Mennonite Central Committee

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Image:Mennonite Central Committee Logo.gif The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is a relief, service, and peace agency representing the Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Amish churches of North America.

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History

Mennonite Central Committee was founded in Chicago, Illinois, and held its first meeting on September 27, 1920.Template:Ref Its original goal was to provide food for Mennonites starving in the Soviet Union. MCC soon realized they could not only help their Mennonite brothers and sisters and began to help anyone in need. Mennonite Central Committee (Canada) was founded in 1963.

The initial work of MCC focused on:Template:Ref

1920-1925: famine work in Russia.

1925-1930: inactive

1930-1937: colonization of Russian Mennonite refugees to Paraguay and Brazil.

1939-present: relief work; initially in Poland, then (1940) England and France.

1941-1947: administration of Civilian Public Service (CPS) as part of National Service Board for Religious Objectors.

1950s: administration of 1-W service, the replacement of CPS, for draftees classified as conscientious objectors.

Currently MCC represents 15 Mennonite bodies and the Brethren in Christ Church. The U.S. headquarters are in Akron, Pennsylvania, and its Canadian headquarters are in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

MCC was an early proponent of fair trade through its Ten Thousand Villages program.

One of the many ways MCC raises funds for their worldwide relief and service projects is through Mennonite Relief Sales. Around 45 sales are held throughout the United States and Canada, raising $5 million USD annually for MCC. Many of these sales feature quilts handmade by Mennonite and Amish volunteers, auctions, artwork, crafted woodwork, homemade foods, antiques, crafts, plants, children's activities, and musical programs. Most of the goods and labor are donated, and 88% of the funds raised go directly into the field.

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Activities

MCC focuses its development efforts in areas such as health, education, peace and justice, and fair trade. It responds to disaster situations, as well as focusing its efforts on the longer-term issues of economic and social policy.

MCC maintains offices in both Washington and Ottawa to advocate to the American and Canadian federal governments, respectively.

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Peacemaking

MCC also takes an active role in advocating for peace both in North America and around the world, seeking "to be a witness against forces that contribute to poverty, injustice and violence." [1] In North America, MCC established the Mennonite Conciliation Service in 1979 to encourage Mennonites and others to actively pursue peaceful resolution of conflicts. MCS was a pioneer in the burgeoning field of conflict resolution in the 1980s and director Ron Kraybill led early mediation workshops in Northern Ireland which eventually led to the establishment of the Northern Ireland Mediation Network. John Paul Lederach took over MCS in 1989 when Kraybill moved on to South Africa, and in the years following MCC moved active peace building into the forefront of its work abroad.

Responding in part to the establishment of active Mennonite-led peace centers that had emerged in the 80s and 90s, such as the Conflict Transformation Program at Eastern Mennonite University, the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center in Lombard, Illinois, a group of peace builders at Fresno Pacific University, the Peace and Justice Network of the Mennonite Church and other activities, MCS was discontinued in 2004. But the Peace Office of MCC continues to advocate peace interests broadly in the US and in MCC programming abroad. Internationally, MCC partners with local organizations to reduce violence in the aftermath of conflict or war.

Perhaps one of MCC's more controversial activities is in advocating military exemption or alternative service for conscientious objectors in times of war. MCC runs a "conscientious objector registry" in Canada, taking statements from Canadians in the hope that they will be recognized by the Canadian government should the government restart drafting citizens into the military.

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