Southeast Mennonite Conference (Mennonite Church USA)
From 1927 to 1967 Mennonite churches in the Southeastern United States belonged to the Indiana-Michigan, Ohio, Lancaster, Virginia, or Conservative Mennonite conferences (Mennonite Church) and had few ties to one another.
The Southeast Mennonite Convention was born on 9-10 August 1967 when a group of 13 ministers and a few lay people representing Mennonite churches in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina met in Tampa, FL, to discuss mission strategy for Mennonites in the Southeast. For six years the convention was an informal fellowship for Mennonite churches in the Southeast.
In 1973 the convention affirmed a plan to become a regional conference affiliated with the Mennonite Church (MC) General Assembly. Except for those affiliated with the Conservative Mennonite Conference, the congregations eventually chose to discontinue formal ties to the parent conferences.
In 1987 the convention changed its name to Southeast Mennonite Conference. It had 23 congregations totaling approximately 2,000 members. (In 2006 there were 32 congregations with 2706 members.) Major conference components were the Board of Congregational Outreach, Board of Congregational Life, Southeast Mennonite Mutual Aid Board, Women's Mission and Service Commission, Congregational Leadership Committee, and Peace and Social Concerns Committee. An executive committee oversees the conference's work. The conference office is in Sarasota, FL. The official publication was Proclamation, published 10 times each year.
The Sarasota Christian School, Sunnyside Properties and Nursing Home, World's Attic (Ten Thousand Villages), and the Southern Mennonite Camp Association were affiliated institutions which reported to the conference.
Bibliography
Horsch, James E., ed. Mennonite Yearbook and Directory. Scottdale, PA: Mennonite Publishing House (1988-89): 79-80.
"Mennonite Church USA Online Directory." Online Directory, Mennonite Church USA. Accessed 15 June 2006. <http://directory.mennoniteusa.org/conference.asp?confID=48>
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 847. 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.
To cite this page:
MLA style: Lehman, Wartin W. "Southeast Mennonite Conference (Mennonite Church USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 13 May 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S6770.html>
APA style: Lehman, Wartin W. (1989). "Southeast Mennonite Conference (Mennonite Church USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 13 May 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S6770.html>
