For Paulos Berhe, being Anabaptist means taking what has been received from Jesus Christ and sharing it with others.
He serves as pastoral leader at the Rehoboth Inner Healing Church (RIHC) in Toronto, a small congregation that will be among the churches officially joining Mennonite Church Eastern Canada at the annual gathering at the end of April.
“It’s good to have an umbrella,” says Berhe about joining MCEC. He and other members of the congregation look forward to receiving blessings and prayer from the broader faith community.
The congregation worships mainly in the Tigrinya language, as members have immigrated to Canada from Eritrea and Ethiopia in recent years. After a couple of native English-speakers began to regularly attend their services in the last two months, RIHC has made adjustments to accommodate both languages.
Since its inception in 2017, the congregation has grown to include 30 adults who gather for worship on Sunday evenings. At least 15 children and youths between the ages of three and fifteen attend Sunday school.
Berhe says that since RIHC’s members are coming from Africa, it is helpful for them to build connections to Mennonites who have deeper roots in the country and can help newcomers adapt and integrate into Canadian society.
When Berhe and his wife first planted this church, they opened up their home to new worshippers as they came. They now rent a space in Toronto’s Danforth neighborhood for their Sunday gatherings.
They have Bible study on Tuesday evenings, meeting in homes. On Friday nights, the group gathers at their Danforth location for prayer from 9 p.m. until midnight.
Berhe’s connection to Mennonites goes back to his life in Eritrea. In Canada, the love and welcome he felt from MCEC intercultural minister Fanosie Legesse and mission minister Norm Dyck made him want to see RIHC become part of MCEC.
He anticipates that many good things will come from this love, and he looks forward to seeing his congregation grow within the Mennonite umbrella.
Along with Rehoboth Inner Healing Church, the four other churches joining MCEC are Mennonite Disciples Swahili Church, FreeChurch, Shalom Worship & Healing Church, Guelph, and Shalom Worship & Healing Church, Windsor.
Rehoboth Inner Healing Church in Toronto. Photo from Facebook.
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