In praise of small churches
Throughout the pandemic, many Mennonite church congregations have faced the challenges of lower attendance, shrinking budgets and uneasy questions about the future. Denominations across Canada report lower attendance and engagement in church than in the past. Although the headlines about the future of the church seem to be filled with doom and gloom, for three…
Hope and faith . . . even when things don’t go as planned
There is a new church among the farmlands of southwestern Manitoba, but it has more than a hundred years of history. This spring, Crystal City Mennonite Church and Trinity Mennonite Fellowship in Mather merged to create the new Prairie Mennonite Fellowship congregation. Crystal City Mennonite was founded in 1948, while Trinity began in 1976. Only…
‘House church with a building’
With eight members, Northgate Anabaptist Fellowship of Dawson Creek is the smallest congregation in Mennonite Church British Columbia. It is also the most remote, located about 1,880 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, near the Alberta border. Northgate was not always its current size. It began as a Mennonite Brethren church plant in 1962, first known as…
From days gone by to ‘Richer Days’
Like many rural congregations, Pleasant Point Mennonite Church isn’t as large as it once was. But, although small in number, the church enjoys a rich and interesting congregational life. Pleasant Point also has an intriguing history. It’s the only Mennonite Church Saskatchewan congregation with a building that boasts a steeple and a church bell. Moravian…
Riverton Fellowship Circle closes its doors
Riverton (Man.) Fellowship Circle decided on June 24 to close its doors, passing a motion to dissolve the church corporation and its assets. The congregation began meeting in 1985, when the Indigenous community expressed its desire for a church. They were led by Neill and Edith von Gunten, who also did ministry work in Matheson…
