For Everything a Season

the long version

*For Everything a Season* marks a transition in the organized life of the Mennonite Brethren denomination. Since 1879, the dominant conference structure of the denomination was the General Conference, the bi-national conference that included churches in both the United States and Canada in a variety of joint programs and in a common peoplehood. After 2002, the bi-national conference came to an end. Its ministries, agencies, institutions, and programs were taken over either jointly or separately by the Canadian Mennonite Brethren and the United States Mennonite Brethren conferences. The dissolution of the General Conference as an active entity is an occasion for reflection on its history. This book of collected essays provides such reflection on its origins, some of its important ministries, and its struggles. The varied work and agencies of the conference provide the book's organizing structure.