Hello all.

Hello welcome! Grace to you and peace from our God and Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want any good course recommendations I recommend "True Greatness" to anyone and everyone. That course is really amazing. And "Introduction to the historic faith" is a great course to get introduced to the material on this site! And "The life of the early christians" is an awesome course teaching about the early Christians and their doctrines that they held. Those are a few suggestions!

All of the courses that I have taken have been great information and teaching from my experience so far. I hope you enjoy your time learning and that you grow in the love of our Lord Jesus! Grace be with you! Amen!

Not sure if you got my reply.

Ok. Now I see you didn't. Thank you for those recommendations. I've started the introductory course for the time being. Will look at those that you pointed out though in the future. I know of no Anabaptist near me. Watching the Youtube videos that lead me here were like "a cup of cool water." Thank you for taking the time to reply to my introduction. Hope your day is a good one and may our great God establish us in it. To Him be dominion forever.

Hey there! No I didn't get your reply! You are welcome! Yea I don't know of any near me either. I'm from Chicago and the only anabaptist community here seems to be a liberal one that doesn't really follow the traditional doctrines of the Bible nor of anabaptists. I desire to find community that is serious about giving all to obey and follow Jesus together. The teachings from scroll publishing and on this website have definitely been like a cup of cool water for me too! And Amen, thank you!

To Him be dominion forever!

I completely understand about community. It is something that I desire greatly also. Fellowship is very important and have been looking just as you. I have come out of the evangelical churches and it has been a journey to say the least. The isolation and lack of local fellowship has been difficult for me. It is something I pray about often. I believe there are many like us in America and around the world. I will remember you in prayer .

By the way, I live in Tennessee about 45 mins north of Knoxville.

Hello,John hate to interupt but I was supposed to move to Knoxville, and because of this looked around for local churches. To say the least the closest one was in Athens but if your 45mins north you might have a church nearby.

https://www.pilgrimministry.org/congregations/map

I agree. There definitely are many sincere believers all over the world who are scattered and alone who desire to unify and connect with those that are serious who really want to live all out in our faith in Jesus with one another. It is definitely tough to live the faith alone when God designed us to work together as a body. I recently got the revelation of "seek first His kingdom" "and His rightoeusness." In my faith I have sought the Kingdom but I have not sought it "first".

I have definitely sought righteousness with the most effort but I haven't really sought first the Kingdom of God to really look for and find a real community of true disciples of Christ who have forsaken all to submit to Him as King. Now it is my daily prayer and my current mission to find that. It is of utmost importance to me now. I really want to progress in Christ. I cannot afford to stay in the same place in my maturity in Him.

I have to be in a community where my love can grow and stretch and where people can challenge and encourage me to live even more like Him and according to His word and where I can do the same for others. I also have learned whenever I meet people who have that heart, to do what I can to stay connected to them no matter if it's distant because it is so rare to find true disciples of Jesus. I met one brother from France on a megabus ride.

He overheard me and a brother talking about Jesus and wanted to connect and was so excited to make believing friends in America. He and I regularly stay in touch and encourage one another even with the language barrier because his english isn't good. But that connection is so worthwhile for both of us even if it's distant.

I have passed through Tennessee on the Megabus to get to Texas. It is a straight shot from Chicago to Tennessee on the Megabus, then you can transfer to get to Texas.

If you want to connect I am happy to connect with anyone that loves Jesus and wants to go further in their faith with Him to obey Him. Distance doesn't matter to me. I know the early believers made days journeys on foot to visit one another and support one another. I can only imagine how they would utilize the resources today so much the more to visit and encourage one another and we ought to have that same heart. I definitely do. So just let me know!

It's too late for it to let me edit this into my reply but I wanted to also say thanks so much for your prayer because that is certainly helpful and needed. And I will pray for you as well for God to direct you to a good community where His kingdom is and where Lord Jesus reigns over obedient followers. That is so important for us to find so it is good for us to pray that for one another. His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as is in heaven!

Hi Sean. You are no interruption at all. Thank you for taking time to comment. It seems to me there is a Mennonite church about 45 mins east of here in Greene county. I have recently found and am new to the Anabaptist perspectives. To be honest, local understanding of Mennonite churches is that they "don't really like outsiders." I've been contemplating how to contact them to see if these "understandings" are accurate. Lately I wonder if they are.

Hi and good morning Justin. I would be happy to connect. I do not have any social media platforms. Had Facebook for a while and decided it wasn't for me. My email is jlsrev2101@gmail.com. Phone is 423-215-7902. I'm currently working 6 days a week for my employer and am home most nights after 4 p.m. EST. If you prefer email correspondence that is fine but be warned I'm terrible at keyboarding and my replies will be short and to the point.

(That's me trying to be funny.) My work schedule will change at first of year hopefully with more time off. Have a blesses day.

Good morning! Sounds awesome!! I don't use social media anymore either. I used to have Facebook too and deleted mine. And haha ok I can talk any way that works for you! My replies are typically always thorough and long if in text replies, just a lot slower to respond through email. I will send you a text today after 4! I appreciate the connection!!

Sounds good.

Your welcome I'm glad that I could help. As for how Mennonites are I think that any of the churches listed on that website are seeker-friendly being that they are advertising themselves. As for seeking the community, you may actually want to send the folks at Anabaptist perspectives an email because the host lives in Athens and will be likely able to help you out.

Wow, Sean, that's quite the resource. I recognized a few of the churches, especially in the Nakuru/Kisumu area (Kenya) and the Lancaster PA area, where our home church is.

Oh. I didn't notice the link. Very helpful and Thanks much. Thank you for taking the time to help. Have a blessed day.

Christian greetings. I have been an Anabaptist for 30 years and lived for much of that time in Tennessee. There are many Anabaptist groups in TN and it is not true that they don't like "outsiders". I wouldn't recommend all of them, but I can assure you that most of them would welcome you. It is a different culture though for someone coming from a secular background. I believe there might be a church in Maryville TN that might be affiliated with the Well Spring in Athens, TN.

Tennessee is literally loaded with Anabaptists of every stripe.

As a new believer God led me to an Anabaptist group within a year of yielding my life to Jesus. It was two hours away and I gladly made the drive every Sunday and Wednesday for about eight months. (Thursday morning roll out of bed to go to work was not so chipper.) God is faithful. He wants us to be a part of a local brotherhood. Praying for you both.