Latest Posts
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UFO Politician: The Honourable Beniah Bowman
Beniah Bowman had a new job from October 1918: he was elected to the provincial legislature as the honourable member for Manitoulin in a by-election for the United Farmers of Ontario, (UFO—changed in connotation now!) He was their first elected… Continue reading
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Christmas in the Church
Since my family didn’t begin attending the United Missionary Church until I was 11, my earliest memory of a Christmas church celebration is from the United Church of Canada. If the United Churches my family attended held Christmas pageants or… Continue reading
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UFO Politician: Preacher Beniah Baer Bowman
Mennonites in the 19th century were leery of politics and discouraged their members from participating in political parties, or standing for election. In the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church, there was no hard rule about it; members did get involved… Continue reading
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Lodges and Fraternal Societies
North American Mennonites and Brethren in Christ1 mainly applied non-swearing of oaths2 to rejecting membership in “oath-bound secret societies.”3 In Ontario, this put them at odds with their non-Mennonite neighbours. Nearly every settlement in the province had one lodge or… Continue reading
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Non-swearing of Oaths
On a choir tour from Emmanuel Bible College, I was billeted with a family that did not attend a Missionary Church. In the bathroom, getting ready for bed, I noticed a small black book on the window sill. I am… Continue reading
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Washing of the Saints’ Feet
When my family settled in Hamilton, Ontario, in 2001 so I could attend McMaster Divinity College, we went knowing that just a few years before, the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada congregation there (Calvary) had closed. I chose the church… Continue reading
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Divine Healing Part 3: Official Statements
How did the language of healing in the Mennonite Brethren in Christ/ United Missionary/ Missionary and EMCC “Articles of Faith” change over time? What does it tell us about EMCC thinking about divine healing? Many denominations do not bother to… Continue reading
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Divine Healing Part 2: Debate and Testimonies
Christian beliefs about healing for sickness have had a long and winding history.1 This blog picks up only a fraction of it. Doctrinal debate in the North American evangelical sphere The MBiC interest in healing in the 1880s was strengthened… Continue reading
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Divine Healing Part 1, some History and Theology
Many years ago I overheard a man say that he wouldn’t stay in a church that didn’t believe in divine healing. I was a young Christian in the United Missionary Church, as it was called then, and I had never… Continue reading
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Armenian Mission Part 4, The UOM Society’s new mission in Syria, 1919-1938
In early 1915 Turkish nationalists turned on Armenians in Turkey and began to exterminate them.1 The desire was not new, but the plan implemented to exterminate was. Generally, men and boys 12 and up were disarmed, conscripted, put into labour… Continue reading
EMCC History 