2011: Year of many Jubilee’s for Dutch Mennonites.

Dutch Mennonites will commemorate several important historical events in 2011:

• 450 years ago Menno Simons passed away (1561);
• 275 years ago the Mennonite Seminary in Amsterdam was founded (1735);
• 200 years ago the Algemene Doopsgezinde Soci�teit (ADS), the conference of all Dutch Mennonite congregations came into being (1811);
• 100 years ago, in 1911, the first female, academically trained pastor, Anne Zernike (later married to the painter Jan Mankes) started her ministry in Bovenknijpe, Friesland. Mennonites were forerunners in that respect!

The Dutch Mennonite Conference and the Mennonite congregations will organize many festivities to celebrate these jubilee’s. Click here for more general information in English and here for the Dutch Jubilee website of the Dutch Mennonite Conference (ADS).

International Congress on Peace Theology, June 23-24 2011, Amsterdam

One of the festivities being organized in this year of jubilee's will be an international Congress on Peace Theology on Thursday June 23 and Friday June 24 2011, organized by the Dutch Mennonite Seminary in cooperation with the VU University Amsterdam. This Congress is open to international students, scholars and anybody interested in the subject. Click here to read the Congress flyer.

In combination with this Symposium Mennonite Heritage Tours organizes subsequently a full board Hotel Tour (Tour 1) from Amsterdam to Switzerland, starting on June 26, 2011.