The Ohio Wisler Mennonite Churches, also called Ohio Wisler Mennonite Conference, are a group of churches with a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

tradition, that formed in 1973. They are not considered to be Old Order anymore, but are widely seen as

Conservative Mennonites Conservative Mennonites include numerous Conservative Anabaptist groups that identify with the theologically conservative element among Mennonite Anabaptist Christian fellowships, but who are not Old Order groups or mainline denominations. Con ...

. Stephen Scott lists them as "Ultra Conservative" (Mennonites).

History

In 1973 a large group of Wisler Mennonites in Ohio split from the

Ohio-Indiana Mennonite Conference The Ohio-Indiana Mennonite Conference, also called Wisler Mennonites, is an Old Order Mennonite church body, whose Ordnung allows the ownership and private use of cars. They are quite similar to the Weaverland Old Order Mennonite Conference. Histo ...

, a car-driving

Old Order Mennonite Old Order Mennonites (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania German: ) form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order Movement, Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss people, Swiss German and south Germans, German heritage who pract ...

group, and formed the more modern Ohio Wisler Mennonites.

Customs and beliefs

After the division from the Ohio-Indiana Mennonite Conference, the Ohio Wisler Mennonites adopted

Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

s and a more aggressive approach to outreach. Donald B. Kraybill, C. Nelson Hostetter: ''Anabaptist World USA'', Scottdale PA, 2001, page 168. They have altered the manner of worship from the Old Order form.

Members and congregation

In 1995 the Ohio Wisler Mennonite Churches had 131 households in four congregations. In the year 2000 they had 421 adherents with a total population of about 800 people in five congregations, all in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. According to website of the

Mennonite World Conference The Mennonite World Conference (MWC) is a Mennonite Anabaptist Christian denomination. Its headquarters are in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. History The first ''Mennonite World Conference'' was held in Basel in 1925. Its main purpose was to celebra ...

they had 322 adherents in four congregations in 2018.Mennonite World Conference, Congregations: ''Ohio Wisler Mennonite''.
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References

{{reflist Mennonitism Anabaptism Anabaptist denominations established in the 20th century Mennonitism in the United States Conservative organizations in the United States