Southern District Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church of North America was organized in 1909, comprising the churches of Kansas, Oklahoma, and California. The California churches, however, withdrew the following year and organized their own conference. The first convention of the Southern District was held in 1910 in the Ebenezer Church near Buhler, Kansas, with Johann Foth chairman, Martin M. Just vice-chairman, and Abraham L. Schellenberg secretary.

The purpose for the organization of the district conferences was to stress chiefly the home mission work and evangelism in the churches. At its organization this Conference had a membership of 2,100 with a total of 21 churches. The Colorado and Texas churches soon were added to the Southern District.

A number of leaders made valuable contributions in the early days of the Conference. Among these were Johann Foth, Martin M. Just, Heinrich Adrian, and Abraham Schellenberg. Later leaders include H. W. Lohrenz, H. H. Flaming, P. E. Nickel, J. K. Hiebert, P. P. Rempel, J. S. Regier, and P. C. Hiebert. Soon the sphere of labor of the conference expanded. Home mission work occupied the chief attention and called for the greatest efforts on the part of the Home Missions Committee. A Committee of Reference and Counsel was created and charged with looking after the spiritual welfare of the Conference and assisted the individual churches in the event of difficult problems. The evangelism project for the churches was another important factor to which much emphasis was given. The Home Missions Committee secured qualified evangelists and presented them to the churches for engagement.

A third project of the Conference is extension work. At first this work was confined to the fringe areas of the churches. In 1936 the Conference opened a field of mission work in Texas along the Mexican border with Mr. and Mrs. Harry Neufeld as missionaries. Other stations have been created there since, and also in Arkansas and Wichita missionary projects are carried on with good success.

Although a General Conference project, Tabor College is located in the Southern District, and the Oklahoma churches support a full four-year academy at Corn with a strong Bible department. A church school committee promotes the Sunday-school work as well as the religious education work of this district, and a youth committee has charge of the Christian fellowship work and the youth retreat.

In 1947 a constitution was adopted and in 1948 the Conference was incorporated in Kansas. Thirty-five churches belong to the Conference (1956) with a total membership of 4,763. - PHB

Mennonite Brethren General Conference Yearbook (1981): 174, 192-195.