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2009-11-17 issue:

Mennonite Youth Fellowships' beginnings

by Paul Lederach, Lansdale, Pa.

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Regarding "Learning from the Past, A History of Mennonite Youth Fellowship, 1948-1968" by Jonny Gerig Meyer, Oct. 6: To suggest that youth organizations like Young Life (1941) and Youth for Christ (1944) convinced (old) Mennonite Church (MC) leaders of the need for a youth program is not accurate. Needed was a way to integrate programs and activities provided by the church so that youth with youth, youth with leaders, congregations with congregations, and church boards with youth concerns were united in a well-rounded, Christ-centered program.

A step in this direction was taken in 1937, when the MC General Conference formed the Mennonite Commission for Christian Education and Young People's Work. The commission brought together the Young People's Bible Meeting Committee (1909), the General Sunday School Committee (1915), the Young People's Problems Committee (1921) and the Young People's Institute Committee.

The commission was composed of 12 members along with a variety of secretaries. In 1943, the secretary of Young People’s Activities was established, with Paul Erb the first secretary.

General Conference met in special session in Souderton, Pa., in 1946 to deal with pressing issues following World War II. I attended those sessions. One evening dealt with the need for a service program for youth. A committee of the Peace Problems Committee reported a study of Mennonite service work. It included guiding principles for a service program or a youth fellowship. Nelson Kauffman, field secretary of the commission, brought a stirring message for a youth program that emphasized service. A consensus emerged that the commission should initiate planning, organizing and promoting a Mennonite Youth Fellowship.

>In the August 1947 session of General Conference, John R. Mumaw, chair of the commission, reported goals for the next biennium. One was "to organize a Mennonite Youth Fellowship to enlist the youth of the church for service and loyal devotion to the truth." He listed the reason and activities of the fellowship. He wrote, "The youth of our church are in need of greater ties of fellowship and more significant service to make their church membership meaningful." The three areas of activity should include (1) faith and practice, (2) fellowship, (3) extension. The commission report encouraged forming local congregational units, district conference organizations and a churchwide organization. The plan would also provide a channel for churchwide boards to serve and communicate with youth. General Conference approved the plan for a Mennonite Youth Fellowship.

The commission appointed a committee of young people to work with Paul Erb in planning along with staff people from the mission board responsible for service units. Since my MRE thesis, "A Plan for a Mennonite Youth Fellowship," was written in the 1946-1947 school year at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, I was asked to write the first Mennonite Fellowship Manual.

Plans for MYF climaxed with the first church-wide MYF meeting at Mackinaw Dells, Eureka, Ill., June 1948. It was held in connection with the annual meeting of the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities.

The first MYF officers were elected at that meeting: Gerald Studer, Orrville, Ohio, president; Richard Detweiler, Souderton, Pa., vice president; Edgar Metzler, Scottdale, Pa., treasurer; and Ada Schrock, Salisbury, Pa., secretary. Three secretaries were appointed: Myron Ebersole, Sterling, Ill., faith and practice; Fred Erb, Waterloo, Ont., extension; and Ray Horst, Ephrata, Pa., fellowship.

Associated Issue: The faith of Mennonite youth - Oct. 6, 2009

Associated Article: Learning from the past

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