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1957 Article

Author(s)	Floyd E Kauffman
Date Published	July 2010

The North Central Conference of the Mennonite Church (MC) was a part of the Missouri-Iowa Conference until the merger in 1920 of all Mennonite (MC) and Amish conferences west of Indiana. It was then organized as the Dakota-Montana Conference in 1921. In 1945, because of its enlarged borders, the name was changed to the North Central Mennonite Conference. This was the smallest of the conferences organized at the time of the merger, and each of the other conferences (four) agreed to send a delegate to the annual conference held the second Thursday in June. In 1946 the Illinois Conference District requested that they be permitted to discontinue sending a delegate because they felt this conference could carry on without their help. The other conferences were still sending delegates in the mid-1950s, and they were greatly appreciated. I. S. Mast served as the only bishop until 1926, when Eli G. Hochstetler was ordained. The district included congregations in eastern Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, having a total membership in 1956 of 766 in 10 congregations and 12 mission outposts, with 4 bishops, 20 ministers and 4 deacons. The district annually sponsored a winter Bible school and a fall mission meeting. After 1945 an annual ministers' conference was held -- Floyd E. Kauffman.

2017 Update

In July 2015 the North Central Conference of the Mennonite Church voted to withdraw as an area conference from Mennonite Church USA. This move was part of a larger realignment of Mennonite congregations and area conferences in the 2010s that were formerly part of Mennonite Church USA. These congregations were unhappy with Mennonite Church USA's failure to take stronger disciplinary actions against area conferences and congregations who expressed openness to inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. Jesse Swiers, moderator of the North Central Conference said that withdrawal as a body was the only way to keep the small conference together. "If we would’ve stayed, there would’ve been four or five congregations left." -- Sam Steiner

2017 Directory

In 2017 eight congregations were members of the North Central Conference of the Mennonite Church:

Congregation	City	State
[[Coalridge Mennonite Church (Dagmar, Montana, USA)\|Coalridge Mennonite Church]]	Dagmar	Montana
[[Exeland Mennonite Church (Exeland, Wisconsin, USA)\|Exeland Mennonite Church]]	Exeland	Wisconsin
[[Lake Region Mennonite Church (Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, USA)\|Lake Region Mennonite Church]]	Ogema	Minnesota
[[Lakeview Mennonite Church (Wolford, North Dakota, USA)\|Lakeview Mennonite Church]]	Wolford	North Dakota
Sand Lake Mennonite Chapel	Stone Lake	Wisconsin
[[Strawberry Lake Mission Church (Becker County, Minnesota, USA)\|Strawberry Lake Mennonite Church]]	Ogema	Minnesota
[[Swiss Mennonite Church (Alsen, North Dakota, USA)\|Swiss Mennonite Church]]	Langdon	North Dakota
White Chapel Mennonite Church	Glendive	Montana

Bibliography

Kreider, Janie Beck. "Conference leaders tell of withdrawal processes." Mennonite World Review 2 November 2015. Web. 1 June 2017. http://mennoworld.org/2015/11/02/news/conference-leaders-tell-of-withdrawal-processes/.

Cite This Article

MLA style

Kauffman, Floyd E. "North Central Conference of the Mennonite Church." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. July 2010. Web. 23 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=North_Central_Conference_of_the_Mennonite_Church&oldid=148628.

APA style

Kauffman, Floyd E. (July 2010). North Central Conference of the Mennonite Church. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=North_Central_Conference_of_the_Mennonite_Church&oldid=148628.

North Central Conference of the Mennonite Church

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