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Our Vision and Values

Impacting the Region

Hampden Mennonite Church’s vision is encompassing. Situated within the civic borders of Baltimore City, we prize our relationships with those living in our Hampden neighborhood. Hampden Church is also committed to providing a church home and fellowship for those seeking a conservative Mennonite/Anabaptist congregation – or interested in exploring the possibilities one might offer - in the wider Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Whether you come from other neighborhoods in Baltimore or other locations such as DC, Annapolis, Columbia, Beltsville, Aberdeen, or Silver Spring, you can be assured of a warm welcome and being as much a part of our fellowship as if you lived next door. The church’s proximity to I-83 as well as to the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus makes it accessible for people attending from throughout the region, and our frequent Sunday potlucks can make the trip easier for those commuting from outside of the city.

Welcoming All

Ask an attendee at Hampden Mennonite why they’ve chosen this congregation and you will hear a range of responses. Some are Mennonites working or attending college in the Baltimore-Washington region, looking for fellowship. Others are Mennonites who moved to the region with the goal of engaging in missions as Christian book distributors, teachers, daycare workers, or international student ministry volunteers. A third group includes those who were not Mennonites and maybe never understood just what a Mennonite was before walking in the door. Since no one is born a Mennonite, all are equally welcome.

Humbly Following Jesus

As a broad and overarching calling for our congregation, we emphasize the words from Micah 6:8,

“…What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

We want to be people who follow Jesus with a focus on living justly. Just as importantly, we want to extend grace and mercy to others just as we have been forgiven. Finally, rather than drawing attention to ourselves and our efforts to follow Jesus, we want all glory and honor to go to the Lord.

Greeters welcome people to service at Hampden Mennonite Church

Helping enemy illustrates Anabaptist tradition of nonresistance

Caterpillar's transformation into butterfly illustrates Anabaptist value of noncomformity due to God's transformative power

Dirk Willems aids his pursuer
A 1685 illustration by Jan Luyken

“Be ye transformed”

Personal relationships

A warm welcome

Supporting Families

A priority that defines and motivates us is to support families and marriages. We believe that children are a gift from God and should be raised in the knowledge of God and the Scriptures. We believe that as a husband and wife love and care for each other, they draw closer to Christ and to each other. We strive for strong marriages, aiming to set an example of stable homes for those around us. We offer hope and healing for families who are dealing with marriage crises or difficulty in child training.

We can reach out with learned wisdom and God’s blessing for those families who are striving to raise their children in the Lord. We find strength and steadiness in knowing that the families in our church community are raising their children in similar ways. Our children are helped in becoming a new generation of those who “walk humbly with their God” as they see the other children in the church progressing along the same path. There is a certain ease of raising children with limits, guidelines, and rules when we do it together as a community.

Conservative Mennonite family worshiping together at Hampden Mennonite Church

A conservative Mennonite family takes an outing to the zoo in Baltimore

Women of the Church

<< I enjoy friendship with the other ladies from our church. It's great to chat with them after church on Sunday morning, but also special to see them sometime throughout the week. Sometimes we have playdates — It's a time for the children to play together and the moms to talk! Another fun thing is to go shopping together! Interacting with other ladies can be encouraging in my life. >>

Nonresistance

God wants us to show love in all of our relationships, including to people who do not show love to us in return. This means that we must show love to all, and not retaliate when someone hurts us. We are not to seek revenge, even when we are wronged. This requires us to renounce violence in all forms, both personal and national. We do not participate in military service or war.

We seek to live out the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.” (Matthew 5:38-41)

We seek peace with all men, but above that, seek to go above and beyond what is required of us as Christians.

Nonconformity

We believe that everyone serves someone, and that there are two possibilities:

“Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

When it says, do not be conformed, it means that we are not to permit ourselves to be forced into the destructive patterns that the society at large follows, but are rather to permit God to transform our lives into His pattern.

You can either serve materialism, which results in serving the ultimate ruler of the world, the devil or Satan, or through faith and obedience you can serve Christ. Thus, there are two opposing kingdoms to which men give their spiritual allegiance, the kingdom of Christ and that of Satan. Making no choice actually represents a choice not to serve Christ. Those who belong to Satan's kingdom live for self, and refuse the obedience of faith. The kingdom of Christ is composed of those who have been born again and who have entered into faith in Christ.

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Our Statement of Faith: What We Believe. . .

1. We believe in one God eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. We believe that God has revealed himself in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the inspired Word of God, and supremely in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. We believe that in the beginning God created all things by His Son. He made man in the divine image, with free will, moral character, and a spiritual nature.
2. We believe that man fell into sin, bringing depravity and death upon the race; that as sinner, man is self-centered and self-willed, unwilling and unable to break with sin.
3. We believe that there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who died to redeem us from sin and arose for our justification.
4. We believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ, a free gift bestowed by God on those who repent and believe.
5. We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, effects the new birth, gives guidance in life, empowers for service, and enables perseverance in faith and holiness.
1. We believe that the church is the body of Christ, the brotherhood of the redeemed, a disciplined people obedient to the Word of God, and a fellowship of love, intercession, and healing.
2. We believe that Christ commissioned the church to go into all the world, making disciples of all the nations, and ministering to every human need.
3. We believe it is the will of God that there should be ministers to teach the Word, to serve as leaders, to administer the ordinances, to lead the church in the exercise of discipline, and to serve as pastors and teachers.
4. We believe that those who repent and believe should be baptized with water as a symbol of baptism with the Spirit, cleansing from sin, and commitment to Christ.
5. We believe that the church should observe the communion of the Lord's Supper as a symbol of his broken body and shed blood, and of the fellowship of his church, until his return.
6. We believe in the washing of the saints' feet as a symbol of brotherhood, cleansing, and service, and in giving the right hand of fellowship and the holy kiss as symbols of Christian love.
1. We believe that God has established unique roles for man and woman, symbolized by man's bared head in praying and prophesying, and by woman's veiled head.
2. We believe that Christian marriage is intended by God to be the union of one man and one woman for life, and that Christians shall marry only in the Lord.
3. We believe that Christians are not to be conformed to the world, but should seek to conform to Christ in every area of life.
4. We believe that Christians are to be open and transparent in life, ever speaking the truth, and employing no oaths.
5. We believe that it is the will of God for Christians to refrain from force and violence in human relations and to show Christian love to all men.
6. We believe that the state is ordained of God to maintain order in society, and that Christians should honor rulers, be subject to authorities, witness to the state, and pray for governments.
1. We believe that at death the unsaved enter into everlasting punishment and the saved into conscious bliss with Christ, who is coming again, and will raise the dead, sit in judgment, and bring in God's everlasting kingdom.

Holy Bible is the foundation for statement of faith

This statement of faith is taken from Mennonite Yearbook, volume 77 (1986-87) and is a summary based on the confession of faith adopted by Mennonite General Conference in 1963. You can see the full text of the Mennonite Confession of Faith, 1963 edition, with the Keystone supplements, at 1963ConfessionAndSupplements2015.pdf