The attempt to merge the conferences of the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren and the Evangelical Mennonite Church began in 1953 ended in 1962 without success. The reasons for this failure were largely administrative. The last issue of a joint paper, the Evangelical Mennonite, appeared in September 1962 and the Gospel Tidings was published again as the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Conference journal. At the same time the conference was drawing closer to the Evangelische Mennonitische Bruderschaft von Südamerika (Evangelical Mennonite Brethren of South America) which had grown out of a renewal movement in the Molotschna Colony of South Russia. This movement was similar to that which led to the founding of the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren in North America. The South American group arrived in the Paraguayan Chaco in 1930 and on October 5 established a church of 44 members in the Fernheim Colony. Another church was established in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a conference, originally called the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Conference, was formed.

In the 1950s the North and South American Evangelical Mennonite Brethren conferences developed an interest in each other. They were of similar background, country, language, faith, doctrine, and spirit. Communication and visits between the conference leaders led to a request by the South Americans to affiliate with the North Americans. This was accomplished at the annual conference of 1958. The South American Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Conference was made a district of the conference. It retained self-government with the North American part of the conference acting in an advisory capacity.

The decade of the 1950s also brought a radical change in the organization of the conference. The constitutions of 1922 and 1941 provided for district superintendents to oversee the four districts of the conference. These districts were abolished by the constitution of 1960 and four commissions (Churches, Education and Publication, Missions, and Trustees) were established to focus on different areas of conference concerns. The chairmen of the commissions together with the conference president, vice-president, administrative secretary, and editor of the conference paper form the Conference Executive Committee which determines the direction of the conference. In 1956 the conference headquarters were moved from Mountain Lake, Minnesota, to Omaha, Nebraska.

Several auxiliary organizations were planned. Plans were announced at the 1949 conference to organize a Young People's Society. Its purpose was to stimulate interest in the conference on the part of its young people. An organization meeting was held at the 1950 conference, and it was decided to call the organization "The Ember Youth Fellowship" because "this name implies youth aglow and it is our desire to be aglow for the Lord." The acrostic implication of the name was evident. The organization was an outgrowth of the Sowers of Seed Fellowship which had been organized in 1940. The Ember Youth Fellowship arranged a four-day program for its members at the annual conference. In 1962 a retirement plan for ministers and missionaries was developed. By 1983 it had 74 participants plus 16 retired persons receiving monthly payments for the rest of their lives. The Women's Missionary Society was established in 1943. In 1986 the name was changed to the "Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Women's Ministries." There were 164 members of the conference serving as missionaries under 41 mission societies in 1986. With few exceptions these missionary organizations were non-Mennonite; the conference is represented on some of their boards. The constitution of 1960 held to the Anabaptist Mennonite position on nonresistance and warfare. The constitution of 1983 allows individuals to make their position on warfare a matter of personal conscience.

A 25-year debate on conference identity was settled on July 16, 1987, when the conference (by a 74-percent vote) changed its name to the Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches. In 1987 the conference consisted of 36 congregations with a total membership of 4,538, of which 3,539 were resident members. Of this total, membership in Canada (20 congregations) was 1,981; in Argentina, 62; and in Paraguay, 361.

Bibliography

Additional Information

Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches

Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches Articles of Faith

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, pp. 296-297. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.

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