The War of the Lambs and a Zonist Mennonite’s Hopes for Reunification

Disagreement about the nature and role of confessions of faith resulted in a heated intra-Mennonite conflict known as the “War of the Lambs.” One group, inspired by Collegiant and Mennonite minister Galenus Abrahamsz. de Haan, preferred to understand confessions as flexible, context-bound documents. The stricter faction viewed them as binding expressions of belief. At the Kerk bij ’t Lam (Church by the Lamb) in Amsterdam, the matter became so heated that the city magistrates had to arbitrate.

On June 22 1664, a formal split occurred. The orthodox group – about 500 of the 2,000 members – started gathering at a warehouse in the Oude Teertuinen, and then purchased a two-story former-brewery on the Singel. Because of the sun on its gable, the church was called De Zon (The Sun) and congregants became known as the Zonists. Those who remained at the Kerk bij ’t Lam were called Lamists. Mennonite congregations around the Republic followed suit, affiliating with either the Lamists or Zonists according to their own positions within this debate.

The print of a gathering for the Lord’s Supper in De Zon was one of several depictions of Mennonite worship practices made by De Zon member Hendrik de Winter for a new extended version of Hermannus Schijn’s book on the history of the Mennonites. Schijn, who was a physician, writer, and minister, was a staunch Zonist and served as an elder at De Zon from 1690 until his death in 1727. However, he also longed to see the unification of the fractious Mennonite movement. In 1723, for instance, he published his Project for the Unification of the Mennonite Christians.

Gradually, differences between Lamists and Zonists became less prominent, congregation numbers decreased, and concerns about financial matters (among others, large loans to the House of Orange likely to be left unpaid in the wake of the Batavian Revolution) made reunification the logical choice. Though Schijn did not live to see it, the Lamists and Zonists of Amsterdam reunited in 1801 and, at a national level, nearly all of the Mennonite groups united into the Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit in 1811.

Following the merger, De Zon building was sold to the Maatschappij tot Nut van’t Algemeen, becoming its Amsterdam branch until 1823. The organ dating to 1786 was first moved to De Toren and then sold to the Mennonite church in Leeuwarden, where it is to this day. Based on a neo-Renaissance design by W.A. Froger, the building was extensively renovated in 1856. Later, until 1988, it was used as an auction house. Nevertheless, a sun is still on display on the building’s gable, and the back side of the property sports large windows from its hidden church days. Inside, some of the strong wooden columns that used to hold up the church’s balcony seating are still visible.