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Conference of Mennonites in Canada fonds
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Conference of Mennonites in Canada fonds

  • CA MHC ORG
  • Fonds
  • 1902-2005, predominant 1902-2000

This fonds consists of the records of the various committee, boards, staff and offices of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada. They have been described based on the 1994 conference structure for administering the programs -- 3 boards and several auxiliary organizations. A fourth elected board under the conference structure was the Canadian Mennonite Bible Collge Board (CMBC). Their records have been integrated and described separately as the Canadian Mennonite Bible College fonds.
The Conference of Mennonites in Canada fonds consists of the following series/sub-series:
A. General Board (1903-1999)

  • A.01. Annual conference sessions
  • A.02. Conference secretary files
  • A.03. Executive/general secretary files
  • A.04. Finance committee
  • A.05. Leadership Commission
  • A.06. European Ministries
  • A.07. General Board
  • A.08. Integration Membership Committee
    B. Resources Commission (1922-1999)
  • B.01. Board of Missions
  • B.02 Conference Publications
  • B.03 Board of Education and Publications
  • B.04 Board of Christian Service
  • B.05 Congregational Resources Board
  • B.06 Resources Commission
    C. Native Ministries (1948-2005)
    D. Auxiliary Organizations (1947-1999)
    • D.01 The Canadian Mennonite Youth Organization
    • D.02 Canadian Mennonite Men
    • D.03 Canadian Women in Mission

Conference of Mennonites in Canada

General board

This series consists of minutes, reports and correspondence of the elected leadership of the Conference. The files are all originals, although much of the material consists of carbon copies of letters sent to persons other than the addressee. Minutes and reports of the post-1950 era are usually mimeograph copies. The financial ledgers are, of course, the original handwritten volumes. The early CMC minutes are of interest for anyone working on the history or sociology of the church in western Canada or of Mennonites in particular. They tell the story of how a small nonconformist group acculturated to its host society.
The records have been arranged and described under eight headings:
-1. Annual conference sessions
-2. Conference secretary files
-3. Executive/general secretary files
-4. Finance committee
-5. Leadership Commission
-6. European Ministries
-7. General Board
-8. Integration Membership Committee

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. General Board

Annual conference sessions

This sub-series contains the original handwritten minute books of the conference sessions for the years 1903 to 1942. Original minutes for the years 1943 to 1948 are not available, although published minutes exist in the CMC Yearbooks for the years 1928-1999. The minute books provide a handwritten copy of the constitution and summarize the papers presented and discussed at the annual sessions. The issues discussed were usually religious in nature although in some instances they had broader implications (e.g. the discussion on involvement in politics). The minutes also recorded all the resolutions approved during the sessions.

Conference secretary files

This sub-series consists largely of correspondence but also includes minutes, reports and other materials. Correspondence was carried on with many institutions (including different levels of conferences) and touches on a wide variety of subjects. The conference secretary files extant in the Archives were generated by three men who occupied this position successively. They were:

  • H.T. Klassen (1947-1954)
  • P.R. Harder (1954-1958)
  • H.H. Epp (1958-1961).

Finance committee

Most of the financial records consist of administrative correspondence after 1965. There are documents relating to the finances of the difference CMC boards. There are a series of ledgers dating from 1930-1945, 1949-1957 and 1957-1973. Also included are the CMC financial Records from 1981-2001 which include personnel files, pension benefit statments, and external audits. These financial records pertain to all branches of Conference work and can help demonstrate the growth of the Conference in a quantifiable way.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. Finance committee

Leadership Commission

This sub series contains correspondence and desk calendars as well as information on the "Study Reserve Fund" for the period of 1982-1987. It also contains the 1968-1982 minutes for the Committee on the Ministry and a file on a Conference on Ordination, dated 1957.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. Committee on the ministry

European Ministries

This sub-series contains minutes, reports, memos and correspondence related to the European ministries program of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada. The primary European partner
was the Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur geistlichen Unterstützung in Mennonitegemeinden (AGUM).

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. European ministries

General Board

This sub series contains the program committee files (1980-1992) and assorted correspondence, minutes, reports related to the General Board. Many files are from individuals personal collections, including Theodore E. Friesen, Frank K. Isaac, David P. Neufeld , and Henry Poettcker.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. General Board

Integration Membership Committee files

This sub-series contains the files of David Schroeder, long time Bible teacher and church leader of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada and the General Conference Mennonite Church, who was a member of the Integration Membership Committee. The records includes correspondence, submissions, reports and minutes of the activities of this committee from the time that it was appointed in mid-1998 up until it presented it report and recommendations at the St. Louis Assembly in July 1999. There are a few items of correspondence to the committee reflecting on the St. Louis ’99 process, as well as one letter of thanks to the committee members from chairman James Waltner dated July 2001.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. Integration membership committee

Resources Commission

This record sub-series becomes difficult to describe, because in some instances several sources for records originate from the same period, while in others, material from two different sub-series have been interfiled. In still other cases, confusion is caused by one individual generating material for several organizations. The records of this sub-series include the records of the following predecessor boards, committees and programs:
-Board of Missions
-Board of Christian Service
-Board of Education and Publications
-Congregational Resources Board
-Resources Commission

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. Congregational Resources Board

Board of Missions

Much of this material consists of correspondence with individual mission stations. Approximatly 0.5 meters of the material in these files dates from before 1962. Among this material are minutes (1940-1971), reports, and correspondence (1943-1959). The oldest Board of Missions material is the financial ledger for the years 1914-1957. This ledger was begun by G.G. Epp and was maintained by P.P. Epp from 1927-1931. Both these men served as treasurer for the Missions Committee.

