68 Treffer anzeigen

Mennonite bishop, teacher, farmer and author

The congregation began services and formally organized in 1844. The first building was occupied in 1851, with subsequent building programs in 1915, 1936, 1949, 1977 and 1988. John W. Brubacher is considered the founding leader of the group. The congregation originated through immigration from Pennsylvania.

The meetinghouse was located west of St. Jacobs just north of the intersection of Regional Road 17 and Township Road 32 at the present location of Three Bridges School and the congregation's cemetery. At that time it was known as the Conestoga Mennonite Meetinghouse. From 1889 to 1892 the congregation shared a building with the Old Order Mennonites who retain the Conestoga Mennonite Meetinghouse name. In 1915 the congregation moved into the town of St. Jacobs and changed its name to St. Jacobs Mennonite Church. The congregation transitioned from German to English in the 1910s.

In 1925 there were 149 members; in 1950, 364; in 1965, 412; in 1975, 403; in 1985, 425; in 1995, 346; in 2000, 346; in 2010, 374. The congregation has been affiliated with the Mennonite Conference of Ontario (1844-1988), Mennonite Church (1898-), Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (1988-) and Mennonite Church Canada (1995-).

The Église évangelique mennonite de Joliette began services in 1958, and formally organized in 1974. Harold and Pauline Reesor were the founding missionaries for the group, choosing this small industrial town, 70 km northeast of Montreal, because it had no French Protestant congregation at the time. Previous French United Church work had been abandoned. This mission venture originated through the Mennonite Conference of Ontario and the Mennonite Board of Mission (Elkhart).

The Reesors met together with fellow missionaries Tilman and Janet Martin, along with the Schmidt family from Rawdon for fellowship and worship in French. Harold Reesor visited many homes as follow-up for an evangelical effort to mail French Protestant material to every household in Quebec. In 1963, the Reesors handed over the responsibilities for the congregation to Clyde and Elisabeth Shannon, moving themselves to farm nearby Mascouche.

A church council was begun in 1974. Growth in the late 1970s led to gradual splitting off the members from nearby Rawdon for their own church and the buying of the present larger church building in Joliette in 1982. Since 1982, the congregation has had native French-speaking Quebecers in leadership but from 1994 to 2005 there was no resident pastor.After 2011 there was no pastor. The congregation did not meet officially for a number of years, and was declared closed at the Mennonite Church Eastern Canada annual meeting in April 2020.

The Avon Mennonite Church in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, began with a Summer Bible School sponsored by the Ontario Amish Mennonite Conference in July 1951. In 1963 this conference dropped "Amish" from its name, and became the Western Ontario Mennonite Conference. In 1987 this conference decided to disband their separate organization in favour of becoming a part of Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada (MCEC) which was created by an inter-Mennonite Conference that also included the Conference of United Mennonite Churches in Ontario and the Mennonite Conference of Ontario. With the creation of MCEC, all the congregations that were not already members of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada (CMC), became CMC associate members. Avon Mennonite Church was one of these, and along with other churches originating in the Western Ontario Mennonite Conference, became a full CMC member congregation in 1995.

A frame church building was erected in the town of Baden in 1913 by Peter Moyer, a member of the Steinmann Amish Mennonite congregation. Baden was a mission post until 1945. Beginning in 1930 a minister was supplied by the Mennonite Mission Board of Ontario (Noah Hunsberger, Newton S. Weber). In 1940 it was agreed that the Sunday-school staff should be supplied by First Mennonite Church. In 1945 Baden organized as a formal congregation of the Mennonite Conference of Ontario. James Martin was the first pastor. Subsequent pastors were Urie Bender, Elmer Grove, Arnold Cressman and David Groh.

The congregation remained small in terms of membership , but held a very large Vacation Bible School program, with up to 300 pupils a year.

In 1966 Pastor David Groh left. Lester Bauman, pastor of the Geiger congregation, was invited to serve Baden as well. Many activities were then held jointly with Geiger. In 1971 Stanley Shantz served as pastor of both. The two congregations agreed to have Sunday services together, using the Geiger building because it was larger. In 1975 the congregations agreed to become one in all but name and membership. In late 1975 the Geiger building burned, and services were held in a renovated Baden building.

In September 1977 the congregations merged and became the Wilmot Mennonite Church at the Geiger location. In 1979 a new building was erected at the Geiger site.