The “Everyone Welcome” signs that hang outside two Mennonite churches in Cayuga County were placed there for a reason.

That's because everyone is welcome, both to Bible study and Sunday worship services, one Mennonite minister said.

“We sometimes have the feeling people perceive us as isolationists and that services aren't open to everyone,” said John Becker, minister of the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, in Scipio. “But we welcome anyone. One reason people say we're closed is because we don't have as much in common.”

The Mennonite church is based on the premise of Anabaptism, the thought that a person should be baptized on confidence of his faith when he or she is mature enough to profess his faith, Becker said.

“You must be a born-again, a new birth experience,” Becker said. “No pressure is applied. It's a personal choice.”

Although a majority of Mennonite-raised children do choose to be baptized as Mennonites, some choose not to, he said.

On a Wednesday evening, families walked into the Scipio church for weekly Bible study. After hanging up coats, men gathered near one hall and women near the other.

Men and women then filed into the church to sing opening songs before Bible study began. An aisle divided the pews where women sat to the left and men to the right.

Members gather on Wednesday evenings and Sundays for church services with a few extra services planned during each month.

The church was built in 2002 and is primarily used as a school for the 20 children in Mennonite families that belong to this church.

Three small classrooms are brightly colored with old desks, but without computers or TVs like many modern school classrooms.

Simplicity is key. Mennonites rely on only the necessities, Becker said.

That's why the school did have electricity, heat, ceiling fans, a microphone and clock. There was a modern kitchen in the center of the building to use during the school day. In the main hall typewriters were set up for use by older school children learning to type, a skill needed in today's business world.

If the congregation expands, members hope to build a separate church on property they own near the school so that the area used as the church can be turned into a gymnasium where the children can recreate during the winter months when the playground can't be used.

The 15-family congregation was formed when the Zimmerman family moved to the Scipio area about 10 years ago, Becker said. There are members native to the area who were originally not Mennonite that also joined the church.

In 2002, the USA Mission Board, a national Mennonite Organization, helped fund the establishment of the church in Scipio, Becker said.

Becker and his wife, Marlene, who lived in Missouri at the time, were asked to come and minister the church that was being built. Families largely from the Midwest, including Kansas, Nebraska and North Dakota, moved to the area to join the church.

“A lot of people come from the midwest where the churches are very large,” Becker said. “They desire a smaller church community.”

While Scipio's Mennonite church was being built, Old Sand Beach Church in Fleming was already used by a different group of Mennonites since 1998. The group bought the church for $60,000 and established the Owasco Lake Mennonite Church. The Horning Mennonites that attend this church drive only black automobiles. Men don't wear beards and usually wear hats, Becker described.

Although not all 42 baptized Holdeman Mennonites in Becker's church drive black automobiles, they prefer conservative looking cars. Men in this church don't wear hats, but do maintain beards. In both churches, women wear the traditional prayer covering on their heads.

When Becker arrived in Scipio five years ago, the national organization did help financially support Becker and his wife until he found means to support himself. Today, both him and the church are self-supportive.

He works between 20 and 30 hours a week for a local produce company but prioritizes his ministry duties first.

In some Mennonite churches, ministers are chosen through secret ballot. There are no nominations and the selected minister must be supported by a majority vote.

“When we are elected we are asked if we felt the call from the church but the church also needs to call us,” Becker said.

Since he was a boy Becker had an instinct that he would eventually become a minister. When he asked his wife to marry him, Marlene said she also felt she was marrying someone who would be ordained a minister. Becker was ordained at the age of 27 in Missouri.

Many Mennonites move to the area after marrying. They must marry within their own church and don't believe in divorce. Becker said if a couple divorces, they will be excommunicated from the church.

Mennonites also don't believe in dating and courting.

“God is interested in marriage and he likes to bring couples together. Dating can hinder that,” Becker said.

Staff writer Kristina Martino can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kristina.martino@lee.net