Press announcements authored and distributed by the Mennonite World Conference. These records provide a good overview of the Mennonite World Conference's work and developments in Mennonite conferences and congregations worldwide from 1981 thorugh the 2000s. Researchers should note that there are no press releases from 1982 in this series.
World Fellowship Sunday Worship Materials
This series consists of "idea sheets," resource guides, music, and other resources for worship services centered around the celebration of Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches worldwide. Materials are in multiple languages, most often English, Spanish, French, German, and Dutch. Also included is correspondence providing feedback on the worship resources.
Reports, minutes, correspondence, and subject files pertaining to the Peace Council. The Peace Council first gathered as the International Mennonite Peace Committee (IMPC) in 1979 in Nicaragua and Colombia. The council serves to encourage the exchange of informaiton and resouces in peace and justice activities worldwide. These reocrds also contain documentation of a predecessor organization, the Provisional Peace Team (1972-1978).
This series documents ecumenical and interfaith activites of the Mennonite World Conference. Researchers will find materials pertaining to the Lutheran - Mennonite reconciliation process as well as documents recording dialogue with Baptists, Catholics, Jews, and the Reformed Church. Researchers will also find materials pertaining to delegations to the USSR (Soviet Union) in this series. Documents pertaining to ecumenical relations prior to 1982 may be found in the records of the presidium in Series 1: Assembly Records.
The Faith & Life Council was created in 1993 to determine how Mennonite World Conference churches understand and describe Anabaptist-Mennonite faith and practice, to enable member churches to receive and give council Anabaptist-Mennonite identity and action, and to develop relationships interchurch relationships of mutual accountability. Records in this series include minutes and reports, correspondence, and a small reference library of congregational and denominational Mennonite confession statements. Also included in this series are the records documenting the creation of the shared convictions in 2006, including questionnaires returned by Mennonite World Conference members.
International Planning Committee Records
Records associated with the planning process of moving the Mennonite World Conference from a "conference" to a "communion." Records include correspondence, planning committee meeting minutes, and member survey results and interview summaries.
Photographs and Audio-Visual Materials
The Mennonite World Conference assemblies bring together Mennonites every six years to explore the history and future of Mennonite Anabaptism and to be in community with one another. While the earliest assemblies were attended primarily by Mennonites living near the host city, modern assemblies are attended by thousands of Mennonites worldwide. The records of the earliest assemblies consist only of the proceedings. Beginning with the 1948 assembly, there are also materials documenting the planning, organization, and publicizing of the assemblies, as well as more thorough records of activities and attandance at the assembly. For some assemblies, sound recordings and films accompany the paper records.