Sembach Mennonite Church
 Interior of the Sembach Mennonite Church |
|
| Basic data | |
| Denomination | Mennonite |
| place | Sembach, Germany |
| Building history | |
| start of building | 1777 |
| Building description | |
| Architectural style | Gothic, baroque |
| 49 ° 30 '49.7 " N , 7 ° 51' 31" E | |
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The Sembach Mennonite Church dates from 1777. Like other Mennonite churches, it was designed as a simple preaching church .
history
Sembach became the seat of an Anabaptist community as early as the end of the 17th century. As in other places in the Palatinate , it was mainly Anabaptists expelled from Switzerland who found refuge here. Until the end of the 18th century, there was also an independent Mennonite community in nearby Fischbach , which, however, merged with the community in Sembach at the end of the 18th century.
In the early years, the meetings and services of the Sembach Anabaptist community took place in private houses in Sembach and the surrounding courtyards. With financial help from Dutch and Krefeld Mennonites, the church that still exists today was consecrated in 1777. The building is a relatively simple, towerless saddle roof building. The entrance portal is designed in baroque style. The ogival gothic windows probably date from the middle of the 19th century. The interior of the church is designed without any major decorations or altar. There is a simple wooden cross above the lectern / communion table.
In 1842 a rectory was added. In the years 1853/1855 the church was renovated and expanded. Another reconstruction of the church with the installation of a gallery took place in 1974/75. A modern community center has been built next to the church since 2011 and was inaugurated in 2015.
Church life
The parish has around 170 parishioners. She is a member of the regional working group Southwest German Mennonite Congregations , through which she is integrated into the working group Mennonite Congregations in Germany .
Trivia
Anabaptists of the outlying farms such as the Horterhof or Messerschwanderhof had to cover some longer distances through the Otterberg Forest and the Staudacker to the church service in Sembach. This is why this path was sometimes referred to as the Mennonite Path. Today, however, this path is largely plowed up and no longer recognizable.
literature
- Hein, Gerhard: Art. Sembach , in: Mennonitisches Lexikon , Vol. IV (1967), p. 150f.
Web links
- Blog of the Mennonite Congregation Sembach
- Christian Hege and Christian Neff : Sembach (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany) . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
Individual evidence
- ^ Mennonite Yearbook 115 , 2016, p. 179.
- ↑ Ortschronik Sembach. (PDF; 766 kB) (No longer available online.) Verbandsgemeinde Enkenbach-Alsenborn, archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; Retrieved September 5, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
