In Pursuit of Faithfulness: Conviction, Conflict, and Compromise in the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference

by Rich Preheim

Overview

In 1841, four Amish Mennonite families left their homes in southwestern Pennsylvania and traveled in horse-drawn wagons to Elkhart County, Indiana. Their journey was distinctly American, as they joined a wave of white settlers searching for new and cheaper lands where they could live, work, and worship. It was also distinctly Anabaptist, as they sought to live out complicated commitments to Christ, nonviolence, and community. In this lively narrative, historian and journalist Rich Preheim investigates the heritage and innovations of Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference, an area conference of Mennonite Church USA, that have profoundly shaped Mennonite faith and practice since the nineteenth century. Standing at the crossroads of tradition and change, Mennonites in Indiana and Michigan wrestle to pursue faithfulness to Christ in the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780836199994
Publisher:	MennoMedia
Publication date:	05/24/2016
Series:	Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History
Edition description:	First
Pages:	420
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Rich Preheim is a freelance writer, blogger, and historian. He has served as director of Mennonite Church USA historical committee and as a reporter and editor for The Mennonite and Mennonite World Review. Preheim’s writing has also appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Sojourners, the Christian Century, and Mennonite Quarterly Review. A native of South Dakota, Preheim has a bachelor’s degree from Bethel College and a master’s degree in journalism from Indiana University.

Table of Contents

Foreword 9

Introduction: Crossroads of Faithfulness 13

1 Beginnings, Both Anabaptist and American 21

2 The John F. Funk Era 49

3 Coming Together, Coming Apart 79

4 Threats from Without and Within 101

5 Expanding the Boundaries 135

6 The End of Isolationism 163

7 The Priesthood of All Believers 195

8 A New Look 223

9 Binding and Loosing 263

Epilogue: Relations at the Crossroads 299

Appendix A Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference Congregations 307

Appendix B Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference Moderators 313

Notes 315

Bibliography 369

Index 395

Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History Series 415

The Author 419