The Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference is a regional conference of

Mennonite Church USA The Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the United States. Although the organization is a recent 2002 merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, the body has roots in the Radi ...

that consists of 77 congregations in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

History

The Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference was formed as a conference of the "Old" Mennonite Church (MC) in 1916 between a pre-existing Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference and the Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference.

Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference (pre-1916)

Beginning in the 1850s, the Indiana Conference was primarily under the oversight of the Ohio Mennonite Conference, with leaders from both states attending each other's conference meetings. In 1895 the minutes of the conference meetings added "Michigan" to the name of the conference, apparently the first record of the name change, though there is no record of official process to make this change. In 1911, the conference created the semi-autonomous Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Mission Board.

Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference

Beginning after the dissolution of the Amish Mennonite general conference ("Diener-Versammlung" 1862-1878), the first meeting was in 1888 at the Maple Grove Church near Topeka, Indiana. This conference became known as the "spring conference," in contrast to the Mennonite "fall conference," with some ministers of each conference attending both. In 1916, just before the merger, the Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference contained 11 congregations with a total of 1,539 members (not including the "union" College Mennonite Church which was a member of both the Mennonite and Amish Mennonite conferences).

The Merger

The close relations of the two conferences resulted in a "Committee on Conference Union" which met on February 13, 1913. Following the positive responses from both conferences, a new ''Constitution, Rules, and Disciplines'' was drafted and then voted on at the respective conference meetings of 1916, ratified by large majorities.

Today

According to the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference's website, it has over 10,000 members in 77 congregations concentrated in

Michiana Michiana ( ) is a region in northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan centered on the city of South Bend, Indiana. The Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County, Indiana defines Michiana as St. Joseph County and "counties that contribute at ...

but also as far away as

Antioch, Tennessee Antioch is a neighborhood of Nashville located approximately southeast of Downtown Nashville. It is served by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. History 19th century The community known as Antioch began at the ...

(Harmony Mennonite Church). In 1954, the conference founded Bethany Christian High School (now Bethany Christian Schools). The conference also founded Camp Amigo (now called

Amigo Centre Amigo(s) (Portuguese and Spanish for ''male friend'') may refer to: People * Carlos Amigo Vallejo (1934–2022), Spanish Roman Catholic archbishop emeritus of Seville Places Facilities * Amigos School, a bilingual primary school in Cambridge, ...

, located in

Sturgis, Michigan Sturgis is a city in St. Joseph County, Michigan, St. Joseph County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 11,082 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located at the northeast corner of Sturgis Township, Michigan ...

, in 1957. Both of these ventures continue under the conference's oversight. The conference's publication is the Gospel Evangel, published since 1973. The records of many of the congregations of the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference, as well as those of the conference itself, can be found at the

Mennonite Church USA Archives The Mennonite Church USA Archives was founded in 2001 under the denominational merger of the (old) Mennonite Church (1725–2002), Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. Prior to 2001, the two largest Mennonite denominations ...

Congregations

Assembly Mennonite Church
College Mennonite Church
Olive Mennonite Church

Prairie Street Mennonite Church Prairie Street Mennonite Church is a Mennonite Church located in Elkhart, Indiana. It is a member of the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA. History Prairie Street began in 1870 as a gathering of Mennonites who lived i ...

Yellow Creek Mennonite Church

References

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External links

A History of Amigo Centre
Mennonite Church USA