Editing Mennonites (section)

=== Schisms ===

Prior to emigration to America, Anabaptists in Europe were divided between those of Dutch/North German and Swiss/South German background. At first, the Dutch/North German group took their name from Menno Simons, who led them in their early years. Later the Swiss/South German group also adopted the name "Mennonites". A third group of early Anabaptists, mainly from south-east Germany and Austria were organized by [[Jakob Hutter]] and became the [[Hutterite]]s. The vast majority of Anabaptists of Swiss/South German ancestry today lives in the US and Canada, while the largest group of Dutch/North German Anabaptists are the [[Russian Mennonites]], who live today mostly in Latin America.

A trickle of North German Mennonites began the migration to America in 1683, followed by a much larger migration of Swiss/South German Mennonites beginning in 1707.<ref>Sydney E. Ahlstrom, ''A Religious History of the American People''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975, I, 292–293.</ref> The [[Amish]] are an early split from the Swiss/South German, that occurred in 1693. Over the centuries many Amish individuals and whole churches left the Amish and became Mennonites again.

After immigration to America, many of the early Mennonites split from the main body of North American Mennonites and formed their own separate and distinct churches. The first schism in America occurred in 1778 when Bishop Christian Funk's support of the American Revolution led to his excommunication and the formation of a separate Mennonite group known as [[Funkite]]s. In 1785 the Orthodox Reformed Mennonite Church was formed, and other schisms occurred into the 21st century. Many of these churches were formed as a response to deep disagreements about theology, doctrine, and church discipline as evolution both inside and outside the Mennonite faith occurred. Many of the modern churches are descended from those groups that abandoned traditional Mennonite practices.

Larger groups of Dutch/North German Mennonites came to North America from the [[Russian Empire]] after 1873, especially to [[Kansas]] and [[Manitoba]]. While the more progressive element of these Mennonites assimilated into mainstream society, the more conservative element emigrated to Latin America. Since then there has been a steady flow of Mennonite emigrants from Latin America to North America.{{Citation needed|date=August 2014|reason=a steady flow?}}

These historical schisms have had an influence on creating the distinct Mennonite denominations, sometimes using mild or severe [[shunning]] to show its disapproval of other Mennonite groups.<!-- If the following is so "widely reported", then it shouldn't be hard to come up with a valid citation: One widely reported example of this is the expulsion of the Germantown Mennonite Church in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] from the [[Franconia Mennonite Conference|Franconia Conference]] and later the [[Mennonite Church USA]] denomination for welcoming [[LGBT]] people as church members. -->

Some expelled congregations were affiliated both with the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. The latter did not expel the same congregations. When these two Mennonite denominations formally completed their merger in 2002 to become the new Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada denominations, it was still not clear, whether the congregations that were expelled from one denomination, yet included in the other, are considered to be "inside" or "outside" of the new merged denomination. Some Mennonite conferences have chosen to maintain such "disciplined" congregations as "associate" or "affiliate" congregations in the conferences, rather than to expel such congregations. In virtually every case, a dialogue continues between the disciplined congregations and the denomination, as well as their current or former conferences.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Homosexual and bisexual orientation among Mennonites |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_men.htm |access-date=5 April 2015 |publisher=Religioustolerance.org |archive-date=12 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412041232/http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_men.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>