Abe Dueck Presentation - Mennonite Brethern Beginnings
Helmut Harder Presentation - General Conference Mennonite Church History

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of two major Anabaptist bodies, the Mennonite Brethren Church in the Ukraine, and the General Conference Mennonite Church in the USA. To help celebrate this important landmark, CMU will host an all day story-telling session on June 5, 2010 on campus, followed by an evening worship service, open to all, at Winnipeg’s Portage Avenue Church.
The stories of these two churches began in 1860, when two renewal movements, separated by the Atlantic Ocean, led to the formation of two different Mennonite denominations. In that year, one group seeking emphasis on discipline, prayer, and Bible study left the larger Mennonite church in the Ukraine to form the Mennonite Brethren Church. Simultaneously in North America, congregations in Iowa invited other Mennonites to join together to pursue common goals in mission work, service, and higher education, thereby forming the General Conference Mennonite Church, which later merged with the Mennonite Church to form Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA.

“The dynamics and influences within these origins, together with later migrations and events, shaped the minds and hearts of these two denominations in ways that are still present today,” says Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) President Gerald Gerbrandt. “We are delighted to present an opportunity to share and learn from the two stories in a way that we hope appeals to both church leaders and laypeople.”

“In this 150th Anniversary year, it is appropriate to reflect on what these two churches experienced and learned with and from ‘the other’,” says Gerbrandt. “Through the conference and worship service, CMU aims to foster better understanding of the Mennonite denominations, the forces that influenced them, and their continuing impact on current tendencies and emphases. Lastly, we wish to worship God together, celebrating the past, looking into the future.”

Known as peace churches for their commitment to nonviolence, the Mennonite churches worldwide have approximately 1.5 million baptized members in 51 countries on six continents. Both the Mennonite Brethren and Mennonite Church Canada, along with Mennonite Church USA, are member churches of a broader Mennonite World Conference. Together, these three churches account for 33% of the number of Mennonites worldwide.