Mennonite Church USA
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The Mennonite Church USA represents the largest group of Mennonite Christians in the United States. Though the organization is recent, the body has roots in the Radical Reformation of the 16th century. Mennonites make up a large portion of a movement within Christianity called Anabaptism (meaning "baptized again"). The formation of an Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, Switzerland in 1525 is considered by many to be the beginning of a recognizable "Mennonite" doctrinal and historical existence. They were nicknamed after the Dutch Anabaptist leader Menno Simons (1496-1561).
Mennonites first arrived in America chiefly through the efforts of William Penn (1644-1718) of Pennsylvania. Penn visited Mennonite districts in Europe, offering them freedom from persecution and an invitation to come to Pennsylvania.
The Mennonite Church USA came into existence through the merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church.
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(General Assembly) Mennonite Church
Dutch and German immigrants from Krefeld, Germany settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1683. Swiss Mennonites came to North America in the early part of the 18th century. Their first settlements were in Pennsylvania, and then in Virginia and Ohio. These Swiss immigrants, combined with Dutch & German Mennonites and progressive Amish Mennonites who later united with them, until 2002 made up the largest body of Mennonites in North America (in the past often referred to as the "Old Mennonites"). They formed regional conferences in the 1700s, and a North American conference in 1898. The year 1725 is often considered the date of organization in the United States, when a ministers' conference met in Pennsylvania and adopted the Dordrecht Confession as their official statement of faith.
General Conference Mennonite Church
"Progressives" under the leadership of John H. Oberholtzer and others allied with him organized the General Conference Mennonite Church (GCMC) at Wayland, Iowa in 1860. These brethren desired to see the church adopt Sunday Schools and missions, and move away from rigidly enforced standards of dress. They were most successful among the South German Mennonites in Illinois and Iowa, who responded well to these calls for reform. Many Mennonite immigrants that immigrated into the United States from Russia (although they were ethnically Dutch) after the organization of the General Conference also chose to become part of it. Though intending to organize a loose conference available to all Mennonites, their movement started a separate branch of the Mennonite Church. The General Conference Mennonite Church was traditionally considered the more liberal branch of Mennonites, but by the 1980s, there remained little difference between the GCMC and the "Old" Mennonite church.
Merger
In 1983 the General Assembly of the Mennonite Church met jointly with the General Conference Mennonite Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in celebration of 300 years of Mennonite witness in the Americas. Beginning in 1989, a series of consultations, discussions, proposals, and sessions (and a vote in 1995 in favor of merger) led to the unification of these two major North American Mennonite bodies into one denomination organized on two fronts - the Mennonite Church USA and the Mennonite Church Canada. The merger was "finalized" at a joint session in St. Louis, Missouri in 1999, and the Canadian branch moved quickly ahead. The United States branch did not complete their organization until the meeting in Nashville, Tennessee in 2001, which became effective February 1, 2002.
The merger of 1999-2002 at least partially fulfilled the desire of the founders of the General Conference Mennonite Church to create an organization under which all Mennonites could unite. Yet all Mennonites did not favor the merger. The Alliance of Mennonite Evangelical Congregations represents one expression of the disappointment with the merger and the events that led up to it.
Faith and Practice
The doctrinal faith of the Mennonite Church USA is set forth in The Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective. This confession was adopted in 1995 at the joint session in Wichita, Kansas. It contains 24 articles on the following: "God; Jesus Christ; Holy Spirit; Scripture; Creation and Divine Providence; the Creation and Calling of Human Beings; Sin; Salvation; The Church of Jesus Christ; The Church in Mission; Baptism; The Lord's Supper; Foot Washing; Discipline in the Church; Ministry and Leadership; Church Order and Unity; Discipleship and the Christian Life; Christian Spirituality; Family, Singleness, and Marriage; Truth and the Avoidance of Oaths; Christian Stewardship; Peace, Justice, and Nonresistance; The Church's Relation to Government and Society; and The Reign of God."
Status
The new Mennonite Church USA maintains four church-wide ministry agencies - the Mennonite Mission Network, the Mennonite Education Agency, the Mennonite Publishing Network, and the MMA Stewardship Agency. A general assembly meets every three years. The main offices of the denomination are located in Newton, Kansas and Elkhart, Indiana. The church maintains several higher education institutions (including Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, IN; Bethel College in North Newton, KS; Hesston College in Hesston, KS; Bluffton College in Bluffton, OH; Eastern Mennonite University, in Harrisonburg, VA; and Goshen College in Goshen, IN), as well as numerous elementary and secondary schools. The Mennonite is a semi-monthly magazine published by the church. In 2003 membership was 113,972 in 1008 congregations¹ and 21 conferences.
Regional Conferences (2003)
- Allegheny Mennonite Conference
- Atlantic Coast Conference
- Central District Conference
- Central Plains Mennonite Conference
- Eastern District Conference
- Franconia Mennonite Conference
- Franklin Mennonite Conference
- Gulf States Mennonite Conference
- Illinois Mennonite Conference
- Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference
- Lancaster Mennonite Conference
- New York Mennonite Conference
- North Central Conference of the Mennonite Church
- Ohio Conference of the Mennonite Church
- Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference
- Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference
- Rocky Mountain Mennonite Conference
- South Central Mennonite Conference
- Southeast Mennonite Conference
- Virginia Mennonite Conference
- Western District Conference
External links
- Mennonite Church USA (http://www.mennoniteusa.org/) - official Web Site
- Mennonite Church USA History and Archives (http://www.mcusa-archives.org/)
- Third Way Café (http://www.thirdway.com/menno/)
- Mennolink (http://info.mennolink.org/menno.html)
References
- Encyclopedia of American Religions, J. Gordon Melton, editor
- Handbook of Denominations in the United States, by Frank S. Mead, Samuel S. Hill, and Craig D. Atwood
- Mennonite Church USA, 2003 Directory
- Mennonite Encyclopedia, Cornelius J. Dyck, Dennis D. Martin, et al., editors
- The Anabaptist Vision, by Harold S. Bender
Footnote
- 1. This total includes 5 congregations not affiliated with any regional conference.