St. Jacobs Mennonite Church (St. Jacobs, Ontario)

Corporate body

St. Jacobs Mennonite Church (St. Jacobs, Ontario)

1844-

The St. Jacobs Mennonite Church (SJMC) is located in the village of St. Jacobs, Ontario, a significant tourist area, bordering the city of Waterloo. It traces its beginning to 1844. Initially a log school house was built that doubled as a worship meeting place until a frame meeting house was built in the early 1850s. The congregation met is what was known as the Conestoga Mennonite Meetinghouse.
In 1889 there was a split in the Ontario Mennonite Conference between what became known as the “conference group” and the more conservative “Old Order” group. At the Conestoga congregation, the Old Orders outnumbered the conference group and thus continued to meet in the frame building while the other group met in homes. However, in the years that followed, many families who had joined the Old Order movement returned to the conference group, creating pressure on the Old Order group to return the building. In 1892, the Old Order group built a new meetinghouse one half mile to the south which itself became known as the Conestoga Mennonite Meetinghouse.
In 1915 the original Conestoga congregation (conference group) built a new red brick building in the village of St. Jacobs with subsequent building projects in 1936, 1949, 1977 and 1990. The original meetinghouse was torn down.
In the 1910s the language of worship changed from German to English.
Over the years (particularly in the late 19th and early 20th century) the congregation at St. Jacobs experienced a significant influx of people who wanted to leave the somewhat restrictive lifestyle of the Old Order community yet maintain a Mennonite faith perspective. The St. Jacobs congregation, with its largely rural farming community “fit the bill” for many families.
In 1979 the SJMC began sponsoring refugees from Laos.
Through the late 1970s and 1980s there was a deliberate effort made to provide opportunities for young people within the congregation to explore and test their gifts and interest in pastoral ministry. This resulted in a number of young people who went on to study at church schools and then became pastors in various North American settings.
In the late 1980s and 1990s a number of young adults left to study both music and theology at what was then known as the Canadian Mennonite Bible College
Music has always been a focus of worship, especially congregational singing which is sung unaccompanied and in four-part harmony.
The congregation has been a strong financial supporter of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada.

St. Jacobs Mennonite Church (St. Jacobs, Ontario) (1844-)

CA-MAO-2020-095

Created by AHR, 5 March 2019.

Bauman, Janet and Trevor Bauman. "St. Jacobs Mennonite Church (St. Jacobs, Ontario, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. September 2011. Web. 5 Mar 2019. .