Comfortable being rural

On a cold, wet Sunday morning, May 5, 1935, Arthur Roth, his wife Melinda, and his mother, Mary Schrog Roth, made their way to church in East Zorra Township in southern Ontario. At the end of the lane they made an unaccustomed turn to the left, heading to the new congregation at Cassel, instead of their familiar congregation on the 16th Line: East Zorra Amish Mennonite Church. Just a little way down the road he stopped and asked his mother if she found this acceptable. Her husband had died in the influenza epidemic of 1918 and was buried at the 16th Line church. She agreed and they went on to Cassel.

Melinda Roth, now almost 95, was the only surviving charter member to attend the congregation’s 75th anniversary celebrations from May 7 to 9. The event, which included many former pastors, saw the launch of an extended history book, a self-guided tour of the original family farms and local cemeteries, worship services, a tree-planting event, and opportunities to eat and fellowship together.

The Cassel congregation was formed because the East Zorra congregation was bursting at the seams. Large families were a help on the farms where most of the members lived and worked. The building was purchased from the Evangelical Denomination, a German Methodist group. The sale documents included a request from the original owners to hold a decoration service in the building and adjoining cemetery. This was permitted, “on the condition that no musical instruments be used in the church building . . . because our convictions forbid us any but vocal music in divine worship in church.”

The stained glass windows, steeple, large ornate chairs on the podium, altar rail and organ were all strange to the Amish Mennonites as they began to use the building. Eventually, all but the altar rail and steeple were removed, but in time musical instruments were introduced by the Mennonites themselves.

As part of the rural Canadian landscape Cassel finds its community and congregation shrinking. Through “Gathering the Farm Community in Hope,” the brainchild movement of Cassel members, the congregation has worked with local farm families of all denominations to support a rural future.

According to Jim Whitehead, the present pastor, this kind of outreach is part of the congregation’s DNA. Forty-five years ago, Cassel Mennonite gave a significant contribution to St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, also in Cassel, so that it could finish an addition, and just 10 years ago did the same for the nearby Hebron United Church.

For six years, the church has also funded a parish nurse together with the St. Matthew’s congregation. This fall, Gathering the Farm Community in Hope is planning to bring Derek Suderman, professor of Old Testament at Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, to help members think theologically.

Both congregational chair Joanne Gerber and elders chair John Brenneman believe the congregation has a hopeful future—perhaps smaller, but building on the good foundation laid by members like Melinda Roth. It is striving to become more flexible while continuing to respond to the needs of its community.