Who Are The Holdemon Mennonites- Church of God in Christ Mennonites?

This photo was observed at this address
http://theaestheticelevator.com/2009/07/01/intentional-observation-mennonites-in-flip-flops/

When you see the thousand different shades of Mennonites---Holdemons are like those pictured above. The men encourage one another to wear the beard and dress in plain (albeit, store-bought) clothing. The women usually have their dresses sown or sew their own dresses. They are encouraged to maintain a uniform modesty.
There is quite abit of material on the web about Holdemon Mennonites. There is quite amount of material that is misleading or even negative. This is usually the case when the doctrine of the One True Church Doctrine, or Church Discipline is discussed. It really is not that difficult or even unusual to comprehend. When talking to older people I find alot of denominations used to live alot of the Bible doctrines or teachings we still uphold today. The Church of God in Christ, Mennonite was started as a official "denomination" around 1859. This was spear headed by Mennonite reformer John Holdemon. He had concerns about a slip in spiritual well being of the Old Mennonite Church and a concern that unconverted people were being brought in and also a lapse in child training, etc.
What I write here is really a contemporary view and is not an "authorized" version. I am happily a member in this Church and recommend it as a Church that deals with sin . I personally have a heart out there for people that are looking for a Church that "really" is living the "Faith delivered to saints" and calls sin, sin.

Let me explain:
To become a member you must be "Born-Again"
When you become baptized you become responsible to "walk circumspectly" and righteously. We are all human and not perfect by any means, but we work together as a brotherhood to encourage one another to good works and keep our focus on Christ.
As far as the OTC doctrine it is only Bible based. It is necessary for Church discipline. A scary word? Discipline? Just because most Churches avoid it today does not make it any less Biblical. Does not every  successful business or company have a set of guidelines or code of ethics that are to be followed? God is a Lord of decency and order. You can not serve God and Mammon at the same time. So if you are harboring and living in sins like adulatory, fornication, premeditated lying, etc. you will be disfellowshipped, with the hopes of you seeing the seriousness of the sin and repenting of it so you can be restored. The Church is to be without spot or blemish and so to this end when such sin becomes known it is dealt with to keep the Church pure as well. It does not matter if you are an elder (minister) or lay member you must repent and become accountable for the sin in your life. Just because the World says it is okay to do away with moral obligations--it does not allow Churches to allow open sinning in the camp. To tell you the truth it also makes you think twice before throwing your life away to immorality and loose living (1 Tim 5:20) .
The Church has the keys to the kingdom to work as a body to work towards spreading the Gospel and making sure our lives are not a reproach to the World. The Church as Christ's bride needs to be a light to the World in these times. Alot of Christian people know what is right and wrong, but are helpless to collectively deal with sin.
Another plus is the bond of the brotherhood. For the most part one can travel from congregation to congregation and feel a common bond of fellowship. I find it refreshing to sit with someone you have never met before and talk about the spiritual fight as if you knew each other your whole life. I don't know really more what to say then that I want to recommend to you that there is still a place or Church that strives not to bow to Baal. We are not a utopia on earth but rather a people and a Church committed to making it to heaven. We have our human tendencies but that does not stop us for reaching for the mark of living for Christ. If you want to know more look up   http://churchofgodinchristmennonite.net/

May God Bless you and remember to pray for direction daily, because we all are truly in a spiritual war that is not being fought with guns and bullets, but rather with the matters that have to do with the soul, heart and spirit.

