Evangelical Mennonite Conference
The Evangelical Mennonite Conference (in German: Evangelical-Mennonite Conference ) is a Mennonite church in Canada .
history
Beginnings in the Russian Empire
The Evangelical Mennonite Conference goes back to the Small Congregation founded by Klaas Reimer in 1812 in the Molotschna colony in today's Ukraine . Its foundation was primarily linked to a criticism of the established communities of the Russian-German Mennonites . The new movement saw itself in the line of the early Anabaptists and emphasized more moral aspects and principles such as nonviolence . In many points there were parallels with the Mennonite Brethren, which later also emerged in the Ukraine .
Emigration to North America
In 1874 the community finally emigrated to North America almost as a single entity . The more conservative part settled in Manitoba, Canada , but the libral part in Nebraska, USA . However, both were soon under the influence of other Mennonite movements such as the Mennonite Brethren and the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite founded by the Pennsylvania German preacher John Holdeman . The US-American part migrated largely to Kansas and soon separated from the small community. Later, several members joined the Church of Elder John Holdeman (Church of God in Christ, Mennonite).
Emigration of the traditionalists to Latin America
In 1948 conservative members of the Small Community emigrated from Canada to Mexico and founded the spring colony (Los Jagueyes) about 100 km north of Cuauhtémoc, in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. Groups then migrated from Mexico to Belize and Bolivia, others returned to Nova Scotia in Canada. They resisted the radical change in Canada and kept the old name Small Congregation .
Anglicising and opening up to evangelicalism in Canada and the USA
As early as the 1930s, Canada began to be increasingly assimilated to the majority society and to the evangelical mainstream. With the emigration of more conservative church groups in 1948, a cultural shift towards Anglicized North American Protestantism began in the remaining churches in Canada. Evangelical church and worship styles were adopted, and in 1952 the name was changed to Evangelical Mennonite Church . 1959/60 the name was changed again to Evangelical Mennonite Conference . The community association is almost completely anglicised today, but without having given up the core of Anabaptist-Mennonite theology. The EMC is very committed to missionary work and has meanwhile also gained members from among the indigenous population. In 2012 the Evangelical Mennonite Conference celebrated the bicentenary of its current.
Todays situation
The Evangelical Mennonite Conference today has approximately 7,200 members and 60 local parishes in several Canadian states. The church federation is very active in missionary work and is a member of the Canadian branch of the World Evangelical Alliance ( Evangelical Fellowship of Canada ), the Mennonite World Conference and the Mennonite Central Committee .