Alttäufergemeinde, Langnau, Switzerland

We are told that the Alttäufergemeinde in Langnau, Switzerland, is the oldest Anabaptist church that is still active.  For centuries, these people in the Emmental were were allowed to meet only in their homes. There was a map in the foyer showing the locations of these homes in the various local valleys.  Meeting in homes for 300 years would profoundly affect the nature of these small churches.

 This is what their homes looked like:

Construction for this congregation's church building began in 1880, the year when non-state churches were finally allowed to meet in a public building (even so, it blends in with the local houses and is on the outskirts of Langnau).  The sanctuary was added in 1980, and a new larger meeting hall is being planned.  Before Covid, as many as 160 people attended, but these days the elderly are less able to drive the distances required.  Today's sermon is available by MP3 audio; sermons by some of the other speakers are available as PDFs, meaning that they were read rather than developed from a few brief notes.

The morning's speaker was Natali Stucki, one of their two pastors.  Since Janice's and Sue's mother was a Stuckey, this gave us added interest.  She spoke in the Bernese dialect (interest then waned).  She kindly greeted both the four of us and the nine others traveling as a tour group from PA, warning us that the music and spoken word would be in both German and dialect.  She suggested that since she was speaking on the prodigal son, we should feel free to read our phones and meditate while she spoke.

 

The music included the "obligatory" chorale (in English, something like 'God is here among us'; and it is obligatory, insisted upon by the older members).

Then a number of tasteful modern songs were led by a soloist (a nursing student studying in Bern) and instrumentalists.  Their playing and singing were accurate and allowed the voices to dominate.

 

The service lasted about 70 minutes, the sermon being the second item on the agenda (hear it while your mind is still fresh), and several songs related to the general topic.

After the service, people stayed for conversation and coffee.  I enjoyed speaking to the man who sat ahead of us.  His dialect was thick but he spoke both enthusiastically (he liked hearing Marlin and me sing bass), clearly and I easily understood him.  Later, those with some English willingly talked with us.

 I noticed that they had posted a list of members celebrating their 65th, 75th and 80th birthdays--and all of those whose birthdays had reached into the 90s.  Since many of these people are no longer able to attend, this gives a nice reminder that they are still with us.

 

This congregation has joined others in sponsoring a number of missionaries to various countries.  I think that the very name, "Old Anabaptists" suggests they might be more traditional than some other Mennonite groups in Switzerland.  There were many young families, which was heartening to see.  Many either walked to church or rode bicycles, both regular and e-bikes (which are everywhere in Switzerland, used by people of all ages).

Evan