Clearbrook Mennonite Church (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada)
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| Clearbrook Mennonite Church Source: David Giesbrecht |
In the late 1940s and early 1950s West Abbotsford Mennonite Church experienced significant growth. By 1952 the sanctuary was filled to capacity on many Sunday mornings. The congregation decided to build a daughter church in Clearbrook. Abraham H. Loeppky, owner of Clearbrook Realty and Insurance Agency, donated a lot on the corner of Clearbrook and Peardonville roads, which was accepted by the church on 17 March 1952. West Abbotsford agreed to help finance the new structure and to draw up a list of people from the church interested in starting a new church. Clearbrook Mennonite Church was formally organized on 8 December 1952 with 60 members. Abram I. Loewen, a minister at West Abbotsford, was the first minister of the church.
The membership decreased below 200 when in 1960, 52 people left to form a new English speaking church, Olivet Mennonite Church. The church, however, soon recovered and by 1963 had 213 members, though even at this time only 102 were less than sixty years of age. By 1972 almost 70% of the congregation was over 60 and by 1978 almost 95% of the members were retired. The church continued to attract older members moving into the Clearbrook area until the 1990s, when attendance began to decline. There remains a strong emphasis on the German language.
Bibliography
Canadian Mennonite (24 November 1961): 20.
Churches in Profile. Conference of Mennonites in British Columbia, 1978: 37-40.
CMC Nexus (October 1995): 10.
A History of Clearbrook Mennonite Church, 1952-1983. 1983: 111 pp.
Lehn, Cornelia. Frontier Challenge: A Story of the Conference of Mennonites in British Columbia. Clearbrook, BC: Conference of Mennonites in British Columbia, 1990: 120.
Loewen, David F. Living Stones: A History of the West Abbotsford Mennonite Church, 1936-1986. Abbotsford, BC: West Abbotsford Mennonite Church, 1987.
Mennonite Reporter (20 September 1993): B1.
Additional Information
Address: 32027 Peardonville Road, Abbotsford BC V2T 1M2
Phone: 604-859-4132
Denominational Affiliations:
Conference of Mennonites in British Columbia / Mennonite Church British Columbia (1952-present)
Conference of Mennonites in Canada / Mennonite Church Canada (1953-present)
General Conference Mennonite Church (1954-1999)
Clearbrook Mennonite Leading Ministers
| Minister |
Years of Ministry |
|---|---|
| Abram I. Loewen | 1952-1957 |
| Hugo Scheffler | 1957-1963 |
| John L. Zacharias (interim) |
1963-1964 |
| John J. Sawatzky | 1964-1972 |
| Jacob C. Schmidt | 1972 |
| Jacob Enns | 1973-1986 |
| Peter Harms | 1987-1989 |
| Walter Thielmann | 1989-1994 |
| Hans Federau | 1996-2000 |
| Dietrich “Dick” Rempel | 2001-2005 |
| Siegbert Zukowski | 2005-present |
Clearbrook Mennonite Membership
| Year |
Members |
|---|---|
| 1952 | 60 |
| 1955 | 153 |
| 1959 |
194 |
| 1965 |
212 |
| 1975 |
233 |
| 1985 |
185 |
| 1995 |
151 |
| 2000 |
101 |
| 2005 |
62 |
| 2010 |
51 |
©1996-2012 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.
MLA style: Klager, Andrew and Richard D. Thiessen. "Clearbrook Mennonite Church (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. July 2010. Web. 09 February 2012. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/C565.html.
APA style: Klager, Andrew and Richard D. Thiessen. (July 2010). Clearbrook Mennonite Church (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 09 February 2012, from http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/C565.html.