The David Toews files, is only indirectly related to the CMC Board of Missions. Toews served as field secretary responsible for the Canadian operations of the Home Missions Board of the General Conference Mennonite Church (1917-1946) and as member of the CMC Committee for Home Missions from 1943-1945, but the majority of these records are related to his General Conference involvements. The correspondence has all been filed alphabetically. One file of material in these records pertains to the CMC Archives but it appears to have been created by J.J. Thiessen, not by David Toews. The bulk of the material relates to the assistance which the General Conference provided for the creation of new churches in Canada in the years 1923-1946.

The H.J. Gerbrandt files reflect his involvement as field secretary (1959-1960) and secretary (1961-1965) of the Mission Board, as well as his service with Mennonite Pioneer Mission. Most of the material consists of correspondence, minutes, and reports. The files employ an alphabetical filing system.

The George Groening records contain a total of 1.36 meters of correspondence, minutes, agendas, and reports (both general and local) from the years 1948-1966. The H.H. Penner files cover approximately the same period as the Groening files and the types of material are quite similar as well. There is no obvious filing order in the collection.
The Mennonite Pioneer Mission (MPM) was operated by the conference of Mennonites in Canada since 1960. Some pre-1960 records in these files seem to have been transferred to the Conference in 1960. The J.N. Braun treasurer files (1942-1961) fall into this category. The early financial records of Mennonite Pioneer Mission are not entirely complete. Some of the pre-1949 ledgers were retained by the Bergthaler Mennonite Church of Manitoba, founders of the Mennonite Pioneer Mission. The files also contain correspondence for the years 1931-1948. Finally there are also minutes of the MPM Board for the years 1944-1959. The post-1960 period the MPM files were generated by the CMC Board of Missions' executive secretaries. They were responsible for overseeing all MPM operations. There is considerable correspondence with people from the various mission stations.

This record sub-series has intriguing research possibilities. The materials are useful for studying the history of several northern Manitoba native communities or the history of missions in Canada, and for doing cross-cultural studies. There are also possibilities for demographic studies, especially with regard to migration of Mennonites in Canada. The Board of Missions files could also be of considerable interest to the local historians who is trying to reconstruct the church development in their community.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. Board of Missions

Conference Publications

These files consist primarily of correspondence pertaining to publications dating from the period after 1950. The main publications dealt with are the CMC Yearbook, Der Bote, The Canadian Mennonite (1953-1971), Mennonite Reporter (1971-1997), Canadian Mennonite (1997-), Light for the Day/Licht fuer den Tag. The Canadian Mennonite and its successors, Mennonite Reporter (1972) and Canadian Mennonite (1997) had an arms-length relationship with the conference.

Files were generated by: a) J.G. Rempel (Conference Secretary) 1939-1942 b) David P. Neufeld (Executive Secretary of the CMC) 1961-1967 c) H.T. Klassen (Executive Secretary of the Board of Education and Publication) 1954-1966 d) Henry H. Epp (Executive Secretary of the Board of Education and Publication) 1966-1971 e) Henry H. Epp (Executive Secretary of the Congrgational Resources Board) 1971-1974 f) Lawrence Klippenstein (CMC Editor of Publications) 1973-1976 g) Irene Friesen Petkau (1976-1977) h) Adelia Neufeld Wiens (1977-1978) i) Susan Rempel Letkemann (1978-1981) j) Larry Kehler (1982-1983) k) Eleanor Loewen (1983-1984) l) Brenda Suderman (1983-1987) m) Marg Franz (1987-1994) n) Roma Quapp editor of Nexus (1994-1997) o) Aiden Schlichting Enns.

For most researchers the useful part of this sub series are the publications. For example, Der Miterbeitar and Der Bote have great usefulness for reconstructing many facets of early Mennonite life in Canada and for understanding the thinking of Mennonite people. The CMC yearbooks which include the proceedings of the annual conferences, give an overview of the ministry through the years. The English language papers give a survey of more recent events and understanding.

Board of Education and Publications

The materials in this sub-series have been generated primarily by H.T. Klassen the secretary of the Board from 1953-1961, and executive secretary from 1962-1965. The majority of these records pertain to CMC Sunday Schools for the years 1953-1971. There are also Board minutes for the years 1955-1971 and publications correspondence for the same period. These records could be of use for people studying the history of Christian Education or the structures and activities of the CMC.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. Board of Education and Publications

Board of Christian Service

The Board of Christian Service records appear to be fairly complete. The contain Board minutes for the years 1954-1971, as well as correspondence files dating from 1954 and 1956-1971. The files contain a great deal of material regarding the social issues of the 1950s and 1960s and about the CMC position toward them. The Board of Christian Service was very involved in the area of peace education and this interest is reflected in the content of the files. There are also files on subjects such as divorce, race relations, draft resistance, Martin Luther King, medical ethics, and capital punishment, to name a few.

The Records of the Board of Christian Service files were generated by the following people: a) David P. Neufeld (Chairman of the Board 1956-1960) b) Frank H Epp (Executive Secretary 1956-1959, 1965) c) Henry A. Wiens (Secretary of the Board 1957-1959, Chairman of the Board 1960-1964) d) Peter G. Sawatzky (Executive Secretary 1964) e) Frank H. Epp (Chairman of the Board 1964, Executive Secretary 1965) f) Nick Dick (Executive Secretary 1966) g) Jake Letkemann (Executive Secretary 1967-1971).

These files are of considerable interest for studying church involvement in Canadian social issues, church state relations, religion and the larger society, and the evolution of the Christian social conscience.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. Board of Christian Service

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