Biblical Mennonite Alliance

In an August 1997 meeting, the Conservative Mennonite Conference (CMC) took a vote on the conference's stated position calling baptized woman to wear the prayer veiling. The motion also required ministers' wives to wear the veiling. Approval of the motion required a two-thirds vote; it fell short by one vote. There had earlier been a softening of CMC positions on modesty in dress, and in ministers performing marriages for persons who had been divorced. Some persons also expressed concern about greater use of contemporary worship styles in some CMC churches. A concerned group had been formed in the mid-1990s, but had been ineffective in its appeals to the conference leadership. In February 1997 an extended discussion on the prayer veiling was held in a conference business session, and the lack of conference unity on the issue became evident.

The vote on the prayer veiling was a "final straw" for some leaders who finally left the conference. A meeting of concerned leaders in October 1997 agreed to move toward formation of a new conference, rather than engender further dissension within the CMC. An organizational meeting was held 5-6 June 1998 at the Fairhaven Mennonite Church in West Salem, Ohio at which a constitution was approved and ministerial membership established. Fourteen ministers became charter members of the Biblical Mennonite Alliance (BMA). A Ministerial Enrichment Week was held in February 1999 by which time seven congregations had applied for membership in the Biblical Mennonite Alliance.

The first annual BMA conference was held on 6-8 August 1999 in Plain City, Ohio. At that time 43 ministers and nine congregations representing about 600 members joined the new denomination. Five congregations were formerly members of the Conservative Mennonite Conference: Followers of Jesus Mennonite Church in Brooklyn, New York; Pleasant Grove Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana; Snow Hill Mennonite Church in Maryland; Fairhaven Mennonite Church in West Salem, Ohio; and Bethel Mennonite Fellowship in Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania. The other four congregations were unaffiliated congregations dissatisfied with former conference relationships: Faith Mennonite Fellowship in Crawford, Mississippi; Shiloh Mennonite Church in East Donalds, South Carolina; Calvary Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia; and Mount Zion Mennonite Church in Bladensburg, Ohio. Since 1999, a number of other unaffiliated Mennonite congregations as well as congregations from other Mennonite denominations have joined the alliance.

The 1963 Mennonite Confession of Faith was adopted as the official confession of faith of the denomination. The alliance has operated the Elnora Bible Institute in Elnora, Indiana since 2004, though a Bible institute was held annually beginning in 2000. The mission arm of the BMA is DestiNATIONS International (DNI), which operates a training center in Queens, New York. The Alliance Newsletter, begun in 1998, is the conference periodical.

In 2016 there were 62 congregations in the conference, with 3,545 members.

