Conference of Mennonites in Canada

Classification scheme:

XII

Title: Conference of Mennonites in Canada fonds

Dates of creation: 1936-1999; 1959-1991 predominant

Physical description: 1.6 m of textual records

Administrative history: The Conference of Mennonites in Canada (CMC) began in 1902-1903 with the union of congregations from the Rosenorter Mennonites of Saskatchewan and the Bergthaler Mennonites of Manitoba. The conference first met in 1903 in Hochstadt, Man., and was organized to promote "home missions." The Mennonites generally had large families and were constantly looking for land, and it was hoped that the conference would aid in the challenging task of keeping them united. The constitution, adopted at the second meeting of the conference in Eigenheim, Sask., in 1904, strongly affirmed the autonomy of individual congregations: "The Conference has no authority to interfere in the internal matters of a congregation unless called to do so. It is not a legislative, but an advisory body. The union it promotes does not consist in agreeable forms and customs, but in unity of love, faith, and hope, and in connection with this a common work in the kingdom of God." Early leaders in the conference included David Toews (chairperson from 1914-1940, with the exception of 1936), John G. Rempel (secretary from 1930-1947), and J.J. Thiessen (vice-chairperson from 1941-1942 and chairperson from 1943-1959).

A series of three different name changes led to the last conference name. Known first as "Die Konferenz der Mennoniten im Mittleren Kanada" (Conference of Mennonites in Middle Canada), it became the General Conference of Mennonites in Canada in 1932 (sessions at Laird, Sask.). Restructuring in 1959 brought about some major changes, such as limiting the terms of offices, and giving the organization its present name. At the same time a varying set of committees, which had carried out tasks as they arose, was replaced by five boards: Missions, Education and Publications, Christian Service, Canadian Mennonite Bible College, and Finance. Beginning in the 1950s the first staff members (a part-time treasurer, then a general secretary, and soon also executive secretaries of other boards) took up responsibilities as a central office developed rapidly in the next decade and a half. In the congregations there was a strong move away from leadership by elders toward the promotion of a professional ministry.

These new directions created a project-oriented agenda. With it came rising budgets and new initiatives of ministry and mission. The Mennonite Pioneer Mission, established and maintained by the Bergthal Mennonites of Manitoba until 1958, was brought into the conference program. Ultimately it formed the core aspects of Native Ministries, as this work is called in 1998. Congregations were given loans to build new church buildings. Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC) expanded its new campus at 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, where the conference also had its offices. The Board of Education and Publication, meanwhile, published devotional materials, subsidized conference-related periodicals, and undertook to publish the Conference Bulletin and other promotional materials.

In 1971 the constitution was revised again. The earlier five boards now became four: General Board, Congregational Resources, Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC), and Mennonite Pioneer Missions (changed to Native Ministries the following year). Another result of the change was a marked reduction of staff, and the general board of the conference assumed responsibility for finances. The conference celebrated its 75th birthday at the Gretna, Man., sessions in 1978.

One segment of the conference accepted a new inter-Mennonite affiliation in Ontario when the Conference of United Mennonite Churches of Ontario joined Mennonite Church (MC) congregations in Ontario to become the of Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada (MCEC) in 1988. The MC congregations in MCEC became associate members of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada, and in 1995 sixty-eight of these congregations became full members of CMC.

In 1999 the conference, together with the Mennonite Church (MC) and General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM) completed a long process of integration and transformed into two national bodies -- Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada.

Custodial history: The materials were donated to the Archives by various individuals that served in conference positions. These have included the Herman Enns estate, J.K. Klassen, J.J. Wichert estate, and Sam Steiner.

Scope and Content: The fonds consists of meeting minutes, reports and correspondence, as well as the materials distributed to annual meeting delegates.

Notes: The original description was created by Sam Steiner in June 2004.

File list:

Series 1: Annual & Special Delegate Meetings

Scope and content: report book, minutes, financial, and other delegate materials circulated at meeting; not all included each year; a nearly complete set of annual report books and issues of the conference newsletter, the Bulletin, are cataloged in the Library.

1959-1969, 1971-1974, 1976-1978, 1982, 1986, 1989-1991, 1993, 1995, 1997-1999

Series 2: Executive Office / Executive Committee/ Council of Boards / General Board Minutes & Correspondence (includes Council of Boards reports)

1960 (J.J. Wichert files), partial
1961/62 (J.J. Wichert files)
1963 (J.J. Wichert files), partial
1966/67 (Herman Enns files)
1967 Council of Boards
1967/68 (Herman Enns files)
1968 Council of Boards
1968/69 (Herman Enns files)
1969 Council of Boards
1970 Council of Boards
1970/71 (J.K. Klassen files)
1971 Council of Boards
1972 Council of Boards (minutes only; no reports)
1975 Council of Boards
1976 Council of Boards
1977 Council of Boards
1991 Council of Boards

Series 3: Canadian Mennonite Bible College

CMBC Board Minutes (incomplete)
1953-1958
1962-1974
1978
Publicity materials, 1950s-1970s

Series 4: Mennonite Pioneer Mission/Native Ministries

Board Minutes & Correspondence
1959/60
1968-1971, 1973, 1978
Publicity material
"Report of a survey of Greater Winnipeg for the Mennonite Pioneer Mission Board" by H.T. Klassen, 1958

Series 5: Board of Missions

Board Minutes & Correspondence
1958, 1960-1961
July-Dec 1962 Custodial history: From the files of J.J. Wichert.
1965-1971
Radio Committee, 1960-1966

Series 6: Board of Education and Publication

Minutes & Correspondence
January 1960
1962-1968, 1969 (partial)
1970
Christian Education Conference, August 26-28, 1964 (papers, etc.)
Literature Committee minutes, correspondence
1964-1966 (Herman Enns files)
Gesangbuchkomission = Gesangbuch Revision Committee
1961-1966
Custodial history: From the files of J.J. Wichert.
Note: Handwritten drafts and most typewritten drafts of the hymnal indexes were not kept.
Film news : [catalogue, 19--] / Faith and Life Film Library
Copy of draft of J. Wichert's Katechismus-Lektionen presented at Didsbury, Alberta in July 1955. - This was Wichert's copy, donated to the Archives by Lydia Wichert c. 2010.
Student Services Committee
Minutes and correspondence, 1963-1965
Student Surveys, 1963/1964-1964/1965 (General Conference Mennonite Church), 1964/1965 (Mennonite Brethren Student Services)
Note: These files were received by the Archives in 2024 from the estate of Aaron Klassen, a committee member.

Series 7: Board of Christian Service

Minutes & Correspondence
1960, 1965-1971 (incomplete)

Series 8: Congregational Resources Board

Minutes & Correspondence
1971-1974
1977-1978
Resource Centre
"Peace shelf: a bibliography", 1991

Series 9: Board of Finance / Finance Committee

Minutes & Correspondence
January 1960, 1967-1973
Annual financial statements
1965, 1974

Series 10: Canadian Women in Mission

Minutes, 1978
Annual meeting, 1986

Series 11: Committee on the Ministry

Minutes
1966, 1969
Women in Leadership Ministries (packet), 1990

Series 12: Canadian Mennonite Youth Council

Minutes, correspondence
1961-1963

Series 13: Ad hoc Committees as Appointed

Structures Committee, 1989-1993
Consultation on Higher Education, 1992

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