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July 10-12, Guatemala City
International Committee of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB)


Bonding, relationships and ministry commitments

ICOMB is an association of the 17 national Mennonite Brethren conferences around the world. Representatives from the conferences meet together once a year. This year’s consultation took place in Guatemala City. It had originally been planned for Bogota, Colombia, but because of the political situation there the location was changed.

The consultation was hosted by Semilla, the Latin American Anabaptist Seminary. Juan Martinez, the Seminary president, and the rest of the staff provided excellent hospitality. ICOMB attendees stayed for the Global Anabaptist Mission Consultation meetings which followed immediately after, and some stayed for the Mennonite World Conference meetings which came after that.

Present at the consultation were: Takashi Manabe (Japan), Maximo Abadie (Paraguay, Spanish-speaking Conference), Harry Janzen (Brazil), Ike Bergen (Canada), Harold Ens (MBMS International), Rolando Mireles (USA), Victor Wall, (Paraguay, German-speaking Conference), Alexander Neufeld, (Germany, Conference of MB Churches), Andrey Rempel (observer, Germany, Conference of Anabaptist Churches), Johannes Reimer (observer, Germany, Conference of Anabaptist Churches), Francisco Del Puerto (observer, Paraguay), Ndunda Ngelogo Gilbert (Congo), Kinana N (observer, Congo), Wingui Mukwa (observer, Congo), R.S. Lemuel (India), Pedro Mauricio (Angola), Junichi Fujino (observer, Japan), Diego Martinez Munoz (Colombia), Tim Bergdahl (observer, USA), Juan Martinez (observer, Guatemala) and Dennis Fast (observer, USA).


Time was spent in devotionals, fellowship, sharing and prayer. It was a time of bonding and building relationships. Each conference gave a report, and prayer followed for the specific ministries of that conference. The common threads were evangelism, church health, and leadership discernment and development.

Two key decisions were made:

To have better communication among ICOMB member conferences. In order to do this, a decision was made to establish an Internet home page for ICOMB. This will become a way to share more readily with each other regarding events, projects, stories, testimonies and prayer requests. To establish an ICOMB Confession of Faith. National confessions of faith were distributed. The ICOMB confession of faith will be a brief piece on matters where the conferences agree, and the national conferences will be encouraged to add whatever they discern necessary in order for their confession to be complete and to address the issues of their respective nations.

The following were confirmed as future locations for ICOMB meetings:

July 2001: Brazil (in conjunction with a regional consultation of South American Mennonite Brethren) July 2002: Abbotsford, B.C., Canada (in conjunction with the US and Canadian MB Conference conventions) 2003: Congo (in conjunction with a regional consultation and with the Mennonite World Conference assembly in Zimbabwe) 2004: Paraguay (in conjunction with 50th anniversary celebrations of the Mennonite Brethren Church in Paraguay) 2005: Japan (in conjunction with 55th anniversary celebrations of the Mennonite Brethren Church in Japan) 2006: Peru 2007: India (in conjunction with a regional consultation) 2008: Colombia 2009 2010: Europe/former Soviet Union (Global Consultation, sponsored by Germany but held in Ukraine, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Mennonite Brethren Church)

It became obvious at this year’s meeting that over the years relationships and trust have been built to a level where ministry commitments can now happen. It was a great privilege to fellowship with MB leaders from various countries of the world.

 – Ike Bergen, outgoing Moderator, Canadian MB Conference

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Confessions of faith show MB global unity

GUATEMALA CITY – The International Committee of Mennonite Brethren is on a treasure hunt to find the core beliefs its members share.

Members of ICOMB brought their confessions of faith to a meeting July 10-12. Representatives took the confessions back to their national conferences. They will study them to identify shared core beliefs.

During a 2001 regional consultation, planned for Brazil, ICOMB members will share findings from their study and create a summary of statements on which all the conferences agree.

The summary won’t take the place of faith confessions within national conferences, ICOMB representatives said. But it will give the conferences a stronger voice in the global family and foster unity.

“Churches in other nations, started from North American missions efforts, are growing up and becoming conferences in their own right,” said Ike Bergen.

“They’re moving from being ‘children’ of mission efforts to becoming ‘teenagers.’ They want to help make decisions and have a voice in what the MB global church is all about.

“We recognize the need for both global fellowship and for retaining national distinctives.”

The summary’s potential to unify is most important to Takishi Manabe of Japan, outgoing ICOMB chair. “In order to become one in spirit, it’s very important to share a common essence on what we believe from the Bible,” he said.

ICOMB decided during its global consultation last year in Buhler, Kan., to begin the faith confession process. It asked members to translate their faith confessions into English and bring them to the July meeting.

About seven of the 12 representatives who attended the meeting brought their translated faith confessions, Bergen said. The conferences of the other representatives who attended share the faith confession used by MB churches in North America.

Bergen predicts the study will reveal much agreement. “From all I’ve seen so far, we definitely agree on the basics, such as a triune God, and our Christology,” he said. “Where we don’t agree, we will leave that up for the individual interpretation of national conferences.”

 – Laurie L. Oswald

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Web site to link MB conferences

GUATEMALA CITY – In another move to foster global unity, the International Committee of Mennonite Brethren has decided to establish a Web site, with links to national conferences.

ICOMB will soon name a communications coordinator to develop the site, said Ike Bergen, Canadian representative. The conferences will post such items as events, prayer requests, testimonies and programs.

“Establishing a Web page is a good global connector,” Bergen said. “It’s the easiest, most efficient way to handle the flow of communication. “Now, instead of sending e-mails to 16 nations, we can post it once on our Web site.”

Using the World Wide Web is a practical way to develop a more global MB community, said Victor Wall, from the German-speaking conference in Paraguay. “Talking about internationalization on the theoretical level is exciting, but how does it become practical and usable on the local level?” he said. “The Web page can help us address that challenge.”

 – Laurie L. Oswald

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Last modified October 20, 2000.

© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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