BMA Congregations

Congregation	City	State	Year Founded	Joined BMA	Membership
Agape Mennonite Assembly	Burton	Ohio	1993	February 2000	12
Blue Ridge Christian Fellowship	Radiant	Virginia	2000	August 2000	17
Calvary Mennonite Church	Paden	Oklahoma	1995	February 2006	38
Calvary Mennonite Fellowship	Harrisonburg	Virginia	1990	February 1999	190
Central Mennonite Church	Dover	Delaware	1954	August 2002	156
Christ's Ambassadors	St. Elizabeth	Jamaica	1974	2007	130
Christian Life Mennonite	Beach City	Ohio	2001	August 2003	115
Cleburne Christian Fellowship	Cleburne	Texas	2006	July 2011	12
Cornerstone Mennonite Fellowship	Ephrata	Pennsylvania	1998	August 2005	206
Crossroads Missionary Church	Belvidere	Tennessee	2010	2010	20
East Hanover Mennonite Church	Palmyra	Pennsylvania	1953	July 2004	30
East Union Mennonite Church	Orrville	Ohio	1945	2011?	66
Fairhaven Mennonite Church	West Salem	Ohio	1965	February 1999	14
Fair Play Christian Fellowship	Fair Play	South Carolina	1980	February 2009	18
Faith Community Fellowship	Harrisonville	Pennsylvania	2011	2011	19
Faith Mennonite Fellowship	Crawford	Mississippi	1985	February 1999	69
Faith Mennonite Mission	Shellman	Georgia	1979	February 2008	24
Family Harvest Mennonite Church	Fredericksburg	Pennsylvania	2013	2013	25
Followers of Jesus Mennonite Church	Brooklyn	New York	1986	February 1999	67
Goshen Mennonite Church	Laytonsville	Maryland	1949	February 2001	26
Grand Mesa Christian Church	Austin	Colorado	2014	July 2015	11
Hartwell Mennonite Church	Hartwell	Georgia	1989	February 2009	16
Heritage Mennonite Church	Millbank	Ontario	1998	February 2000	13
Herr Street Mennonite Church	Harrisburg	Pennsylvania	1953	February 2006	26
High Country Mennonite Church	Westcliffe	Colorado	2011	2011	47
Juanita Christian Church	Port Royal	Pennsylvania	2005	August 2007	55
Kossuth Community Chapel	Bolivar	New York	1983	February 2006	33
Lamb of God Mennonite Church	Butler	Indiana	2000	August 2000	40
Laws Mennonite Church	Harrington	Delaware	1953	February 2003	45
Life Mennonite Fellowship	Willow Street	Pennsylvania	1997	February 2011	136
Living Hope Mennonite Church	Urbana	Ohio	2014	2014	18
Living Water Christian Fellowship	Lott	Texas	2009	July 2010	22
Living Water Mennonite Church	Goshen	Indiana	1999	February 2000	91
Living Word Christian Fellowship	Sparta	Wisconsin	2001	August 2007	12
Madison Mennonite Fellowship	Madison	Indiana	1993	August 2001	7
Millwood Mennonite Church	Gap	Pennsylvania	1877	February 2012	105
Mohican Valley Door of Hope	Danville	Ohio	2006	2007	78
Mt. Airy Mennonite Church	Mt. Airy	Maryland	1952	August 2004	8
Mt. Zion House of Prayer	Utica	Ohio	1995	August 1999	75
New Covenant Mennonite Church	Lititz	Pennsylvania	1998	2012?	40
New Holland Mennonite Church	Batesburg	South Carolina	1986	July 2009	94
New Hope Mennonite Church	Orrstown	Pennsylvania	2003	August 2004	40
Nickel Mines Mennonite Church	Paradise	Pennsylvania	1935	August 2002	67
North Vine Mennonite Church	Arthur	Illinois	1957	August 2008	85
Oak Hill Mennonite Church	Cumberland	Virginia	1970	August 2000	57
Palm Grove Mennonite Church	Sarasota	Florida	1953	February 2011	115
Pleasant Grove Conservative Mennonite Church	Goshen	Indiana	1948	February 1999	190
Potter's House Mennonite Chapel	Downing	Missouri	2008	July 2011	16
Prairie Christian Fellowship	Magrath	Alberta	1986	July 2004	57
Red Oak Community Mennonite Church	Blountstown	Florida	1993	February 2003	40
River of Hope Fellowship	Vaughn	Montana	2008	2008?	23
Shalom Mennonite Church	Epsom	Indiana	1999	February 2000	17
Sharon Conservative Mennonite Church	Sugarcreek	Ohio	1951	July 2011	100
Shekinah Mennonite Fellowship	Castorland	New York	1997	August 2001	41
Shiloh Mennonite Church	Due West	South Carolina	1995	February 1999	77
Skyline Mennonite Church	Caon City	Colorado	2004	July 2004	62
Snow Hill Mennonite Church	Snow Hill	Maryland	1953	February 1999	43
Solid Rock Mennonite Church	Liberty	Kentucky	2007	August 2007	12
Strickler's Mennonite Church	Middletown	Pennsylvania	1837	February 2006	37
Truth and Grace Mennonite Church	Elnora	Indiana	2013	2013	15
Two or Three Church	White Cloud	Michigan	2004	2013?	10
Union Chapel Mennonite Church	Odon	Indiana	2007	2008	23
United Bethel Mennonite Church	Plain City	Ohio	1940	February 2000	225
United Covenant Mennonite Church	Etowah	North Carolina	1994	February 2000	28
Womelsdorf Mennonite Church	Womelsdorf	Pennsylvania	1993	2008	102
Word of Life Mennonite Church	Hutchinson	Kansas	2005	August 2007	42
Zion Mennonite Church	Nappanee	Indiana	2008	2009	30
Totals					3,545

Bibliography

Canadian Mennonite (13 September 1999).

Emerson, Paul M. BMA: The First Ten Years. Biblical Mennonite Alliance, 2009.

Oswald, Laurie L. "New Conference Carves More Conservative Niche: Former Conservative Conf. Congregations and Others Form a 'Biblical Alliance.'" Mennonite Weekly Review (19 August 1999): 1-2.

Additional Information

Website: Biblical Mennonite Alliance.

Author(s)	Richard D. Thiessen
	Sam Steiner
Date Published	August 2016

Cite This Article

MLA style

Thiessen, Richard D. and Sam Steiner. "Biblical Mennonite Alliance." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. August 2016. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Biblical_Mennonite_Alliance&oldid=164063.

APA style

Thiessen, Richard D. and Sam Steiner. (August 2016). Biblical Mennonite Alliance. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Biblical_Mennonite_Alliance&oldid=164063.

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