Our Common Confession (General Conference Mennonite, 1896)
The General Conference Mennonite Church did not adopt a formal creed until the 1995 Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective. It did not adopt a creed in 1860 when the Conference initially formed. The constitution approved in 1896 contained a small section on "Our Common Confession" (English version of 1929 quoted below). There were later attempts to approve the Mennonite Articles of Faith by Cornelis Ris and a revised set of articles in 1933; both failed. In 1941 a Statement of Faith was approved, though it is not a full creedal statement.
Our Common Confession
The Conference recognizes and acknowledges the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the Word of God and as the only and infallible rule of faith and life; for "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 3:11 In the matter of faith it is therefore required of the congregations which unite with the Conference that, accepting the above confession, they hold fast to the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, baptism on confession of faith, the avoidance of oaths, the Biblical doctrine of non-resistance, and the practice of a Scriptural church discipline.
Bibliography
- Charter and Constitution of the General Conference of the Mennonite Church of N.A., rev. and adopted 1929: 5-6.
- Loewen, Howard John. One Lord, One Church, One Hope, and One God : Mennonite Confessions of Faith. Elkhart, IN : Institute of Mennonite Studies, 1985: 28.
