Department of U.S. Ministries

Corporate body

Department of U.S. Ministries

• USM, MCC-USM

1975-1979

The first meeting of Mennonite Central Committee’s Department of United States Ministries (USM) met on April 29 and 30, 1975 in Chicago, Illinois. The Department of United States Ministries was officially created at MCC’s 1975 Annual meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This department began operation by administering MCC’s voluntary service program in the United States but had a broader mandate to expand into wider areas of need as they were discovered and brought before the department by its members. Initial members of this department were Leon Stauffer, general secretary of Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities, to represent Eastern Board: Sam Weaver, principal of Eastern Mennonite High School, to represent the Mennonite Church; Charles Neufeld, voluntary service coordinator at Markham, Ill., to represent General Conference; John Kliewer, pastor of the Silver Lake Mennonite Brethren Church, Marion, S. D., to represent the Mennonite Brethren Church; Wilmer Heisey, Brethren in Christ Mission Board, to represent the Brethren in Christ Church; Robert Friesen of the Fresno, Calif., housing authority counseling services to represent MCC-West Coast, and Newton Gingrich, member of MCC Executive Committee and moderator of the Mennonite Church, to represent MCC-Canada. By involving representatives from various conferences in an inter-Mennonite effort, the department also planned to provide resources to conferences and congregations on offender ministries, poverty, housing, children's services, minority ministries and similar topics, to study the nature and effect of Christian service ministries on those who serve and those being served and to discern who should continue to shepherd those coming into a relationship with Jesus Christ through MCC services.

At the September 13, 1979 meeting of the MCC U.S. Executive Committee it was decided that USM would integrate with MCC US. The USM held it’s last meeting on October 19-20, 1979.

Akron, Pennsylvania

This department began operation by administering MCC’s voluntary service program in the United States but had a broader mandate to expand into wider areas of need as they were discovered and brought before the department by its members. By involving representatives from various conferences in an inter-Mennonite effort, the department also planned to provide resources to conferences and congregations on offender ministries, poverty, housing, children's services, minority ministries and similar topics, to study the nature and effect of Christian service ministries on those who serve and those being served and to discern who should continue to shepherd those coming into a relationship with Jesus Christ through MCC services.

MCC News Service Article, Department of U.S. Ministries to Meet, April 4, 1975. U.S. Ministries Meeting minutes, October 19-20, 1979, page 7 and 8.

Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, PA

Partial

April 6, 2021

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