“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). This verse inspires the management board of GAMEO.
In 2025 and 2026, the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online is focused on improving user experience and author engagement.
One initiative for this year is to increase the support available to GAMEO writers by expanding training resources and building connections between authors.
Other upcoming projects will emphasize user experience.
After modifications last year to make the GAMEO site more mobile-friendly, this year, board members focused on article structure. New policies clarify the procedures for article updates, author credits, citations and notes sections. These bring GAMEO in line with other online encyclopedias and make up-to-date information clearer and more accessible to readers.
GAMEO expects to add new articles this year.
Anicka Fast (Mennonite World Conference) shared that the biography-based Global Anabaptist Forebears series will document the faith stories of Mennonites from around the world, helping GAMEO better represent the global Anabaptist church.
A first set of biographies of Congolese Mennonites is now emerging from this project.
The board was pleased to have Ian Kleinsasser of the Crystal Springs Hutterite Colony, Manitoba, Canada as a guest. Articles on Hutterite colonies are among the most viewed on GAMEO.
With 386,000 users this year, GAMEO strives to serve its readers and thrive as an international, multi-denominational partnership.
GAMEO management board:
- Aileen Friesen (chair, D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation)
- Richard Thiessen (Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission)
- Elizabeth Miller (general editor; Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism)
- Olivia Krall (Mennonite Church USA)
- Alf Redekopp (associate editor)
- Bert Friesen (associate editor)
- Ken Sensenig (Mennonite Central Committee)
- Anicka Fast (Mennonite World Conference)
- Laureen Harder-Gissing (Mennonite Historical Society of Canada)
GAMEO is an online encyclopedia, begun to provide digital access to the five-volume Mennonite Encyclopedia. It contains the original 12 000 English entries, many of them updated with current information, plus new entries contributed by volunteer editors and regional committees from around the world.
Mennonite World Conference is one of GAMEO’s six institutional owners: Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite Historical Society of Canada, Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission and the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism. A management board, composed of representatives from these organizations, oversees the operations. Mennonite World Conference provides accounting services to the project.