HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The General Conference Mennonite Church (GCMC) was a mainline association of
Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
congregations based in North America from 1860 to 2002. The conference was formed in 1860 when congregations in Iowa invited North American Mennonites to join together in order to pursue common goals such as higher education and mission work. The conference was especially attractive to recent Mennonite and Amish immigrants to North America and expanded considerably when thousands of
Russian Mennonite The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for abo ...
s arrived in North America starting in the 1870s. Conference offices were located in Winnipeg, Manitoba and North Newton, Kansas. The conference supported a seminary and several colleges. In the 1990s the conference had 64,431 members in 410 congregations in Canada, the United States and South America. After decades of cooperation with the Mennonite Church, the two groups reorganized into Mennonite Church Canada in 2000 and
Mennonite Church USA The Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the United States. Although the organization is a recent 2002 merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, the body has roots in the Ra ...
in 2002.


Background

Mennonites first came to North America as early as 1644. The first permanent settlement was in the Germantown, Pennsylvania area when a group of 34 Mennonites and
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
from Krefeld, Germany arrived in 1683. A total of 4000 Mennonites and 200
Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churc ...
, a closely related group, settled in eastern Pennsylvania by the 1820s. This group tended to separate from their neighbors because of refusal to participate in the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, opposition to public education and rejection of religious
revivalism Revivalism may refer to: * Christian revival, increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or society, with a local, national or global effect * Revivalism (architecture), the use of visual styles that consciously ...
. In the first half of the 19th century new waves of emigration and migration brought thousands of Mennonites to Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. By the 1860s Mennonites were found in Missouri and Iowa. The recent arrivals from Europe tended to be more educated than the eastern Pennsylvania group and had adopted new ideas and practices. These various groups of Mennonites were loosely organized. The settlements west of Pennsylvania were scattered and had difficulty communicating with each other. A concern arose independently among these congregations for a way to connect and organize families that were scattered from Ontario to the American frontier.


Franconia Conference

By 1769 a group of 22 Mennonite congregations in eastern Pennsylvania had organized Franconia Conference. Member congregations sent representatives to regular meetings where policy and membership issues were discussed and decided. Decisions were based on Biblical interpretation. The group felt no need for a written constitution and no meeting minutes were recorded. In 1842 John H. Oberholtzer became a minister within the Franconia Conference and shortly thereafter a bishop. In this role he attended the conference sessions. As a schoolteacher and locksmith, he had greater contact with the outside world than other ministers. Early on he resisted the expectation of ministers to wear a particular style of colonial coat, preferring more contemporary attire. Observing the process the more conservative members of the conference used to apply pressure to bring him in line with their expectations, it was evident to him that a clear set of rules and a fair process would be better for the conference than relying on arbitrary interpretation of scripture passages. At a subsequent conference session Oberholtzer proposed a set of guidelines, a minimal constitution, for the organization and suggested that minutes of meetings be recorded so that decisions would be documented. When a majority of the more influential members of the conference refused to let him even present his proposal, or distribute a printed copy, a rift developed among the conference delegates.


East Pennsylvania Conference

After attempts to reconcile the two groups failed, Oberholtzer and about a quarter of the members formed a new group, the East Pennsylvania Conference. Oberholtzer purchased a hand printing press in 1851 and set it up in his locksmith shop. He began publishing ''Der Religiöse Botschafter'' (''the Religious Messenger'') with a circulation of 400, the first successful Mennonite periodical in North America. The financial burden and the demands on his time ended the operation after three years. In 1856, with funding from 92 shareholders, the Mennonite Printing Union was organized and printing resumed with a periodical named ''Das Christliche Volksblatt''. Besides the periodical, books and other material were printed at this new facility. Oberholtzer's contribution as publisher and editor was to have significant influence on Mennonites in North America. Through wide circulation of his paper, visits to Mennonites in Ontario and Ohio and correspondence with Mennonites in Europe, Oberholtzer begin developing a network of contacts with shared interests. These Mennonites were more open to interaction with other Christians and were interested in education and mission work. ''Volksblatt'' published reports from among the scattered North American Mennonites and from the more educated Mennonites in Europe. Oberholtzer was particularly interested in organizing Mennonites in Ohio, Ontario and Pennsylvania for the purpose of ministering to Mennonite families scattered throughout the region. He proposed a union based on a basic set of ideals: the doctrine of salvation in Christ, the sacraments, good works and freedom in externals. Although formal organization did not materialize, this type of cooperation was an ongoing theme in ''Volksblatt''.


