The little church that was home to the New Church Society of Rosthern for more than a century has a new home beside the Mennonite Heritage Museum on the Rosthern Junior College (RJC) campus.
It was built around 1905 by Rosthern Mennonite Church, but the congregation quickly outgrew the building, so around 1912 it was sold to the New Church, a small Swedenborgian congregation under the leadership of Gerhard Enns.
When the New Church closed several years ago, its remaining members decided to preserve the historical building by giving it to the museum. With RJC’s approval, the museum board made plans to move the church across town. The long-awaited move finally took place on Oct. 18, 2016.
George Epp, who chairs the museum’s board of directors, says the museum is committed to preserving the church’s history: “We plan to make it available for RJC to hold occasional chapels in it. It will be an audio-visual tool for teaching Mennonite history.”
Epp also anticipates that church rentals, such as for small weddings, may provide the museum with a source of revenue. In addition, the New Church’s new basement offers much needed storage space.
Comments
I stumbled on this article and photos of the Rosthern church being moved. The Gerhard Enns who was the preacher there is my grandfather, whom I never met. My father, Gerhard Franz Enns, became a medical doctor and practiced for 3 years (1940-43) in Rosemary, Alberta, where I was born. Then the family moved to Chilliwack, B.C., where I did my schooling before going to UBC. Connections in life are interesting....
Ernst Enns
Gerhard Ens was my Great Grandfather as well, spent many Sundays growing up driving put there for services, so many memories!
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