Mennonite Church in the Netherlands

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Doopsgezinde Gemeente, Amsterdam

The Mennonite Church in the Netherlands, or Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit, is a body of Mennonite Christians in the Netherlands. Anabaptism appeared in the Netherlands by 1530, when Melchior Hoffman (1495-1543) visited Emden in East Frisia. While there, Hoffman baptized more than 100 adults who converted to Anabaptism. The Mennonites (or Mennisten or Doopsgezinden) are named for Menno Simons (1496-1561), a Dutch Roman Catholic priest from the Province of Friesland who converted to Anabaptism around 1536. He was baptized in 1537 and became part (and soon leader) of the Dutch Anabaptist movement.

The Mennonite Church in the Netherlands is a member of the Mennonite World Conference and in 2003 had 11,000 members in 123 congregations.^[1]