Organizing and gathering

In the 1850s the Mennonite congregations of Franklin Center and West Point in
Lee County, Iowa Lee County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,555. The county seats are Fort Madison and Keokuk. Lee County is part of the Fort Madison–Keokuk, IA- IL- MO Micropolitan S ...
adopted a common constitution in order to cooperate in various projects, stressing the desire to preserve the religious faith of the small frontier groups of Mennonites. At their 1859 conference meeting a resolution was adopted to invite North American Mennonites to join this union in order to promote home and foreign missions. This invitation was extended to all Mennonites and published in ''Volksblatt''. At a meeting the following year, four individual from outside the local congregations attended the gathering, including one from Ontario and Oberholtzer from Pennsylvania. An association of Mennonite congregations was proposed that would accept any congregation, regardless of other connections, that held a basic set of Mennonite beliefs:
baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
, non-swearing of
oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to ...
s and the authority of Scripture. Complete freedom was to be permitted in all matters not explicitly taught in the Scriptures. Although Mennonite beliefs such as rejection of violence were not specifically mentioned, these were assumed to be covered by the authority of Scripture. Agreement in essentials and freedom in nonessentials was the formula for uniting congregations that varied widely in custom and practice. This formal organizational meeting on 29 May 1860 is considered the beginning of the General Conference Mennonite Church. The minutes of the meeting refer to the group as ''Conference Minutes of the General Mennonite Community of North America'' (translated from German). The group resolved to organize a mission society, establish a training school for Christian workers, form a historical society and print tracts. Daniel Hege was appointed to travel among Mennonite communities in the United States and Canada to promote cooperation for mission work and education.


