EMCC History

Worship and Music

The practice and institutions of the EMCC and musical resources the Church used.

  • Mennonite Brethren in Christ Public Worship and

    the United Missionary Church of Africa Part 1 This background to UMCA worship patterns is excerpted from an essay I wrote for a conference in Ilorin, Nigeria, in November 2019. The convener, Rev Professor Samuel Ango, a UMCA scholar and… Continue reading

    Mennonite Brethren in Christ Public Worship and

  • We Worship Part 3

    What is worship, after all? Much has been written and preached in the last generation or two about worship. I have heard many talks and books recall the etymology of the English word: Old English “weorth-shipe,” ascribing worth or honour… Continue reading

    We Worship Part 3

  • We Worship Part 2

    The first members of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church in the very end of 1883, were practically all from the Mennonite Conferences, and had therefore grown up worshiping in the North American/ Pennsylvania Swiss-South German style.1 John C Wenger… Continue reading

    We Worship Part 2

  • We Worship Part 1

    When I was a church-planting pastor under the Home Mission Board, I planned and led many worship services, generally imitating the patterns in the Missionary Churches I knew (mainly Lakeshore in North Bay, Evangel in Kitchener and Riverside in Toronto).… Continue reading

    We Worship Part 1

  • Music in the Early EMCC Part 5: Hymns for Worship

    This blog brings us to a hymnbook, Hymns for Worship (1963), not produced in the early EMCC, but it is still separated from us by several changing fashions in congregational music. This is a book of which I have personal… Continue reading

    Music in the Early EMCC Part 5: Hymns for Worship

  • Music in the early EMCC Part 4: Music of Evangelical Association and Church and the EUB

    The way congregations are increasingly isolated in the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada, the music we sing no longer generally unifies the Church, even inside a congregation. Unless worship leaders deliberately educate the churches, the default is the lowest common… Continue reading

    Music in the early EMCC Part 4: Music of Evangelical Association and Church and the EUB

  • Music in the early EMCC Part 3: Song leaders and musical instruments

    There is nothing new under the sun, according to The Preacher in the biblical book Ecclesiastes. Some EMCC congregations in recent generations created a staff position called the “minister of music,” though this was possible only in larger congregations. Now… Continue reading

    Music in the early EMCC Part 3: Song leaders and musical instruments

  • Music in the Early EMCC Part 2: Church song and hymnbooks

    The music you listen to, or the songs you sing in church, say something about your relation to God and the body of Christ. It was no different with music in the early EMCC. The public music used reflects community… Continue reading

    Music in the Early EMCC Part 2: Church song and hymnbooks

  • Music in the Early EMCC Part 1: Eldon T Sherk Collection

    Have you ever heard of the “worship wars”? It seems we can’t please everybody as musical styles of western churches fragment ever more. Everybody has their own preference. Most evangelical revivals in recent centuries have produced new music praising God,… Continue reading

    Music in the Early EMCC Part 1: Eldon T Sherk Collection