Canadian Mennonite
Volume 9, No. 20
October 17, 2005
60-year-old vision still flourishing
Carman, Man.
Carman Mennonite Church pulled every chair out from storage to provide seating for all those who had come to join the congregation in celebrating 60 years on Sept. 11. The weekend celebration included time for reminiscing, visiting and worshipping together.
On Friday evening, former pastor Marv Friesen, presently of Welcome Inn in Hamilton, Ont., and his wife Brenda were welcomed back during an informal evening of coffee and visiting.
Anniversary celebrations continued on Sunday with Pastor Bob Pauls and Friesen leading worship. After a communal dinner more formal reminiscing and sharing took place. One of the highlights was the coming together of women who, decades earlier, had sung in the girls choir under the direction of Agnes Giesbrecht.
Over the past 60 years the congregation has grown from a small number of families to more than 200 in regular attendance. The early group of Mennonite farmers who were relatively new to the area faced economic struggles and a community that, in 1945, was suspicious of this Anabaptist group.
Sixty years later, the congregants expressed gratitude for the vision of those who went ahead “to establish a local Mennonite church that would provide a sanctuary in which the Mennonites of the area could meet to worship God and to have fellowship with one another.”
This early group had the foresight to quickly move towards English language services, which made the church more open to the wider community.
Today, the church, firmly committed to its Anabaptist heritage, continues to explore ways of making its doors open to all. Its members are active in every aspect of the community, including the business, social service and volunteer sectors.
Rockway church celebrates move to new location
Kitchener, Ont.
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After 45 years of sharing facilities with a Mennonite high school, Rockway Mennonite Church has moved to a new location and a new shared arrangement.
On Sept. 11, the Rockway congregation celebrated its first worship service in its newly renovated sanctuary at Zion United Church in Kitchener. The Zion congregation continues to meet in the main sanctuary of the historic 19th-century building. Rockway is leasing the large “round room,” built in 1916, as well as a church office, Sunday school rooms and a nursery. Shared space with Zion includes a fellowship hall, kitchen and gymnasium.
Rockway members volunteered many hours over the summer getting the facility prepared.
The opening service was a celebration of a beautiful new space and new beginnings. Pastor Scott Brubaker-Zehr noted the importance of place for a community, but urged the congregation not to forget the source of their blessings, building on Moses’ reminder to the Hebrew people that they are pilgrims living by the grace of God. Just as the Hebrews occupied “goodly cities which you did not build, and houses full of good things which you did not fill” (Deuteronomy 6), so Rockway Mennonite is blessed with a home that it neither built nor owns.
Rockway Mennonite began as a daughter congregation of Kitchener’s First Mennonite Church in 1960, meeting in the “old barn” of Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, and later in the school library and the multi-purpose/dining area of the school.
The Rockway congregation said goodbye to its old location during the four Sundays in June, focusing each Sunday on one decade of its tenure at the school. Records from the first decade revealed that members had mixed feelings about meeting in “a less-than-churchlike setting,” but the arrangement was considered temporary! John Snyder, who led the congregation for 25 years, established a tradition of lay leadership.
The ’70s and ’80s brought growth and change, as people from Russian Mennonite and other backgrounds joined the congregation. Rockway Mennonite joined the Conference of Mennonites in Canada (now Mennonite Church Canada) in 1975. The ’80s brought a more structured program, including the creation of a ministry council.
In recent years, the congregation felt it was time to move out of the school. Plans for a joint building with Conrad Grebel College came to naught and a facilities committee, led by Ella Pauls, began to seek other options.
The Zion and Rockway congregations approved the cooperative arrangement this past spring, with considerable excitement on both sides. Zion’s small congregation was looking for ways to share its large building, and Rockway was glad to continue in a joint arrangement.
Representatives visited each other’s congregations to introduce members to their respective groups. Of special interest was the fact that Zion, before joining the United Church of Canada in 1968, was an Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) church that had links to the Mennonite Church.
“Rockway is excited about being able to share space with another congregation in Kitchener’s downtown, and is looking forward to developing ties across denominational lines,” said a member of the Rockway Church Council. “The round sanctuary also has great potential for concerts and other community events.”
Rockway’s pastor noted that the church is looking forward to “a more visible community presence and to new growth in a variety of ways.”