Higher education

ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:40 PlotArea = left:0 right:35 bottom:20 top:20 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1860 till:2010 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1870 Colors = id:schools value:drabgreen BarData= bar:Title text: bar:Seminary text: bar:Kansas text: bar:MCI text: bar:Bluffton text: bar:Freeman text: bar:Rosthern text: bar:BBI text: bar:CMBC text: PlotData= align:center color: teal width:5 fontsize:S # set defaults bar:Title at:1935 shift:(0,11) fontsize:M text:SCHOOLS AFFILIATED WITH THE~GENERAL CONFERENCE MENNONITE CHURCH bar:Seminary from:1868 till:1879 shift:(0,6) text:
Wadsworth Institute Wadsworth Institute was a Mennonite seminary in Wadsworth, Ohio, from 1868 to 1878. Officially named the "Christian Educational Institution of the Mennonite Denomination", it accepted men aged 18 to 35 for a three-year program centering on biblical ...
bar:Seminary from:1914 till:1921 shift:(0,17) text:Mennonite~Seminary bar:Seminary from:1921 till:1931 shift:(0,-14) text:Witmarsam Theological~Seminary at:1921 mark:(line,drabgreen) bar:Seminary from:1945 till:1958 shift:(0,17) text:Mennonite~Biblical Seminary bar:Seminary from:1958 till:end shift:(0,17) text:" Associated Mennonite~ Biblical Seminary" at:1958 mark:(line,drabgreen) #Emmental 1882–1883, Halstead 1883–1892 #Bethel College charter granted 1887, and opened at N. Newton Site 1893 bar:Kansas from:1882 till:1892 shift:(0,17) text:Emmental Central School –~Halstead Seminary bar:Kansas from:1893 till:end shift:(0,6) text: Bethel College bar:MCI from:1889 till:end shift:(0,6) text:
Mennonite Collegiate Institute Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) is a private high school located in Gretna, Manitoba. It has approximately 60 students from grade 9 to 12, teaching the curriculum requirements of Manitoba Education within a Christian/Anabaptist setting. Its ...
bar:Bluffton from:1899 till:1914 shift:(0,6) text:Mennonite Central College bar:Bluffton from: 1914 till:2004 shift:(0,6) text:Bluffton College at:1914 mark:(line,drabgreen) bar:Bluffton from:2004 till:end shift:(0,6) text:
Bluffton University Bluffton University is a private Mennonite university in Bluffton, Ohio. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with four programs that have earned programmatic accreditation: dietetics, education, music, and social work. The unive ...
at:2004 mark:(line,drabgreen) bar:Freeman from:1903 till:1986 shift:(0,6) text:Freeman Junior College bar:Rosthern from:1905 till:1946 shift:(0,6) text:German-English Academy bar:Rosthern from:1946 till:end shift:(0,6) text:
Rosthern Junior College RJC High School (Rosthern Junior College) is an independent high school in Rosthern, Saskatchewan, Canada since 1905. Opening in that year as the German-English Academy, it was founded by Mennonite settlers in response to a need for trained teacher ...
at:1946 mark:(line,drabgreen) # ref: https://web.archive.org/web/20060202073106/http://www.rjc.sk.ca/rootsandwings/historybook.html bar:BBI from:1939 till:1970 shift: (0,6) text:Bethel Bible Institute bar:BBI from:1970 till:end shift:(0,6) text:
Columbia Bible College Columbia Bible College (CBC) is an institution of higher education in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. The college states that its mission is to "equip people for a life of discipleship, ministry and leadership in service to the church a ...
at:1970 mark:(line,drabgreen) # ref: https://web.archive.org/web/20060905202607/http://www.columbiabc.edu/admissions/facts_questions.html bar:CMBC from:1947 till:2000 shift:(0,17) text:Canadian Mennonite Bible College bar:CMBC from:2000 till:end at:end align:right shift:(35,6) text:
Canadian Mennonite University Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is a private Mennonite university located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrollment of 1607 students. The university was chartered in 1999 with a Shaftesbury campus in southwest Winnipeg, as well as M ...
at:2000 mark:(line,drabgreen)
Through the contacts made by Hege in the year after the 1860 meeting, other Mennonite communities became interested in the new conference. The East Pennsylvania group joined the conference in 1861, shortly after Hege's visit. Hege also raised nearly $6000 for the proposed school. Within ten years the General Conference had 1500 members from 20 congregations. Plans to create a school for training pastors and missionaries proceeded rapidly. A site was chosen in Wadsworth, Ohio and the school was constructed and dedicated in 1866.
Wadsworth Institute Wadsworth Institute was a Mennonite seminary in Wadsworth, Ohio, from 1868 to 1878. Officially named the "Christian Educational Institution of the Mennonite Denomination", it accepted men aged 18 to 35 for a three-year program centering on biblical ...
was opened on 2 January 1868 with twenty-four students enrolled in a three-year program of study. Wadsworth was the first Mennonite institution of higher learning in North America and trained a generation of church leaders. The school operated for eleven years before it fell into financial difficulty. The conference had several other competing concerns, including supporting mission work and resettling thousands of Mennonite immigrants from Russia who started arriving in the 1870s. The arriving Mennonites had a century of experience running schools in Russia. Emmental, a training school for teachers was opened on 13 September 1882 north of Newton, Kansas in a school building associated with Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church. The school was moved to
