Latest Posts
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Levi and Fannie Raymer, Sunnidale Township, Simcoe County
Like Priscilla and Aquila in the Bible, Levi and Fannie Raymer stand out as married disciples of Christ in the history of the MBiC in Ontario. What they left behind intrigues me. First, Fannie Raymer (1844-1927) left a short manuscript… Continue reading
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A Speculation About Theodore Roosevelt
Sometime before 1947, when the Mennonite Brethren in Christ changed its name to the United Missionary Church, a certain “Mrs W J Sproule” donated a book to the “Stayner Mennonite [ie MBiC] S. S.” That was very kind of her.… Continue reading
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Mergers That Didn’t Happen Part 2
Denominations have fallen on hard days in North America though they are flourishing in much of the rest of the world. In the last Canadian census, 2 million Christian respondents declined to name a denomination as their religious identity, a… Continue reading
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Mergers That Didn’t Happen Part 1
As the old joke goes, “Put two [you name the religious group] in a room and you will get three opinions.” Baptists, Jews, Mennonites, et al– humans are prone to divide. Websites on the internet claim there are about 44,000… Continue reading
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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
EMCC History 