Mennonite Central Committee United States

Mennonite Central Committee United States is an agency of the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches in the United States. Mennonite Central Committee U.S. is closely related to the Mennonite Central Committee, the parent body sometimes referred to as MCC binational or MCC international. Mennonite Central Committee U.S. is essentially parallel in function to Mennonite Central Committee Canada. All three of these organizations have as their basic purposes relief, service, development, and peace-related activities. The United States MCC organization was formed at a meeting in Reedley, CA in 1979, by the U.S. representatives to MCC international, for the purpose of assuming program responsibilities in the United States and to address domestic concerns. Those initial board members were primarily appointees of the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ groups with headquarters in the United States. To this initial board membership have been added representatives of four regions and five members at large.

Prior to the establishment of MCC U.S., domestic U.S. concerns were handled by the Mennonite Central Committee staff, MCC executive committee, and the MCC board, thus creating problems in the U.S./ Canadian relationships, especially since MCC Canada, with its provincial organizations, had already assumed responsibility for Canadian program and Canadian concerns.

Two MCC regional centers were in a sense predecessors to the MCC U.S. organization—MCC Central States and West Coast MCC. In 1987 MCC U.S. had four regional organizations--MCC Central States with offices in Newton, Kansas; West Coast MCC with offices in Reedley, CA; MCC Great Lakes with offices in Kidron, Ohio; and MCC East Coast with offices in Akron, PA.

The MCC U.S. offices are housed in Akron, PA, together with MCC international offices. The organizational and financial structures of MCC U.S. continue in a process of development. In 1987 MCC U.S. operated under the corporate or legal structure of MCC international. Likewise MCC U.S. had not developed its own fundraising structures, but developed a budget in consultation with MCC international, a budget which represented a certain percentage of the MCC constituency contributions originating in the United States. This left continuing uncertainties about the extent of authority and responsibility lodged in MCC U.S. as a national organization and in the regional organizations for development of programs to meet needs in the respective areas. There was also continuing discussion about the appropriate role of MCC U.S. as a national organization in the respective regions. The regions saw their interests and responsibilities as relating not only to domestic programming, but also in a strong relationship to the MCC international program—as resources for the international program and as channels of communication back to the U.S. constituency.

MCC U.S. has a four-fold statement of purpose: (1) to carry overall responsibility for MCC domestic programs in the United States; (2) to generate constituency support for the worldwide ministries and programs of MCC; (3) to work at constituency relations in cooperation with MCC; and (4) to encourage inter-Mennonite cooperation in local and regional MCC groupings in the United States and to provide the MCC administrative linkage and counsel for established regions.

The MCC U.S. programs included voluntary service, urban ministries, immigration and refugee concerns, criminal justice, Mennonite conciliation service (reconciliation), and Ten Thousand Villages crafts. Other inter-Mennonite organizations with relationship to MCC U.S. are MCC Peace Section (U.S.), Mennonite Disaster Service, and Mennonite Mental Health Services, including the developmental disabilities program. MCC U.S. had an annual budget of over $3 million in 1987, and a total of approximately 200 workers under its assignment. The first chairpersons of MCC U.S. were Paul G. Landis of Salunga, PA, Anna Juhnke of Newton, KS, and Phil Rich of Archbold, Ohio. The first MCC U.S. executive secretary was Reg Toews, and the secretary in 1987 was Wilmer Heisey.

Author(s)	Elmer Neufeld
Date Published	1987

Cite This Article

MLA style

Neufeld, Elmer. "Mennonite Central Committee United States." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1987. Web. 25 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mennonite_Central_Committee_United_States&oldid=89687.

APA style

Neufeld, Elmer. (1987). Mennonite Central Committee United States. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mennonite_Central_Committee_United_States&oldid=89687.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, pp. 563-564. All rights reserved.

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