Halstead, Kansas Halstead is a city in Harvey County, Kansas, United States. Halstead was named in honor of Murat Halstead, a respected Civil War correspondent and newspaper editor. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,179. History For ...
where a new building was dedicated on 16 September 1883 as Halstead Seminary. The transformation of the Halstead school to a college began in 1887 when Bethel College Corporation was granted a charter. The school was closed for the 1892–1893 school year while preparations were made to relocate it to
North Newton, Kansas North Newton is a city in Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,814. It is located between the north side of the city of Newton (separate entity) and the south side of Interstate I-13 ...
where it opened as Bethel College in 1893. Other schools followed: Mennonite Collegiate Institute (
Gretna, Manitoba Gretna is an unincorporated urban community in the Municipality of Rhineland within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held town status prior to January 1, 2015. Just north of the Canada - United States border on PTH 30, Gretna had a populati ...
, 1899), Mennonite Central College (
Bluffton, Ohio Bluffton, originally known as Shannon, is a village in Allen and Hancock counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 4,125 at the 2010 census. Bluffton is home to Bluffton University, a four-year educational institution affiliated w ...
, 1898; now
Bluffton University Bluffton University is a private Mennonite university in Bluffton, Ohio. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with four programs that have earned programmatic accreditation: dietetics, education, music, and social work. The unive ...
), Freeman Junior College (
Freeman, South Dakota Freeman is a city in Hutchinson County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,329 at the 2020 census. Freeman was laid out in 1879. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. F ...
, 1903–1986), English-German Academy (
Rosthern, Saskatchewan Rosthern is a town at the juncture of Highway 11 and Highway 312 in the central area of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located roughly halfway between the cities of Prince Albert and Saskatoon. History Mennonite settlers, led by Gerhard Ens, beg ...
, 1905) which became Rosthern Junior College (1946), Bethel Bible Institute (
Abbotsford, British Columbia Abbotsford is a city located in British Columbia, adjacent to the Canada–United States border, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser River. With an estimated population of 153,524 people it is the largest municipality in the province outside metrop ...
, 1939), which joined with Mennonite Brethren Bible Institute to become Columbia Bible Institute (now
Columbia Bible College Columbia Bible College (CBC) is an institution of higher education in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. The college states that its mission is to "equip people for a life of discipleship, ministry and leadership in service to the church a ...
) in 1970, and Canadian Mennonite Bible College (
Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
, 1947) which combined with Concord College and Menno Simons College in 2000 to become
Canadian Mennonite University Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is a private Mennonite university located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrollment of 1607 students. The university was chartered in 1999 with a Shaftesbury campus in southwest Winnipeg, as well as M ...
. In 1914 Mennonite Central College was reorganized into Bluffton College and Mennonite Seminary. The seminary was renamed Witmarsum Theological Seminary in 1921 and provided training for church workers until it was closed in 1931. In 1945 Mennonite Biblical Seminary was started in Chicago, Illinois. The seminary was affiliated with Bethany Biblical Seminary, a
Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren (german: link=no, Schwarzenauer Neutäufer "Schwarzenau New Baptists") tradition that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germ ...
institution. In 1958
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) is an Anabaptist Christian seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, affiliated with Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. It was formerly known as Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary until its name ...
was formed when the seminary joined with
Goshen College Goshen College is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, and is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. The college is accredited by the High ...
Biblical Seminary, a Mennonite Church school in
Goshen, Indiana Goshen ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. It is the smaller of the two principal cities of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka ...
. An
Elkhart, Indiana Elkhart ( ) is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located east of South Bend, Indiana, east of Chicago, Illinois, and north of Indianapolis, Indiana. Elkhart has the larger population of the two principal cities of th ...
site was chosen as a neutral location between the two previous schools. Originally planned as two separate institutions sharing common facilities, the seminary functioned in practice as a single school after the first decade.


