Attestatie

The Attestatie is a certificate of membership of the Dutch Mennonites, whereby any member moving from one congregation can be a member of another. Such a statement was used very early. The preachers of the Waterlander congregations, assembled at Amsterdam on 4 March 1581, thought a "goede attestatie of genoegzame kondschap" (good certificate or adequate information) necessary for admission as a member. The certificate, which as used at present is simply a statement that the person concerned is a member and that he or she became a member by baptism or by transfer from another congregation, formerly also provided a declaration of good conduct; the attestatien of the Groninger Old Flemish contained the special clause that the brother or sister in question was also orthodox in his or her doctrine. The matter of attestatien was definitively regulated by a conference held in Amsterdam in 1863. The corresponding document is called in English "church letter" and in German Gemeindezeugnis.

Bibliography

Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1865): 39, note 1; (1877): 84.

Author(s)	Nanne van der Zijpp
Date Published	1953

Cite This Article

MLA style

van der Zijpp, Nanne. "Attestatie." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Attestatie&oldid=74994.

APA style

van der Zijpp, Nanne. (1953). Attestatie. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Attestatie&oldid=74994.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 181. All rights reserved.

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