The International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB) was officially launched at the 1990 Mennonite World Conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba as a partnership of global Mennonite Brethren conferences.
ICOMB was originally conceived by leaders of MBMS International (now known as "Multiply") at an international mission consultation in Curitiba, Brazil in 1988. ICOMB functions as a framework for Mennonite Brethren conferences (national associations of congregations) worldwide to relate as peers rather than as mission churches under the structure of MBMS International.
In 2005 the term "committee" was officially changed to "community" by the conference representatives assembled at ICOMB's annual leadership summit in Japan.
In 2005, Victor Wall, president and representative of the Paraguay-German Mennonite Brethren Conference, was chosen to be the first Executive Secretary of ICOMB. He completed his term in 2010. In 2011, David Wiebe of Canada was chosen to be Executive Secretary. He had resigned from his position as Executive Director of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches in 2010. In 2018 Rudi Plett of the Paraguay-German Mennonite Brethren Conference, who had chaired the ICOMB Executive Committee 2011-2017, and then served as Associate Director overseeing the Latin American churches, was chosen to be Executive Secretary.
Membership
ICOMB members are national associations of Mennonite Brethren churches, also known as conferences. Names of members are listed by continent.
Africa
Community of the Churches of the Mennonite Brethren of Congo – CEFMC
Evangelical Church of the Mennonite Brethren of Angola – IEIMA
Mennonite Brethren Church of Malawi - MBCM
Asia
Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church of India – CMBI
Japan Mennonite Brethren Conference – JMBC
Khmu Mission - KM
Europe
Association of the Mennonite Brethren of Portugal – AIMP
Bund Taufgesinnter Gemeinden (Germany) – BTG
Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches in Germany – AMBD
Mennonite Free Church of Austria – MFO
Mennonite Brethren Church of Bavaria – VMBB
Lithuania Free Christian Church – LLKB
Latin America
Association of the Mennonite Brethren Church of Colombia – AIHMC
Brazilian Convention of Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Churches – COBIM
Council of the Mennonite Brethren Churches of Uruguay – CCHMU
Evangelical Convention of Paraguayan Mennonite Brethren Churches (Spanish) – CEIPHM
Paraguayan Mennonite Brethren Conference (German) – AHM
Mennonite Brethren Evangelical Church of Peru – IEHM
United Evangelical Church of Mennonite Brethren in Panama – IEUHM
Christian Peace Church of Mexico – ICPM
English North America
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches – CCMBC
United States Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches – USCMBC