Mission work

ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = left:0 right:35 bottom:20 top:20 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1860 till:2000 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1870 Colors = id:schools value:drabgreen BarData= bar:Title text: bar:NA text: bar:India text: bar:China text: bar:Zaire text: bar:Colombia text: bar:Taiwan text: bar:Japan text: PlotData= align:center color: teal width:5 fontsize:S # set defaults bar:Title at:1930 shift:(0,11) fontsize:M text:MISSION WORK OF THE~GENERAL CONFERENCE MENNONITE CHURCH bar:NA from:1880 till:end shift:(0,6) text:Native American Mission bar:India from:1900 till:end shift:(0,6) text:India bar:China from:1914 till:1941 shift:(0,6) text:China bar:China from:1946 till:1951 shift:(0,6) text:West China bar:Zaire from:1945 till:end shift:(0,6) text:Zaire bar:Colombia from:1947 till:end shift:(0,6) text:Colombia bar:Taiwan from:1948 till:end shift:(0,6) text:Taiwan bar:Japan from:1951 till:end shift:(0,6) text:Japan A
mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
board was formed shortly after the 1860 creation of the conference. Its initial work consisted primarily of promoting missions and collecting funds. The mission board explored sending mission workers to Java under an existing program of European Mennonites. When it became clear that the Europeans were not interested in working jointly with the new conference, the board decided to focus on working independently of existing mission organizations. The first mission worker, Samuel S. Haury, was sent to Darlington and Cantonment in
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
(later Oklahoma) in 1880 to work among the
Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...
. He was followed in 1884 by Henry R. Voth. Voth moved to Arizona in 1893 to start work with the Hopi. Rudolphe Petter spent fifteen years in Indian Territory and then worked with the
Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
in Montana for the rest of his life. The first mission workers sent overseas were Elizabeth and Peter A. Penner of
Mountain Lake, Minnesota Mountain Lake is a city in Cottonwood County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,104 at the 2010 census. Mountain Lake was initially composed mostly of the 1,800 Low German (or more specifically, Plautdietsch) speaking Mennonite ...
along with J. F. and Susanna Kroeker, arriving in Bombay 9 December 1900,Pannabecker p. 295. to start work in India. Schoolteacher Annie C. Funk arrived in India in 1906, becoming the first single woman Mennonite mission worker. Funk returned home on her first furlough in 1912 on
RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
, losing her life when she gave up her seat on the last lifeboat to a mother with children. Henry J. Brown, another worker from Mountain Lake, was the first conference missionary in China. Arriving in December 1909 without formal support, his work was approved by the conference in 1914. Later areas of work included Taiwan, Japan, Zaire, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, and Costa Rica. Another aspect of outreach was ''home missions'', which began among scattered Mennonite communities in North America that were without pastoral leadership. This work was expanded to working with Mennonites in Mexico and South America. City missions were developed in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 Census, making it the eighteenth most populous city in Pennsylvania. ...
and
Hutchinson, Kansas Hutchinson is the largest city and county seat in Reno County, Kansas, United States, and located on the Arkansas River. It has been home to salt mines since 1887, thus its nickname of "Salt City", but locals call it "Hutch". As of the 2020 ...
. Patterned after the work of other denominations, preaching, home visitation, Sunday Schools and work with children were emphasized.


