Mennonites in Ontario
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EMCC Bishops?
The position and powers of ecclesiastical officials called (in English) “bishops” has gone through a lot of variation in history. The word in English is descended from the Greek word “episkopos” which meant foreman, overseer, one who watches over, or… Continue reading
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The Strange Case of the MBiC East End Mission
Parliament St, Toronto. [Banner: Grace Memorial EM Church, Toronto, ca 1999. Courtesy Glenn Menard Collection MCHT] Students of Canadian Pentecostal history are familiar with a storefront mission in Toronto at 651 Queen St East sometimes called the East End Mission,… Continue reading
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Women Preachers in the MBiC Part 2: Edith Abbott
Forgotten Women Preachers series According to my reckoning, 133 women in Ontario were recognized by the Canada/Ontario Conference of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church as Christian workers who could evangelize, preach and lead worship from 1885 to 1945.1 Keeping… Continue reading
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The Evangelical United Brethren Connection Part 2: since 1968
The more I learn about the denomination called the Evangelical Association (Evangelische Gemeinschaft), the more I thank God for it if only from the point of view of the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada. Starting in Pennsylvania about 1800, a… Continue reading
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The Evangelical United Brethren Connection Part 1
One of the fascinating stories of the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada in Ontario is the presence and influence of people and congregations of the former Evangelical United Brethren (EUB). The EMCC includes “Evangelical” in its name mainly because the… Continue reading
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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
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African-origin People in the Early EMCC in Ontario Part 2:
Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church In this blog I track Ontario MBiC connections with African-Canadians up to the 1940s. The interactions were not many, which reflects the rural nature of the MBiC that isolated them from urban Black populations. No… Continue reading
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African-origin People in Ontario: Part 1
Morley Callahan wrote of “Two Solitudes” in a novel about Canada by that name, but Canada actually has dozens of solitudes beyond English and French—groups that act and think separately in the political unit called Canada. The early EMCC churches… Continue reading
EMCC History 