Description

Early on in their formation, Mennonite Brethren adopted the practice of an annual convention, a meeting where churches sent delegates to debate resolutions, to report on the work of various committees and ministries, and to decide together on certain courses of action. The evidence points to the influence of a German Baptist minister named August G.A. Liebig (1836–1914) who was invited in 1866 to come for several weeks to help bring order to early turbulence of the young Mennonite renewal movement (Brudergemeinde).

In 1871, Liebig came again and spent a whole year among the Mennonite Brethren in Ukraine. As a result, in 1872, the Mennonite Brethren were the first of the Mennonite groups to organize into a conference with annual conventions, a practice that continued as Mennonite Brethren conferences were formed in other countries.

A Conference Yearbook is the publication documenting the annual proceedings of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, which began in 1910 as one of the "districts" (i.e., the Northern District) of the General Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church of North America (est. 1879 in Henderson, Nebraska, and incorporated in 1900). In 1946, the Northern District became known as the Canadian Conference.

The Yearbook contains ministry reports, financial statements and budgets, election slates of officers, resolutions, and minutes of the business sessions. Starting in 1994, the Yearbook was published in even-numbered years, following the summer convention termed a "Gathering." The 1994 and subsequent Yearbooks include the reports for the annual meetings of both the odd and even years. In 2021, the summer convention was renamed the "National Assembly" and returned to an annual gathering.

Below is a listing of the convention Yearbooks with links to their digital reproductions.