District conferences

The congregations of the General Conference Mennonite Church were organized into provincial conferences in Canada and five area conferences in the United States. Nearly all congregations were associated with an area conference while a few were members of the General Conference directly. In the 1990s the conference had 64,431 members in 410 congregations in Canada, the United States and South America. The Eastern District Conference initially consisted of churches from the East Pennsylvania Conference that joined the General Conference in 1861. In 1999 it had 28 congregations in Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. The Western District Conference was organized in 1888 by combining the western part of an earlier organized Western Conference and an earlier organized Kansas conference. In 1999 it had 80 congregations in Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. The Northern District Conference was organized in 1894. In 1999 it had 33 congregations in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. The Pacific District Conference was organized in 1896. By 1999 the southern part had joined with the Southwest Mennonite Conference of the Mennonite Church to become the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference, which consisted of 56 congregations in Mexico, Arizona, California and Florida. The northern part joined with Pacific Coast Conference of the Mennonite Church to become the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference, which had 32 congregations in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. The Central District Conference was formed in 1956 by combining Central Illinois Mennonite Conference and former Middle District. The Central Illinois Conference was made up of twenty congregations of Amish descent that joined the General Conference in 1946. In 1999 the Central District had 67 congregations in Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Michigan. The Conference of Mennonites in Canada was an organization of Canadian churches that related to the General Conference Mennonite Church. The Canadian conference was itself divided into separate conferences for British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. About a quarter of the congregations within these area conferences chose not to affiliate with the General Conference, a pattern in contrast to the United States conferences where almost all area conference congregations were also General Conference members. The Canadian conference began as the ''Conference of Mennonites in Middle Canada'' and was created 1903 to help Bergthaler Mennonites who were moving west from Manitoba, many to the Rosthern, Saskatchewan area. Bergthalers were originally from five entire villages of Russian Mennonites who had all migrated together. They were a more conservative group who preferred to run their own affairs, including schools. One of earliest activities was to provide and coordinate training for teachers.
Mennonite Collegiate Institute Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) is a private high school located in Gretna, Manitoba. It has approximately 60 students from grade 9 to 12, teaching the curriculum requirements of Manitoba Education within a Christian/Anabaptist setting. Its ...
(
Gretna, Manitoba Gretna is an unincorporated urban community in the Municipality of Rhineland within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held town status prior to January 1, 2015. Just north of the Canada - United States border on PTH 30, Gretna had a populati ...
, 1899) was soon followed by
Mennonite Educational Institute The Mennonite Educational Institute (MEI) is an independent country day school located in Abbotsford British Columbia, approximately 70 kilometres from Vancouver. MEI consists of four divisions — a preschool, elementary, middle, and secondary s ...
( Altona, Manitoba) and the German-English Academy, now
Rosthern Junior College RJC High School (Rosthern Junior College) is an independent high school in Rosthern, Saskatchewan, Canada since 1905. Opening in that year as the German-English Academy, it was founded by Mennonite settlers in response to a need for trained teacher ...
(
Rosthern, Saskatchewan Rosthern is a town at the juncture of Highway 11 and Highway 312 in the central area of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located roughly halfway between the cities of Prince Albert and Saskatoon. History Mennonite settlers, led by Gerhard Ens, beg ...
, 1905). Strong support for schools continued through the history of the conference, which by the 1990s included these additional schools: Canadian Mennonite Bible College (
Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
),
Columbia Bible College Columbia Bible College (CBC) is an institution of higher education in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. The college states that its mission is to "equip people for a life of discipleship, ministry and leadership in service to the church a ...
(
Abbotsford, British Columbia Abbotsford is a city located in British Columbia, adjacent to the Canada–United States border, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser River. With an estimated population of 153,524 people it is the largest municipality in the province outside metrop ...
),
Conrad Grebel University College Conrad Grebel University College is a university college affiliated with the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The college is owned by Mennonite Church Eastern Canada and named for early Anabaptist leader Conrad Grebel. Its ...
(
Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County, Ontario, Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto. Due to the c ...
), Swift Current Bible Institute (
Swift Current, Saskatchewan Swift Current is the fifth largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated along the Saskatchewan provincial highway 1, Trans Canada Highway west of Moose Jaw, and east of Medicine Hat ...
), United Mennonite Education Institute (
Leamington, Ontario Leamington ( ) is a municipality in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. With a population of 27,595 in the Canada 2016 Census, it forms the second largest urban centre in Windsor-Essex County after Windsor, Ontario. It includes Point Pelee Nation ...
) and
Westgate Mennonite Collegiate Westgate Mennonite Collegiate is a grade 6 to 12 Mennonite private school in Winnipeg, Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada ...
(Winnipeg, Manitoba). From 1923 to 1930 an additional 21,000 Mennonites arrived in Canada from Russia. The Canadian Board of Mennonite Colonization borrowed 1.9 million dollars to aid in the resettlement of these new immigrants. Many of these arrivals were settled on farms in Alberta and Saskatchewan. This group of Mennonites tended to be more urbanized and better educated than the Canadian Mennonites, and were drawn to Canada's cities. Winnipeg, Manitoba became the city with the largest population of Mennonites. After World War II 8000 more Russian Mennonites came to Canada.


Expansion and programs

The initial conference goals of education and mission work were well under way by the 1920s. World War II brought new challenges.
Conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
s from Canadian congregations were serving in Alternative Service projects, primarily in western Canada and then later closer to home on farms and in industry. In the United States, 828 men (almost 50 percent of those drafted) from General Conference churches served in
Civilian Public Service The Civilian Public Service (CPS) was a program of the United States government that provided conscientious objectors with an alternative to military service during World War II. From 1941 to 1947, nearly 12,000 draftees, willing to serve their ...
(CPS). The conference raised $500,000 over six years to pay for its share of the program as it cooperated with other
peace churches Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches: * Church of the Brethr ...
in the administration of CPS. The CPS experience created a generation of church leaders and continued an ongoing process of inter-Mennonite cooperation. In addition to the creation of a new seminary, the post-war years saw the expansion of existing work and new projects. Work on the ''Mennonite Encyclopedia'' was started in 1946 in cooperation with the Mennonite Church. The goal was to complete the German ''Mennonitisches Lexikon'' and then translate and rewrite it into a suitable English version. The first volume was completed in 1955 and the fourth volume of the 3827 page work in 1959. A fifth supplementary volume was produced in 1990 with new and updated information. Throughout its history, the General Conference Mennonite Church organizational structure was divided among various committees and boards. Around 1970 the boards were reorganized into commissions, including ''Commission on Education'' to oversee various educational activities and interests, ''Commission on Home Ministries'' which worked with mission activities in North America such as church planting and helping other Mennonite groups in Central and South America, ''Commission on Overseas Mission'' which dealt with overseas mission activities, ''Higher Education Council'' which worked with Mennonite colleges, ''Faith & Life Press'' which was the publishing and printing agency of the conference, ''Ministerial Leadership Services'' which worked with ministerial leadership and congregations and ''Division of General Services'' which oversaw the financial and business aspects of running the conference. Conference offices were maintained in Winnipeg, Manitoba and North Newton, Kansas. The conference printed two periodicals: ''the Mennonite'' and ''
Der Bote ''Der Bote'' ('The Messenger') was a German-language Mennonite newspaper published in Winnipeg, Manitoba, by Mennonite Church Canada. ''Der Bote'' was first published 16 January 1924 as ''Der Mennonitische Immigrantenbote'' by Dietrich H. Epp at ...
'', which reached ninety percent of members' homes


