Missionary Pension Fund

In 1935 during The Great Depression women’s groups from

the General Conference Mennonite Church saw a need to

provide retirement funds for missionaries.

They began to give “two cents a week and a prayer.” These two-cent gifts were invested wisely, and over time, grew into a full-sized endowment, which became known as the Missionary Pension Fund.

Today, as the steward of this fund, Mennonite Women USA sends the interest (about $2,900) each year to Mennonite Mission Network (MMN). The money is disbursed to missionaries for needs not covered by regular support, such as funeral travel costs or mental health needs.

In recent years the fund enabled a mission worker to attend the funeral of a grandparent, and provided marriage and mental health counseling for several couples and individuals. Each July MW USA transfers the interest from Mennonite Foundation to MMN.

Please see our Missionary Pension Fund Policy for more information.

From a recent MPF recipient:

“From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank you and Mennonite Women for giving us this opportunity!

For us, it was such a “God-thing.” Our spiritual director advised us to consider taking a couple of days together to retreat, re-center ourselves, and pray about things that have been on our hearts and minds the last few months. A few days after that conversation, we received the MMN newsletter that said there were funds available for workers wanting to do spiritual retreats! We wrote back right away to say that we were interested.

It took us three months to work it into our schedules, but just this month we were finally able to get away to a Catholic retreat center for three days. It was exactly what we needed, and we could really relax knowing that the expenses were covered. We had such a life-giving time, and were able to pray and discuss and find answers to some questions that have been weighing heavy on us for a while, as well as just “unplug” and enjoy God’s creation together (we were 10 minutes from the woods and the beach)!

Thank you again so much for you and Mennonite Women’s generosity and for this great gift!”