As far as Bible References about discipline and those things of which I feebly wrote:

The seriousness of ignoring sin and living a life of disobedience : Rev.20:12-15 Rev.21:8
Eph. 5:25-27
Mat. 18:15-17
1 Cor. 5:4-7,11
2 Thess. 3:14-15
Avoidance
1 Cor. 5:11
2 Thess. 3:6,14
Rom. 16:17

RACE, BROTHERHOOD, AND THE CHURCH

The reason I brought up this subject at all is that Deacon Lib was cutting my hair Friday evening and we got talking... For one he is full blooded Maya. They are of short stature. He is an educated, ex-military man with electrical experience. That is his trade. When he works at Spanish Lookout he can tell them a simple procedure. They look at his stature and Maya features and try to seek a second opinion. He naturally would have a tendency to get upset, especially since he is one of the only government licensed electrician on this side of Belize. He lets them play their game and waits it out. That is one of his biggest hurdles in landing the jobs that pay. He is waiting for more government codes to put all the jack leg competition out of business.
Race has become quite a mediocre subject to me as time goes by. I think less and less of it. The only time it gets to me is when one constantly has to tell you what color a man is for their story to make sense. That gets old. America tries to stereotype everybody to the point where you have to talk about Mexicans, Blacks, Whites, and Chinese like they all think and act exactly alike in there type.
My experience has taught me that racial problems stem from ignorance and the refusal of not wanting to look at the other side of the coin. Selfishness and covetousness can also be a factor. “Those people stand in the way of my prosperity and happiness“. “They are taking away our jobs.” “They make me sick the way they live.” If they would just go out there and work maybe then I could tolerate them” People with a low self esteem also like to take an advantage of putting some one else lower to lift themselves higher. (These are the militant ones.) Our feelings show in different ways and are natural.
Compassion teaches us to look at the other side of the story. A lot of people in this world are happy just to have a fraction of what you own or earn. There is an increasing amount of people growing up that haven’t experienced developmental love that you have been blessed with and instead have been rejected or abused as a child. Unless you have been in their shoes you have little idea how emotionally damaging it is. It becomes a challenge to overcome even the simplest tasks. It takes years even after conversion to overcome this kind of trauma never mind if your not even open to God. A lot instead turn to alcohol, drugs, and immorality and this only complicates their problems. Living in a ghetto is also a depressing, life sapping affair that chains you to a hopeless way of life that will not let you go. Unless you, as a Christian, are willing to see the other side of the coin you’ll suffer prejudice. It’s as natural as carnality and human nature. It needs to be nailed to the cross just the same if we are to carry the light of Christ in us.
Anyways Lib and I decided God made a variety of races and cultures to teach man about love, patience, and acceptance which is able to cross boundaries and overcome differences. Being raised in Nazareth, Jesus knew all about these pressures. They had the Samaritans, Jews, Greeks, Romans, and various other so called heathens rubbing shoulders on a daily basis. Their Galilean accent was a joke to the Jews from Judea. What good can come out of Nazareth? They make it just about sound ghetto, if it wasn’t. Though Christ’s message was to the Jew first he had compassion on the Gentiles and complimented their faith in him. It is a test of the Church to cross cultural boundaries with the true love of Christ.
Even opposite personalities compliment each other. When a Christian works with another man that he can’t get along with, he will do well to find out all that man’s good points and try to focus on appreciating them. That holds true on any social level. God made differences to test us and give us the challenge of overcoming those differences. That’s the beauty of being submissive to one another in the brotherhood. The Spirit of Communion embodies this principal. There will be differences to overcome, but its workable. We have just to wash one another’s feet.
Marriage is also one of the biggest examples of harmony and selfless giving. Books can be written on this subject. I appreciate the leading of God that has been allowing all the recent intercultural and interracial weddings that have been taking place in the church. It is a sign of maturity. It is a true gauge that our faith is open for all to partake. It shows that the love of God is able to melt away differences to make a stronger alloy. It is not just a family affair. We as a people shouldn’t have to be worried about marrying too close a relations by accident.
We are all trying to get to heaven. There is many challenges that we will face that are guaranteed to tax our resources to the outmost. So, why wouldn’t you want to have a group of counselors and supporters that can see all the sides of the coin. The more the better. The spiritual activity level in the Church and the love of the brotherhood is directly related. There is a gold mine before us in the form of our brotherhood; let us develop one another to our best potential appreciating our differing talents. The radiance that comes forth from this spiritual relationship will draw lonely souls from all walks of life. Let us draw in our ranks and reach out to all that thirst for true fellowship.