Political involvement

Mennonites in North America originally avoided political involvement if possible. This began to gradually change among General Conference Mennonites. Immigrants from Russia were slow to become citizens citing reservations over implied responsibilities, specifically military service. Those that began the
naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
process did so to participate at local polls and in national elections. In the United States, the Mennonite vote was split among the major political parties until 1940 when it predominantly favored the Republican Party. Philanthropist
Jacob A. Schowalter Jacob Abraham Schowalter (August 25, 1879 – March 10, 1953) was a Kansas farmer, business owner and General Conference Mennonite Church, Mennonite philanthropist whose estate formed the basis of the Schowalter Foundation. Schowalter was born in ...
(1879–1953) was an early
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
officeholder but it would be two decades before academics and church leaders began emphasizing
social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...
and peace-related ideals that more closely aligned with the Democratic Party, with a corresponding shift in voting patterns. One of the first Mennonites to become politically involved was Peter Jansen (1852–1923) a sheep rancher from rural
Beatrice, Nebraska Beatrice () is a city in and the county seat of Gage County, Nebraska, United States. Its population was 12,459 at the 2010 census. Beatrice is located approximately 25 miles south of Lincoln on the Big Blue River and is surrounded by agricultu ...
. Upon arriving from Russia in 1873, he met with President Grant who was interested in the proposed immigration of Mennonites from Russia. Jansen was impressed by the contrast between the pomp and glitter of Russian officialdom and the practicality he found in Washington. From that point, Jansen took an interest in politics and supported causes he felt would better his adopted country. He participated in county and state Republican conventions. Jansen was elected alternate delegate to the 1884 Republican National Convention and was a delegate-at-large to the 1896 convention that nominated
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
. Jansen did not seek political office for himself, but in 1880 his neighbors elected him
justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
. Later he served as Nebraska state representative and then state senator. He turned down nomination for
Governor of Nebraska The governor of Nebraska is the head of government of the U.S. state of Nebraska as provided by the fourth article of the Constitution of Nebraska. The officeholder is elected to a four-year term, with elections held two years after presidential e ...
because of the position's requirement to enforce the death penalty. In 1900 President McKinley appointed Jansen as one of twelve commissioners to the Paris World's Fair. In 1901 he represented Nebraska at the
state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of Etiquette, protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive ...
of McKinley. One reason for early alignment with the Republican Party was self-interest in keeping commodity prices high. The Daniel Unruh (1820–1893) family produced grain and wool in
Turner County, South Dakota Turner County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,673. Its county seat is Parker. The county was established in 1871, and was named for Dakota Territory official John W. Turner. Turner C ...
. As a result of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894 the price of wool was so low that it just covered the cost of shipment to Chicago. As with other Mennonite farmers, Unruh's sons became strong supporters of high tariffs favored by the Republican Party. By 1900 General Conference Mennonites were regularly voting in national elections. Pastor Andrew B. Shelly (1834–1913) openly and proudly wore the Republican lapel. His son was the
district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
and chairman of the
Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the Englis ...
Republican Committee. Shelly was rumored to have told his congregation to vote for
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
in the 1908 presidential election. Shelly denied this in a front-page article in the '' Quakertown (Pennsylvania) Free Press''. The influence of evangelist turned politician Gerald B. Winrod among Kansas Mennonites in the 1930s is indicative of a shift toward
right-wing patriotism Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
that gained popularity among Mennonites at that time. The influence of Christian fundamentalism and corresponding wariness of
modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
combined with Mennonite self-reliance produced an anti-
Roosevelt Roosevelt may refer to: *Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president Businesses and organisations * Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation) * Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank * Rooseve ...
reaction by 1940 that put General Conference Mennonites solidly behind Republican candidates for several decades.


