Five Mennonite Brethren congregations were founded during the initial immigration into Paraguay, two in Fernheim Colony in 1930, one in Friesland Colony in 1937, and one each in Neuland and Volendam colonies in 1947. These congregations joined their sister congregations in Brazil in 1948, and somewhat later those in Uruguay, to form the South American district conference of the Mennonite Brethren. At the ninth conference meeting in Curitiba, Brazil, in 1960, it was agreed that Mennonite Brethren in each country should organize their own conference in order to pursue mission and educational activities which varied from land to land according to language and culture. Consequently the Konferenz der Mennonitischen Brüdergemeinden, Paraguay (Mennonite Brethren Conference of Paraguay) was founded in Filadelfia in July 1961, with Willy Janz as chairman, Albert Enns as vice-chairman, and Peter K. Neufeld as secretary-treasurer. Conference membership at that time was 1,098. In 1964 the congregations in Blumental, Fernheim, and Asunción were received, and in 1982 the Nuevo Toledo congregation of East Paraguay joined.

The conference promotes: (1) a sense of unity and the preparation of workers for the congregations; (2) mission work among the Indian peoples of the Chaco region (Chaco Mission) and among native Paraguayans in cooperation with the Spanish-speaking Convención Evangélica de Iglesias Paraguayas Hermanos Menonitas; (3) Bible schools in Fernheim and Friesland colonies and, since 1971, the Instituto Biblico Asunción (Bible Institute of Asunción) which was founded in 1966. The work of this school is under the direction of a committee of representatives from both the German-speaking and Spanish-speaking Mennonite Brethren conference in Paraguay.

An educational center has been established in Asunción to accommodate the offices of the two conferences; the Colégio Alberto Schweitzer (elementary and high school), which is the responsibility of the conference since 1983; the Instituto Bíblico Asunción; and the studio and offices for the radio work in East Paraguay which is carried on jointly by the two conferences. The Konferenz publishes a Konferenzblatt der Mennonitischen Brüdergemeinden.

Membership in the German-speaking conference in 1985 was 1,272. In 2003 the membership was 1,623. The reason for this low membership in Paraguay is the continuing emigration to Canada and Germany. Two Mennonite Brethren congregations in Germany and five in Canada are made up largely of Mennonites from Paraguay.

Bibliography

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