J.L.T. 3.2008

Realignment

Since the church is my family, I have really been investi-gating the “drift” theory. As I traveled since conference I have asked the question, “What is the drift?” I would get different answers. Sometimes I would get the impression that there is a transition taking place and it wasn’t necessarily clear where it is going but then when I think of the greatness of God and His promises I have to admit that whatever happens God always has a way for His people. The gates of hell shall not prevail. No matter how dark it will get God’s grace will always shine brighter, because “where sin abounds grace much more abounds.” I really like to look at the challenges of the day as a great realignment. There comes a time on your car, especially after some hard bumps that your front steering tires need to be realigned. We in the Church need to be sure that we are aligned with Christ. If we are aligned in Christian life we can’t help but wear right and we won‘t be dog trailing. We need inspiration and zeal lined up like sighting up a gun. If you don’t have the bead of truth in your sights of inspiration your going to miss heaven.
A realignment has little to do with the cries of liberalism vs. conservatism. We spend so much time stereotyping people and situations that we miss the point and nothing gets done. I have lived in conservative and liberal settings in the Church and realized that both miss the mark if Christ is not the main focal point. Whatever we think we are we need to be in the middle with an open ear to the Holy Spirit. It is not hard to outwardly live a standard of church tradition and ethics, but it is not worth the price of dwarfing your children’s spiritual growth and understanding. I want my family to be motivated in their Christian life because they know the Lord and His blessings. Then they can not but help the church. Often there is a question of defining Mr. Worldliness. He is such a slippery fish that you can hardly say you got him and he is slipping away. However if you’re prayerful and desire His Word and meditate on it you are going to recognize it for what it is. The word says “prove all things” for a reason. We have the Brethren as a safety to help us when we are not trying to be honest with ourselves. The real question is whether we are bearing the cross of Christ. What kind of cross did he bear. It was a cross of humility, self-sacrifice, and service. Each of us also have a cross to bear. We like to get self absorbed and jump into a hole and pull on one another for this and that well humanity is marching by. We need to be alive bearing the cross by helping others where we expect nothing in return. Since my job is in the service field my heart is touched by the little deeds of kindness people do like giving just a smile or a glass of water. A Christian should be able to be spotted by the small things he does for the sake of others. We need to bear the cross of prayer for our neighbors and everyone that the Spirit impresses on our hearts. The fact is that a lot of the cross is a burden on the heart. An invalid’s sighs and prayers to the throne of Grace can show as much zeal as anyone else. I have stood amazed in my youth at the bed of dying friends or family only to see them on fire and concerned for others.
When we see our brothers and sisters we should think we are staring into a treasure chest. Everyone has a talent to offer to the effort. We need to help everyone develop their gifts so we can all be more efficient for the Lord’s work. Moreover it gives each a sense of purpose and desire to succeed. Everyone is either active, passive, or a detriment to the effort. If you are in the last two it should be hoped that you are in transition to being active. Other wise you are not carrying your weight. We are a team. The timely assist or pass at the right time is what wins the game. There is no excuse. The true Church is most likely as close to heaven as we are going to get in this life, so we better make the best of it. Anyone can speak ill of someone or some program. In such a situation ask your self: What am I going to do about it? A prayer, a personal visit, or a helping hand is in place. Anything short of that you have no grounds to talk about somebody else’s lack. Imagine a man complaining about the ills of society and yet how many second miles is he willing to run to help someone else. If the answer is none-he himself is just another ill. If we see a lack in the church should we not humbly offer the little that we have to make it work. We should be instant in and out of season.
We need to take a leap of faith. Just like diving off a high rock or bridge. Often in a group of daring fellows one goes and the rest will follow, but in what we are talking about the stakes are so much greater.
When you crack down youth for their recreation activities and attitudes you better have a healthy alternative that they can channel their energies. That said they should be led by example. So how are you aligned?