Conservative Anabaptism

Conservative Anabaptism is a part of the Anabaptist branch of Christianity. It includes groups that follow Anabaptist beliefs and practices but also use some modern technology. These groups believe in ideas like nonresistance and wearing plain dress, which may include a headcovering.

Conservative Anabaptists hold special church practices called ordinances. These include important rituals such as baptism, communion, footwashing, marriage, anointing with oil, the holy kiss, and the prayer covering.

Many Conservative Anabaptist groups have their own Sunday school, revival meetings, or Christian schools and parochial schools. They are also active in sharing their faith through evangelism and missionary work. One report from 1993 showed that these groups grew by fifty percent in just fifteen years.

Some well-known Conservative Anabaptist groups include the Dunkard Brethren Church, Conservative Mennonites, and Beachy Amish. Others include the Bruderhof Communities, Apostolic Christian Church, and the Charity Christian Fellowship. Together, they make up about 15% of all Anabaptist Christianity.

These groups sometimes form when people feel that other Anabaptist groups are not following tradition closely enough. For example, the Biblical Mennonite Alliance and the Dunkard Brethren Church started this way. The Beachy Mennonites began when people left older Anabaptist groups to focus more on sharing their faith. Some groups, like the Charity Christian Fellowship, come from people with different backgrounds.

Many of these communities support Christian Aid Ministries, an organization that helps people in need and shares messages on billboards across the United States and Canada. A popular daily guide for prayer and thought called Beside The Still Waters is widely used by Conservative Anabaptists.