561), who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders. The teachings of the Mennonites were founded on their belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ, which they held to with great conviction despite persecution by the various Roman Catholic and Protestant states. Rather than fight, the majority survived by fleeing to neighboring states where ruling families were tolerant of their radical belief in adult baptism. Over the years, Mennonites have become known as one of the historic peace churches because of their commitment to nonviolence. There are about 1.5 million Mennonites worldwide as of 2006 Mennonite congregations worldwide The largest populations of Mennonites are in Ethiopia,Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United States. There remains a small congregation in the Netherlands where Menno was born.