Early History of Missions Interest Committee (MIC)
The following excerpt is taken from "The Beachy Amish Mennontie Fellowship
Churches" (1987) by Elmer S. Yoder:
"The first attempt to give direction to the missions intersts in the Old Order Amish Church was by Russell Maniaci. He was a workingman of Detroit and a Roman Catholic. During a time of searching and uncertainty, he came in contact with the Amish through reading a newspaper article... Maniaci was converted through his contacts with Amish in southern Michigan, but joined the Mennonite Church in Detroit, due to language and the uncertainty of the Amish how to respond to something so new and different. Maniaci's feeling of indebtedness to the Amish propted his attempts to awaken missions intersts and harness energies and resources among the Amish for mission work.
"Maniaci selected the printed page as the means to convey his burden to the Amish that they should engage in mission work. His news sheet was called Amish Mission Endeavor. He also contacted Amish ministers through special letters, in one of which he included this plea: 'What about the debt that you as a leader owe to the unsaved? There are many young people in your church who are willing to launch out .... Will you lead them or will you cause them to join other churches?'
"Maniaci was instrumental in the convening of two missions meetings, or conferences. The first was near Kalona, Iowa in August of 1950. J.D. Graber ... preached a sermon, after which thirty-two young people responded with a willingness to enter some type of service. The second meeting was held in southern Michigan in September of 1951 ... An eight-member planning committee was put in place to prepare the meeting for 1952. The hitd meeting was held in August of 1952 near Goshen, Indiana, with an attendance of eighty-nine"
At the third meeting, the committee met to discuss some of the goals of the meetings and to address concerns raised in the Old Order Amish communities about these meetings. The committee decided to remove Maniaci from leadership in the organization, reason being given that the meetings may be more successful if not run by a non-Amish. However, other concerns raised by skeptical Amish were not addressed in the same way. Maniaci was notified of the decision after it was made, Maniaci not even being aware they were making such a decision. With reluctance, he handed over his position as editor of his newsletter and also gave over the mailing list. For more details, see the 1952 minutes.
MIC Minutes
Second Annual Amish Mission Conference, 1951; Kalona, IO
Third Annual Amish Mission Conference, December 1952; Millerburg,
IN
Committee
Minutes
Business Section Minutes
Fourth Annual Amish Mission Conference and Committee Meetings,
1953
Committee meeting following the last session of conference, August
Committee meeting, December 31st (Millerburg, IN)
Committee Meeting, 1954
Committee Minutes
Christian Fellowship Meeting, August 1955; Goshen, IN
Committee Minutes
Committee Meetings, 1956
February Regular Meeting
February Irregulat Meeting
Annual Conference, 1957
Committee Minutes
Those minutes which currently do not have links will hopefully be added at a later date.