Mennonite Weekly Review

GOSHEN, Ind. — Erland Waltner, a pioneer of inter-Mennonite cooperation through the founding of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and a church leader in many roles nationally and internationally, died April 12. He was 94.

The Joint Administrative Committee of AMBS, leading the work that brought together Mennonite Biblical Seminary and Goshen Biblical Seminary in 1958, consisted of, from left: Erland Waltner, president elect of MBS; S.F. Pannebecker, former president of MBS who became dean after the move to Elkhart; Harold S. Bender, dean of GBS; and Paul Mininger, president of Goshen College. — Photo provided by AMBS

“No one did more than Erland Waltner to bring together the two largest Mennonite denominations in North America,” AMBS President Nelson Kraybill said.

Waltner played a key role more than 50 years ago in bringing together Mennonite Biblical Seminary, the General Conference Mennonite Church seminary in Chicago, and Goshen Biblical Seminary, a seminary of the Mennonite Church in Goshen.

“Erland Waltner might very well be the most influential GC leader of the 20th century,” said Rich Preheim, director of the Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee. “But his influence went far beyond that to things like Civilian Public Service and Mennonite World Conference.

“The role he played in the creation of AMBS was absolutely crucial to the creation of Mennonite Church USA. I think he can safely be called a grandfather of the denomination.”

Kraybill said Waltner was “a teacher and mentor to hundreds, and could still preach a resounding message of conviction and hope in the last year of his life.”

Waltner served the seminary and the church in many roles, including not only with AMBS but also with Mennonite World Conference, the General Conference Mennonite Church, Mennonite Health Association and Mennonite Medical Association.

Over a span of several years in the 1950s, Waltner tested the possibility of an association between the two seminaries and negotiated with Harold S. Bender, dean of GBS, and with others for the establishment of AMBS in Elkhart. Then as president of MBS beginning in 1958 when it relocated to Elkhart, he helped guide the cooperative program to maturity. He retired as president in 1978 but continued to teach at AMBS until the 1990s and to provide spiritual direction to students.

Seminary led the way

Cooperative work between the two denominations preceded AMBS, but the association of MBS and GBS was a new level of collaboration. Pastors from the two denominations studied together, first by traveling between the Goshen and Elkhart campuses. Then, after the GBS move to Elkhart in 1969, the two seminaries also shared worship services and campus life.