Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference
The Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference (1888-1917) was the first of three Amish Mennonite conferences to be organized after the Amish Mennonite general conference (Diener-Versammlung 1862-1878) no longer met and it was the first to unite with its district Mennonite conference. The others were the Western Amish Mennonite (1890-1920) and the Eastern Amish Mennonite (1883-1927). The Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference held its first meeting in the Maple Grove Church southwest of Topeka, Indiana on 7 April 1888. Several of the members of the Amish Mennonite Conference participated in the discussions of the Indiana Mennonite Conference in October of the same year when that body passed a resolution favoring a Mennonite general conference. From the beginning, ministers of each conference were welcomed in the other and in the years immediately preceding the merger in 1917 the A.M. Conference was referred to as the "spring conference" and the Mennonite as the "fall conference." Before the merger the two conferences cooperated in organizing a district mission board in 1911. In the year before the merger (1916) the Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference reported 11 congregations, 1,539 members, 5 bishops, 13 ministers, and 9 deacons; the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference, 1,728 members (counting the Goshen College joint congregation of 195 members), 24 bishops and deacons, and 29 ministers. The 11 congregations of the Amish Mennonite conference in 1916 were: Indiana—Forks, Clinton Frame, Nappanee, Middlebury, Leo, Maple Grove (Topeka), Howard-Miami, Linn Grove; Michigan— Fairview, Sunnyside (Comins), Union (Chief).
In the first years after organization Bishop J. P. Smucker of Nappanee served as moderator or assistant moderator and took an active part in organizational and evangelistic activities. Other leading bishops of the conference were D. D. Miller of Middlebury; D. J. Johns of Goshen; and Jonathan Kurtz of Ligonier. These three brethren took a very active part in promoting the Elkhart Institute,the first educational effort of the Mennonite Church (MC). D. D. Miller was elected moderator of the merged conference.
| Author(s) | John S Umble |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1958 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Umble, John S. "Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1958. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Indiana-Michigan_Amish_Mennonite_Conference&oldid=116436.
APA style
Umble, John S. (1958). Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Indiana-Michigan_Amish_Mennonite_Conference&oldid=116436.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 29. All rights reserved.
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