Cooperation and reorganization

Starting in the 1940s the General Conference Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church worked on several cooperative projects. Among these were Civilian Public Service and
Mennonite Central Committee Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is a relief service, and peace agency representing fifteen Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Amish bodies in North America. The U.S. headquarters are in Akron, Pennsylvania, the Canadian in Winnipeg, Manitoba. ...
, which oversaw the Mennonite part of the CPS. In the 1950s the two groups created Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary together. Joint hymnal projects were completed in 1969 (''The Mennonite Hymnal'') and 1992 (''Hymnal a Worshipbook''). A joint ''Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective'' was completed in 1995. Another force in the movement towards uniting the two groups was simultaneously happening at the grassroots level. As Mennonites moved from rural areas, they formed new urban congregations, bringing together people from both denominations. These congregations would then seek affiliation in area conferences of both denominations. By the 1990s there were dozens of these dual-affiliated congregations. As cooperation between the two groups increased, overlapping area conferences began looking at ways to work together and plan for an inevitable merger. The increasing cooperation occurred in parallel with discussions about joining the two groups. Starting in 1983, the two groups met together in joint delegate sessions from time to time. By 1989 an intentional effort was underway to devise a plan for merging the two organizations, which culminated in a 1999 delegate session where a new joint structure was approved. The transformation was completed soon thereafter in Canada and by 2002 in the United States. The two groups, General Conference Mennonite Church (GCMC) and Mennonite Church (MC), became two new national groups: Mennonite Church Canada and
Mennonite Church USA The Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the United States. Although the organization is a recent 2002 merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, the body has roots in the Ra ...
.


Camp Men-O-Lan

Camp Men-O-Lan is the oldest continuously operating Mennonite camp in North America, and located in
Quakertown, Pennsylvania Quakertown is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of 2020, it had a population of 9,359. The borough is south of Allentown and Bethlehem and north of Philadelphia, making Quakertown a border town of both the Delaware Va ...
. Camp Men-O-Lan is a member of the Mennonite Camping Association and the Christian Camp and Conference Association. Camp Men-O-Lan was established in 1941 by the Eastern District Conference of the General Conference Mennonite Church. The camp name is a combination of Mennonite and Landis, the name of the denomination and the last name of the donor of the original property for the camp, J. Walter Landis. The camp is located on 174 acres in Upper Bucks County, PA. Open year round, camp facilities include 11 cabins housing up to 16 campers each, a dormitory, swimming pool, lake, paddle boats and canoes, challenge course, water slide, gymnasium, and an environmentally planned trail system.


Notes


References

*Dyck, Cornelius J. (1993). ''An Introduction to Mennonite History'', Third Edition, Chapter 14 ''The General Conference Mennonite Church'', pp. 252–276, Herald Press. *Horsch, James E. (Ed.) (1999), ''Mennonite Directory'', Herald Press. *Juhnke, James C. (1975), ''A People of Two Kingdoms: the Political Acculturation of the Kansas Mennonites'', Faith and Life Press. *Kaufman, Edmund G. (1973), ''General Conference Mennonite Pioneers'', Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas. *Pannabecker, Samuel Floyd (1975), ''Open Doors: A History of the General Conference Mennonite Church'', Faith and Life Press. {{ISBN, 978-0-87303-636-8


External links


General Conference Mennonite Church
in ''Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online'' Mennonite denominations Mennonitism in Canada Mennonitism in the United States Religious organizations established in 1860 Anabaptist organizations established in the 19th century Protestant denominations established in the 19th century 1860 establishments in the United States