MCH 301: The Origins of Mennonite Church USA

This blog is supposed to be about how being gay relates to being Mennonite today, but it has occurred to me that I have not had a post about Mennonite history in quite awhile.

Now I know I have previously said:

"I promise that any future history will only be discussed in this blog when it is necessary."

But I feel that in order to understand some things I am going to write about in the future, it would be good to know a little bit more about how we, as a denomination, have become what we are today.

The denomination I am referring to is, of course, Mennonite Church USA; and believe it or not, MC USA is not very old (despite what you might think with such a long Anabaptist history). MC USA has actually only been around since 2002.

Before that, there were two separate denominations of Mennonites across North America: the Mennonite Church (MC) and the General Conference Mennonite Church (GC).

(In case you were wondering, I come from the GC tradition.)

The Mennonite Church (MC)—or “Old” Mennonite Church—was formed out of the Mennonite immigrants who first started coming to North America in the 1600s from the Netherlands and Alsace regions of Europe. They primarily settled in eastern Pennsylvania, but also settled in various locations throughout Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, etc.

The General Conference Mennonite Church (GC) was originally formed in 1860s out of a disagreement amongst MC ministers—John H. Oberholtzer being the leader. These few churches in eastern Pennsylvania and Iowa formed the new denomination. However, the GC denomination did not really take off until the new Mennonite immigrants—who came to North America in 1874 from Russia—joined. These new immigrants settled all across Canada (Manitoba, Ontario, etc) and the Midwestern United States (Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, etc).

A third population of Mennonites called Mennonite Brethren—which when grouped together with MC and GC denominations—helped to comprise the overwhelming majority of Mennonites in North America. These three denominations—but most often just the General Conference Mennonites and Old MC Mennonites—often collaborated with each other in various ventures like education and mission.

Together they collaborated in writing the Mennonite Confession of Faith (1963); and created the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) which is a mission agency devoted to relief, service, and peace throughout the world—MCC still exists as arguably the primary mission agency of the Mennonites today.

Over time, the close collaboration between the MC and GC denominations lead to discussions, starting in the early 1980s, for a merger. These discussions would eventually lead to a redrafting of the original Mennonite Confession of Faith (1963), later published as the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995), in preparation for the pending merger set to take place between 1999 and 2002.

Out of these two denominations, two new ones emerged: Mennonite Church Canada (2000) and Mennonite Church USA (2002).

Today, MC USA is composed of over 100,000 members in over 900 congregations among 21 area conferences spread out all across the United States.

The 21 area conferences of MC USA

In historical tradition, every other year congregations from all area conferences converge at MC USA’s Biannual National Convention to network and worship and commune with each other, and to call the Delegate Assembly to session. Biannual National Conventions have taken place in Nashville, TN (2001); Atlanta, GA (2003); Charlotte, NC (2005); San Jose, CA (2007); Columbus, OH (2009); Pittsburgh, PA (2011); and is scheduled to next take place in Phoenix, AZ in the summer of 2013.

Unlike other Christian denominations that exists today, the Mennonite Church does not have a single figurehead to represent or oversee the denomination—i.e. the Pope for the Catholic Church. Instead, the Delegate Assembly (composed of delegates from local congregations, regional area conferences and constituency groups) develops the vision and direction for MC USA. And the Executive Board assumes responsibility for carrying out the wishes of the Delegate Assembly while the Assembly is not in session.

And that, for the most part, is Mennonite Church USA. Of course, I have not told the entire story; I have left out some things. But this is enough to give you an understanding of what all goes into some of the issues our denomination is still trying to work through today.