Gary Harder of Waterloo, Ont., was one of three 2022 recipients of the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) alumni ministry and service recognition award. The annual award honours alumni who have made outstanding contributions in congregational ministry, teaching, mission or peace work, spiritual direction or other ministries. Harder, who grew up in Rosemary, Alta., came to AMBS after studying music and Christian education at Canadian Mennonite Bible College, a founding college of Canadian Mennonite University, in Winnipeg; pastoring for two years at Waters Mennonite Church near Sudbury, Ont.; and completing a bachelor of arts in music degree at Goshen (Ind.) College. Following his graduation, he was pastor of First Mennonite Church in Edmonton, from 1972 to 1987, and of Toronto United Mennonite Church from 1987 to 2007. After retiring from full-time ministry, he and his wife, Lydia Neufeld Harder, served as intentional interim pastors for two years each at Wideman Mennonite Church and Hagerman Mennonite Church, both in Markham, Ont.; and at the Mennonite Fellowship of Montreal. They currently attend St. Jacobs (Ontario) Mennonite Church. He also taught at the Mennonite seminary in Paraguay, from 1979 to 1980, and earned a doctor of ministry from St. Stephens College at the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1986. He has written two books, Dancing Through Thistles in Bare Feet: A Pastoral Journey in 2008 and The Pastor-Congregation Duet (Friesen, 2018).
—AMBS
