WHO WE ARE
1. AN INTERNATIONAL ANABAPTIST FAMILY
We are a network of church conferences, congregations, groups and individuals who see ourselves as part of a global family under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
- We gather periodically to strengthen our collaboration in mission;
- we share gifts and resources among us and for the world;
- we visit each other to encourage each other and to develop and undertake joint projects;
- we volunteer time and energy for God's mission;
- we work in collaboration with other Mennonite groups and agencies such as Mennonite World Conference and Mennonite Central Committee.
2. ORIGINS
The origins of Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission go back to the year 1912 when two small Mennonite groups, the Central Conference of Mennonites and the Defenseless Mennonite Conference, known earlier as the Stucky Amish and the Egly Amish, respectively joined their meager resources to pioneer a venture of faith on the African continent.
Identified by their founding leaders, Henry Egly and Joseph Stucky, the two groups had departed from the Old Order Amish to move forward toward a more progressive and evangelical church life. Their rural membership clustered in Central Illinois and Indiana. By 1910 their total number still did not exceed 3,500 people. However, caught up as they were in the joy of their new understanding of salvation through grace, and in the excitement of newly discovered claims of discipleship upon them, they dared to launch a series of cooperative Mennonite endeavors, including international mission work.
By January 23, 1912 in the little hamlet of Meadows, Illinois, the Congo Inland Mission was officially brought into being. Before that year ran its course, the first little handful of Mennonite missionaries had hacked clearings in the brush beside the Kasai River at Djoko Punda and Kalamba in South Central Congo, and the effort to bring a witness to the gospel of Christ in that land was engaged.
For further articles and information on CIM/AIMM and on the Congo churches that grew out of this work , go to www.gameo.org .