It wasn’t always called “Gathering.”
Yet that is what happened in the fall of 1878 near Henderson, Neb., when four Mennonite Brethren representatives from Kansas gathered with seven from Nebraska to discuss common challenges they faced in a new country and culture.
While this meeting was later considered an unofficial meeting, it was “a first step in the direction of conference organization,” according to John Toews in his book “History of the Mennonite Brethren Church.”
A year later, delegates from Mennonite Brethren churches located in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakota territory came together as the first official convention.
The early years
Those first meetings in North America had full agendas, according to Peggy Goertzen, director and archivist of the Center for MB Studies at Tabor College. Attendees participated in prayer meetings, listened to “lovely speeches” or talks, heard reports on missions and worshiped together.
Goertzen, who translated handwritten German notes from early meetings, explained that attendees devoted themselves to serious discussions on “the topics that hindered.”
From 1878 meeting (the first “unofficial” meeting):
- Conditions for excommunication
- Factors (theological and practical) regarding communion
- Head coverings (Just in church services or also in the home?)
- How to greet those of faith (Do we practice the “sister kiss”?)
From 1879 (the first “official” meeting):
- Forms of baptism
- Handling guests at convention
- The role of women
- Sending traveling preachers for missions
From 1880:
- Hiring traveling ministers
- The first discussion of a church school
From 1882:
- Putting churches “in order” financially and logistically
- “Outer”/foreign missions and “inner”/home missions
In these early meetings, many attendees traveled by train to a central location, met at a church and stayed in other people’s homes.
“Going [to convention] was a sacrifice,” Goertzen says. “Most of these people were farmers, and so they had to leave their operation of home in the hands of either their oldest son or their neighbors because you had crops that had to be tended to.”
According to the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, the Mennonite Brethren gathered together every fall from 1879-1909, meeting in one of the larger churches of the conference. But by 1909, the conference had spread across the United States and into Canada, making it difficult financially and logistically to continue meeting annually. At that point, the Mennonite Brethren created districts to hold local conventions regularly, and the larger general meeting convened every three years instead.
The U.S. and Canada gathered together for the convention until 2002, which marked the dissolution of the General Conference. Over the decades, the general convention meeting took place across the U.S. and Canada, including Minnesota, California, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, North Carolina, Missouri, British Columbia, Ontario and Manitoba.
As the locations changed, so did the topics. Toews explains that the churches discussed ethical issues and questions of church discipline regularly. At convention meetings, delegates wrestled over the “wearing of a beard” in the 1890s, a dispute on whether women should cut their hair short during the 1920s, the transition from German to English spoken in churches, the uncertainty of purchasing life insurance and the controversy of television.
Goertzen says underneath it all, early attendees and churches devoted themselves to the Word of God and sharing the gospel. “That was steady through everything,” she says.
Gathering as a community
In addition to their devotion to the gospel, the desire to gather and create connections remained consistent within the Mennonite Brethren community. Even the name “Gathering” relays the feeling of being community and family-oriented.
For Donna Sullivan, former U.S. Mennonite Brethren administrative secretary, bookkeeper and event planner, focusing on community has always been key when planning the larger convention meeting.
“We always wanted it to feel like a family reunion,” Sullivan says. “For those of us especially who have been around forever, that’s what it feels like. You get to meet old friends.”
Sullivan joined USMB in 1990 as a part-time administrative assistant, but it didn’t take long for her to begin helping the director in planning the general convention meeting.
For decades, the USMB national director led the planning of the triennial and then biennial event. After Chuck Buller became executive director, Sullivan began increasing her support of the event, called the National Convention at the time, and even helped start the National Pastors’ Conference in 2004.
By 2008, Sullivan had taken on all event-planning responsibilities.
When Sullivan first started helping with convention planning, attendees would stay in dorms or in the homes of people who lived in the area where the convention was taking place. When staying in dorms at a Christian college in Colorado Springs, Sullivan recalls attendees eating at the college cafeteria to keep costs manageable.
Over the years, Sullivan remembers the activities that helped make the time enjoyable and memorable, from golf tournaments to attending a major league baseball game to hosting a Christian comedian and a Christian singer.
With a twinkle in her eye, Sullivan chuckles when she says the director and planning team would select speakers, but “I planned the fun part.”
Sullivan shares: “What I always wanted to do, my goal was to have people have a good time. I wanted them to enjoy coming and have some fun.”
Recent years
When J.L. Martin joined USMB in September 2023, he jumped into event planning alongside Sullivan for the 2024 Gathering in Omaha, Neb. He attended site visits to choose a location and learned what questions to ask to ensure the venue was the right fit. He was amazed when he realized how much time it took to plan the event.
“Planning for the next Gathering starts basically after the other one ends, so it’s about a two-year process from start to finish,” Martin says. “It seems a long ways away, but you need every minute of that to get started.”
The first step is taking the feedback from the event to see what people thought of the topics, speakers, location and where they might be interested in going in future years.
Choosing a location is strategic, and the planning team looks for places where MB churches exist to engage local congregations in volunteering and supporting the event. The team also considers accommodations, food and activities and attempts to select an option that will be affordable while also a good experience for attendees and their families.
Martin says the planning team tries to balance the event agenda with a mix of teaching, encouragement and business but notes that people aren’t in meetings the whole time.
“We tried to create a schedule that has free time, has some flexibility, also balances teaching with time to hang out with people and get the business accomplished,” he says.
What to expect for Gathering 2026
USMB Gathering 2026 will be July 21-25, 2026, in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center. Gathering will kick off with the Pastors’ Conference July 21-23, and the National Convention will be July 23-25. The theme is: “Cultivate: Living on mission with Jesus.”
The Pastors’ Conference is geared toward people on staff at churches, and while the name might have “pastors” in the title, Martin explains it’s open to any person on staff at a USMB church, either full- or part-time.
While National Convention attendees include church staff members and delegates that churches send to vote on business items, Martin emphasizes that the event is open to anyone who is part of a USMB church.
“You don’t have to be a delegate to come,” Martin says. “If you want to hear what God is doing in USMB around the country in the area of church multiplication, in disciple-making and leadership development, you are welcome to come.”
Martin and the USMB staff have worked together to find discounted airfares, identify low-cost transportation options and book rooms for a group rate three days before and after the convention ends so families can stay a few days extra and make it into a vacation.
All the details—from attractions, restaurants and discounts—can be found at usmb.org/gathering2026/.
So, why attend Gathering?
When thinking about what to expect at Gathering, Martin narrows in on the relationships made and cultivated with people across the U.S. and the world.
Sullivan shares that it’s a celebration: “God is doing great things through us, and we’re celebrating that.”
For Goertzen, the event holds a special place beyond a grand history lesson. Not raised Mennonite Brethren, Geortzen attended her first convention as a pastor’s wife and experienced years of relationship-building, teaching and community.
“It’s not just for leaders—it’s for the whole body of Christ,” Goertzen says. “Immerse yourself in it because you’re important to each other, and we need to support each other and pray for each other. We’re all on the same goal of building up the body of believers and reaching out and giving the gospel to people who don’t know it yet, who haven’t accepted it yet.
“It’s very energizing and inspiring and certainly worth the effort.”
Lacey joined the Christian Leader staff as editor in July 2025. She has more than two decades of experience in editorial writing and strategic communications, creating and editing content for newspaper, magazines, websites and email campaigns. Lacey, her husband and their two girls live in Wichita, Kansas, and attend Ridgepoint Church.
