Mexican Mennonite influencer Marcela Enns shares community life in Chihuahua, Mexico, on social media

Mennonites have historically set aside many of the conveniences of modern life, but the internet has drawn some young members of the conservative community into its networks, according to a report from Chihuahua, Mexico, that describes Mennonite users on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.

Marcela Enns, a 30-year-old Mexican woman, is known on social media as an influencer. Hundreds of thousands of subscribers follow photos and videos of her life in Chihuahua and of her Mennonite community. The report says she often speaks about her background with pride and humor, and that she tries to counter the stereotype that Mennonites condemn their followers to isolation and religious fanaticism.

Enns said that comments on her videos often question whether she can be Mennonite at all. “In the commentary to the video I’m posting, I’m told, ‘You don’t look like a Mennonite because you have a mobile phone, it’s impossible, because the Mennonites don’t use it,'” she said. Her posts include cooking, reading and parody videos. In one, she parodies the singer Rihanna. “We’re conservative, but we can be modern,” she said.

The Mennonites trace their roots to a group of early Protestants in the 16th century in the Netherlands. The report says that in El Sabinal, where it describes most of Mexico’s roughly 100,000 Mennonites as living, electricity was introduced only four years ago. A resident of El Sabinal, Jacob Brown, described the change: “Now we have light, trucks, tyres, tractors, and we can work with great comfort.”

The report says many Mennonites in the community do not watch television. Information about the COVID-19 pandemic reached them through young members who had internet access, the report says, and the same channels brought news of the war in Ukraine. Mennonites are pacifists who oppose the use of force. Enns’s willingness to speak openly about her community and its contradictions, the report suggests, is a form of honest witness (Ephesians 4:15).

Source: Read the original report (translated from Russian)