Cooperation and Reorganization
Starting in the 1940s the General Conference Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church worked on several cooperative projects. Among these were Civilian Public Service and Mennonite Central Committee, which oversaw the Mennonite part of the CPS. In the 1950s the two groups created Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary together. Joint hymnal projects were completed in 1969 (The Mennonite Hymnal) and 1992 (Hymnal a Worshipbook). A joint Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective was completed in 1995.
Another force in the movement towards uniting the two groups was simultaneously happening at the grassroots level. As Mennonites moved from rural areas, they formed new urban congregations, bringing together people from both denominations. These congregations would then seek affiliation in area conferences of both denominations. By the 1990s there were dozens of these dual-affiliated congregations. As cooperation between the two groups increased, overlapping area conferences began looking at ways to work together and plan for an inevitable merger.
The increasing cooperation occurred in parallel with discussions about joining the two groups. Starting in 1983, the two groups met together in joint delegate sessions from time to time. By 1989 an intentional effort was underway to devise a plan for merging the two organizations, which culminated in a 1999 delegate session where a new joint structure was approved. The transformation was completed soon thereafter in Canada and by 2002 in the United States. The two groups, General Conference Mennonite Church (GCMC) and Mennonite Church (MC), became two new national groups: Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA.
| GCMC Area Conference | Joined With MC Area Conference | To Form |
|---|---|---|
| United Mennonite Churches in Ontario | Mennonite Conference of Ontario and Quebec Western Ontario Mennonite Conference |
Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada |
| Northern District | Iowa-Nebraska | Central Plains Mennonite Conference Some Montana congregations join North Central Conference. |
| (Northern) Pacific District | Pacific Coast | Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference |
| (Southern) Pacific District | Southwest | Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference |
| Central District | Remains Central District Conference, overlapping Illinois, Indiana-Michigan and Ohio Conferences Some western Illinois congregations join Central Plains. |
|
| Eastern District | Remains Eastern District Conference with some congregations switching affiliation to nearby conferences. |
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| Western District | Remains Western District Conference Two Colorado congregations join Mountain States Conference, formed in 2005. |
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