The Japan Mennonite Brethren Conference, or 日本メノナイトブレザレン教団 Nihon Menonaito Burezaren Kyoudan, is an organization serving the Mennonite Brethren churches of Japan.
Mennonite Brethren in Japan began as a mission work of the Board of Foreign Missions of the General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (now the US Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches and the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches). Plans for mission work in Japan were initiated in 1948, and the first missionary arrived in August 1950. The Mennonite Brethren mission work centered on the Osaka and Kobe area. Since then over 30 Mennonite Brethren missionaries have served in Japan. The first church service took place in May 1951, and the first baptism was in August of that same year. The work grew and the Nihon Menonaito Burezaren Kyoudan was founded in 1964.
Services provided by the Japan Mennonite Brethren Conference include Church Education Ministries, an Evangelism Committee, Overseas Missions Committee, and Publications Committee. The Nosegawa Bible Camp is located in the north part of Osaka, Japan, near the Inagawa River. The Japan Mennonite Brethren Conference operates the Evangelical Biblical Seminary (founded as the Osaka Biblical Seminary in 1965 by the Mennonite Brethren and two Baptist groups) at Ikeda, Osaka. Yoki Otozure is the conference periodical. The conference had 1872 members in 28 churches in 2003.
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“I do not know that the United States can save civilization but at least by our example we can make people think and give them the opportunity of saving themselves. The trouble is that the people of Germany, Italy and Japan are not given the privilege of thinking.”
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“For 350 years we have been taught that reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man. Football’s place is to add a patina of character, a deference to the rules and a respect for authority.”
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