There are currently 16 U.S. Mennonite Brethren church plants, as reported by the five district conferences. This map represents what each district reports as their current church plants, given their definition of a church plant. Districts plant churches in conjunction with the national conference and on their own.
Church multiplication also includes welcoming established congregations into the USMB faith community, and the church planting articles in this issue do not reflect USMB’s growth as a result of the congregations, including many immigrant congregations, that have joined USMB during the past 30 years.
Growth due to welcoming immigrant congregations
The USMB vision adopted in the 1980s included a vision for mission “within and across cultural lines” and intended to plant 60 new churches by 2000, half of which would be among immigrants. In 1994, Loyal Funk, who was serving as national director of evangelism, church planting and Christian Service, narrowed his focus to lead the newly introduced Integrated Ministries, a ministry responsible for integrating immigrant congregations.
Under Funk’s leadership, more than 50 immigrant congregations were welcomed into the U.S. Conference between 1988 and 2000. This accounted for much of the conference’s growth during that time.
When Don Morris was appointed director of Mission USA in 2004, he was also charged with leading Integrated Ministries.
Today, USMB’s work with immigrant churches is known as CORD. The Eastern District, for example, has welcomed a number of immigrant congregations in recent years. While these churches are not considered traditional church plants, the district is multiplying.
This article has been posted by Christian Leader staff. The Christian Leader is the magazine of U.S. Mennonite Brethren.
