An indispensable reference with detailed information on the Mennonite Church.In delegate sessions held July 23-27, 1999, in St. Louis, Missouri, the Conference of Mennonites in Canada, Mennonite Church General Assembly, and General Conference Mennonite Church took steps to create the new, integrated Mennonite Church, a binational entity comprised of two national bodies -- Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA.The sections of the Mennonite Directory 2000 reflect these changes.Canadian delegates established Mennonite Church Canada. Section 1 lists the organization of Mennonite Church Canada. Area conferences and congregations affiliated with Mennonite Church Canada are found in Section 2.U.S. delegates established a Mennonite Church USA Executive Board and approved a plan to create Mennonite Church USA. Section 3 lists current programs. Current area conferences and congregations are found in section 4.Canadian as well as U.S. delegates gave authority to the U.S. board to oversee binational programs until 2001. These binational organizations are listed section 7.Two new sections are North American Mennonite Bodies (section 13) and Independent Mennonite Area Conferences (section 15).The Mennonite Directory 2000 continues to provide detailed information that users have come to expect, including a listing of name, address, telephone, fax, and e-mail of Mennonite bodies, churchwide and conference boards, agencies, area conferences, and associate group offices.

How did California Mennonites confront the challenges and promises of modernity? Books about Mennonites have centered primarily on the East Coast and the Midwest, where the majority of Mennonite communities in the United States are located. But these narratives neglect the unique history of the multitude of Mennonites living on the West Coast. In California Mennonites, Brian Froese relies on archival church records to examine the Mennonite experience in the Golden State, from the nineteenth-century migrants who came in search of sunshine and fertile soil to the traditionally agrarian community that struggled with issues of urbanization, race, gender, education, and labor in the twentieth century to the evangelically oriented, partially assimilated Mennonites of today. Froese places Mennonite experiences against a backdrop of major historical events, including World War II and Vietnam, and social issues, from labor disputes to the evolution of mental health care. California Mennonites include people who embrace a range of ideologies: many are historically rooted in the sixteenth-century Reformation ideals of the early Anabaptists (pacifism, congregationalism, discipleship); some embrace twentieth-century American evangelicalism (missions, Billy Graham); and others are committed to a type of social justice that involves forging practical ties to secular government programs while maintaining a quiet connection to religion. Through their experiences of religious diversity, changing demographics, and war, California Mennonites have wrestled with complicated questions of what it means to be American, Mennonite, and modern. This book—the first of its kind—will appeal to historians and religious studies scholars alike.

Mennonite Family History is a quarterly periodical covering Mennonite, Amish, and Brethren genealogy and family history. Check out the free sample articles on our website for a taste of what can be found inside each issue. The MFH has been published since January 1982. The magazine has an international advisory council, as well as writers. The editors are J. Lemar and Lois Ann Zook Mast.

This first comparative study sketches the differences as well as the common threads that bind these groups together.

Shattering the Illusion is the first book to gather and comparatively analyze policies addressing child sexual abuse complaints in a selection of religious institutions in Canada. Although there is a substantial body of literature regarding Christianity and sexual abuse, very little of it focuses on religious institutions in Canada and their respective policies. In the foreword, Tracey J. Trothen summarizes the Cornwall Inquiry, out of which this book arose. She then examines the Roman Catholic Church, The United Church of Canada, the Anglican Church, the Mennonite Church, Islam, and the Canadian Unitarian Council/Unitarian Universalist Association, describing in detail the evolution and particular content of policies and procedures that address child sexual abuse complaints directed at paid and volunteer faith community representatives and/ or leaders. She identifies differences and common themes among the approaches taken by the institutions and provides a summary table for an accessible comparative overview. Child sexual abuse is not new, but the emergence of policies to address abuse complaints within religious institutions is. This book identifies significant and shared causal factors behind the emergence of policy and reviews their content carefully. This review will serve as a significant tool for furthering the development of such policies.