Mennonite Brethren in Christ
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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
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Self-Denial Days
Years ago, researching other things in the Gospel Banner, I noted letters to the editor about “self-denial.” It sounded like a Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church institution of some sort which had not survived by that name into the era… Continue reading
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How Sunday Schools Progressed in the Ontario Conference
As I mentioned in the previous blog about EMCC Sunday Schools, the United Mennonite merging conference in Bloomingdale, Waterloo County, Canada, in 1875, resolved “That Sunday schools shall be organized and supported by all our power.”1 As early as the… 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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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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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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Mennonite Armenian mission Part 2
The Mennonite mission for Armenian orphans in the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century began after a round of violence that started in 1894. It led to massacres of Armenians in 1895-96 at various places in Turkey.… Continue reading
