Fonds CA MHC PP - John H. Neufeld fonds

John H. Neufeld was born November 12, 1933 in Winnipeg to parents Herman Neufeld and Sara Neufeld (née Bartel). He grew up in the Headingley and Springstein areas of Manitoba until his family moved to the Fraser Valley in B.C. in 1944. In 1952, Neufeld was baptized into the Bethel Mennonite Church of Langley, B.C., and graduated from the Mennonite Educational Institute a year later. In 1955 he married Anne Hiebert from Waldheim, Saskatchewan, whom he would go on to eventually have four children with. In the next two years he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Christian Education from Canadian Mennonite Bible College and then an elementary teaching certificate from the College of Education at the University of British Columbia. Three years later, in 1960, Neufeld was ordained as a minister before heading to South America on a service trip. In 1963, he furthered his education with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Washington State College, and then earned a Master of Divinity degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary in 1966.
While earning his degrees, Neufeld taught elementary school in Surry, B.C. for two years, followed by seven years at Bethel Bible Institute in Abbotsford, and even Seminario Biblico Mennonita in Montevideo, Uruguay for a time. In 1969 he took the position of leading minister for First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he served until 1984. During that time, in 1982, he received his Doctorate of Ministry from Bethany Theological Seminary, which is the highest degree achievable in the field of ministry. In 1984, the year he stepped down from preaching at First Mennonite Church, he became President and Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Canadian Mennonite Bible College (now Canadian Mennonite University), which he held for thirteen years. He was known for his lectures and sermons on any and all topics, like sexuality, conversion, divorce, leadership and stewardship. Neufeld also wrote numerous meditations in both English and German for Mennonite Church Manitoba’s ‘Faith and Life’ and ‘Frohe Botschaft’ radio programs over a period of 25 years. He travelled numerous times with his wife Anne; they completed more periods of service in Mennonite settlements in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil, and visited places like Argentina, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, the Soviet Union, Germany, Holland, France, and Switzerland. They made yearly trips to places like Mexico, Hawaii, and the southern United States after Neufeld’s retirement from CMBC in 1997.
That same year, a book of his sermons entitled The Story That Shapes Us was published, and he was also diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. While going through rounds of chemotherapy up until the end of 2007, he continued to teach and preach upon invitation, including regular courses at CMU and the university’s Xplore program for seniors, the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, and pastors’ groups in Alberta and Saskatchewan. He touched on countless subjects, including his study of the book of Revelations, the nature of preaching, reading and interpreting the Bible, and forgiveness and forbearance. His health problems also led to invitations to speak about topics related to suffering and its connection to the Christian faith; eventually, some of these talks became a series called ‘Say Yes to the Calendar: Ageing and Mortality’, which Anne took part in giving starting in 2005. In 2015, Neufeld received a pacemaker and beta blockers for his heart after suffering two blackouts due to the chemotherapy he had previously received, but he continued his work up until his death in early 2021. He passed away in Winnipeg at the age of 87.