Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches, India

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Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches, India
India: World Factbook, 2009
Location
Contact information
Date established	1899
Presiding officer	P. B. Arnold
MWC Affiliated?	Yes
Number of Congregations	840 (2012).
Membership	103,488 (2012)

Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches, India (Mennonite Brethren Church, India) is a Mennonite conference in India that is officially associated with Mennonite World Conference. In 2012 the conference had 103,488 members in 840 congregations.

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History

The Mennonite Brethren Church has been transplanted to India through foreign mission effort. The Mennonite Brethren Church in Russia sent its first missionary, Abraham Friesen, to India in 1890 and a mission was begun among the Telugus in the southeastern part of the Hyderabad State. Since this work was affiliated with the American Baptist Telugu Mission, the resultant indigenous church was Baptist and with the discontinuance of the MB Mission from Russia, when World War I broke out in 1914, the whole work was taken over by the Baptist Mission. The American MB Church sent its first missionary, N. N. Hiebert, to India in 1899 and a mission was begun among the Telugus in the southern part of the Hyderabad State, west of the field worked by the Brethren from Russia. In this field, which has from time to time been enlarged so that it covered an area of 10,000 square miles having a population of 1,500,000, the work greatly prospered. The conference had by the 1950s sent 46 missionaries to this field and had eight main mission stations, where it operated the work. Evangelism was strongly emphasized in the mission and occupied the major part of the missionaries' time and effort. An indigenous church has sprung up, known as the "Andhra Mennonite Brethren Church," which in the 1950s totaled over 12,000 communicant members. This church holds to the doctrinal principles of the American MB Church and is similar in organization and church polity. The membership of the whole constituency was composed of 57 local churches. In each of the eight station-fields these churches were organized into a "field association." All the churches of the whole mission area were organized into a convention, which corresponded to the MB Conference in the homeland. This convention bore the name "Andhra Mennonite Brethren Convention," and held its meetings annually.

Educational Institutions

Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College (MBCBC)

The Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College is located in Shamshabad, Telangana (previously part of Andhra Pradesh), a suburb of Hyderabad. The school was officially established in 1989, despite having some roots that reach as far back as 1920.

In 1920, the Mennonite Brethren Bethany Bible School was started in Nagarkurnool by American Mennonite Brethren missionaries. The bible school had the purpose of training local lay people to become church leaders and to have a seminary that was closer to the church body. At this time, the school offered a Certificate of Theology, taught in Telugu. After some growth and establishment, the school moved to a location in Shamshabad. In 1958, the school initiated a Graduate of Theology, taught in English, and changed its name to Brethren Bible Institute & Junior College. 1967 brought changes for the institution as they again changed their name to be Mennonite Brethren Bible Institute. In 1988, the school added a Bachelor of Theology degree. Because of the addition of a bachelors' degree, the school was officially renamed and opened as the Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College in 1989. The name is in commemoration of the centennial of the first Mennonite Brethren missionary arriving in Andhra Pradesh in 1889. in 1995, the college became associated to the Senate of Serampore College.

The school now offers degrees in Bachelor of Theology and Bachelor of Divinity, among other certificates.

Key Individuals in Church Life

C. S. Joel is the Registrar of MB Centenary College and professor of Communication.