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Curitiba, Brazil
ICOMB meetings establish new strength


Fifteen men from nine countries came to Curitiba, Brazil, July 22–24 to discuss the future of the worldwide body of the Mennonite Brethren. They represented 11 various MB conferences plus MBMS International. The International Committee of Mennonite Brethren is a 11-year-old association formed for the purpose of developing the worldwide mission and ministries of the Mennonite Brethren Church. Part of this is to provide a framework to explore mutual concerns such as the confession of faith, leadership development and evangelism. ICOMB meets annually.

Delegates to ICOMB (l-r): Junichi Fujino, Japan; Harold Ens, USA; Jascha Boge, Canada; Victor Wall, Paraguay; Harry Janzen, Brazil; Julio Mendoza, Peru; Maximo Abadie, Paraguay; David Wiebe, Canada; Octaviano Chamarra, Panama; Johann Richert, Germany; Alexander Neufeld, Germany; Victor Ekk, Brazil; Rolando Mireles, USA; Alfredo Beltran, Colombia; Heinrich Klassen, Germany.

Alexander Neufeld of Germany, chair of ICOMB, invited reports from each conference represented. A full day was spent absorbing the information and praying for each conference. The Congo, whose delegation could not attend because the government had run out of passports, sent a report in absentia, as did several others.

Key decisions that were made were:

A consultative team will be sent to the Mexican conference to assess the difficulties and recommend solutions in time for next year’s meeting. Because it is necessary to avoid a “made in North America” solution, the leader will be Maximo Abadie, president of the Paraguay Spanish conference. He will be assisted by Miguel Forero of Colombia (and MBMSI program director for Latin America) and others as needed. A budget of $4,000–5,000 US was established for this project. $3,000 was designated for flood relief in Kinshasa, Congo. A Web site will be established on the Internet this year. Work toward a common Confession of Faith was intensified. Heinrich Klassen of the Bund Taufgesinnter Gemeinden (BTG) conference in Germany was appointed to spearhead this task. The plan is to have a theologian-representative from each continent and/or culture group named to a committee. This group will meet next year in Abbotsford, B.C. David Wiebe, executive director of the Canadian MB Conference, was named secretary of the ICOMB executive.

The next ICOMB annual meeting will be held July 29–30 in Abbotsford.

 – from a report by David Wiebe

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Last modified October 10, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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