In November 1936 representatives from five newly formed churches of General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM) background met in the First Mennonite Church of Sardis to establish the Conference of United Mennonite Churches of British Columbia. From this small body of 5 churches with 266 members, the conference, renamed Conference of Mennonites in British Columbia, grew to 34 congregations with 3,711 members in 2007. The conference's stated threefold purpose was to be a united force in the cause of Christ, to serve as guardian of the faith in the Anabaptist tradition, and to be a beacon to attract and draw together the many lost and straying members of the family of faith.

The following have been or still are major programs and institutions of the conference. A "girls' home," for women working in the city of Vancouver, was established in 1935. A Bible school, started in the Coghlan area of what is now known as Aldergrove in 1939, later moved to Abbotsford as Bethel Bible Institute and amalgamated with the Mennonite Brethren Bible Institute to become Columbia Bible Institute in 1970 and Columbia Bible College in 1985. A Mennonite high school operated at Sardis, 1947-51. Camp Squeah, nestled in the coastal mountains, has served the churches as a year-round retreat center. The conference has emphasized Sunday School teacher training throughout the years. Mission endeavors have included church planting and cross-cultural ministries with Chinese, Laotian, and Indo-Canadian ethnic groups. Peace and justice issues and care for underprivileged people have largely been relegated to Mennonite Central Committee (B.C.) of which the conference continues to be an integral part. The youth organization, Women in Mission, and the Ministers and Deacons conference have played a vital role in the life of the Conference of Mennonites in British Columbia. In 1976 the conference opened an office in Clearbrook (now Abbotsford) with a full-time conference coordinator, later referred to as the conference minister.

The conference continued to maintain close ties with the Conference of Mennonites in Canada and the General Conference Mennonite Church of North America until the transformation of the General Conference Mennonite Church and Mennonite Church into Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. At that time the conference's denominational ties transferred to the new Mennonite Church Canada. In 2001 the Conference of Mennonites in British Columbia changed its name to Mennonite Church British Columbia as a symbol of the new Mennonite Church denominational structure in Canada, and its relationship to the new Mennonite Church Canada.

On 27 May 2007 a renewal covenant was signed by thirty of the thirty-four member congregations. The covenant dealt with the local congregations’ mutual relationship within MCBC and covered six areas of commitment to: essential doctrine and practice; meaningful worship and fellowship; shared ministries; discernment; mutual accountability; and service. Those congregations signing the renewal covenant were:

 

Congregation	Location
Bethel Mennonite Church	Langley
Cedar Valley Mennonite Church	Mission
Chinese Grace Mennonite Church	Vancouver
Church of the Way	Granisle
Clearbrook Mennonite Church	Abbotsford
Crossroads Community Church	Chilliwack
Eben-Ezer Mennonite Church	Abbotsford
Eden Mennonite Church	Chilliwack
Emmanuel Mennonite Church	Abbotsford
First Mennonite Church, Kelowna	Kelowna
First United Mennonite Church	Vancouver
First United Spanish Mennonite Church	Vancouver
Langley Mennonite Fellowship	Langley
Lao Christian Church	Abbotsford
Living Hope Christian Fellowship	Surrey
Mennonite Japanese Christian Fellowship	Surrey
North Shore Japanese Christian Church	West Vancouver
Peace Chinese Mennonite Church	Richmond
Peace Mennonite Church	Richmond
Point Grey Inter-Mennonite Fellowship	Vancouver
Sherbrooke Korean Mennonite Group	Vancouver
Sherbrooke Mennonite Church	Vancouver
Surrey Mennonite Church	Surrey
United Mennonite Church	Black Creek
Vancouver Chinese Mennonite Church	Vancouver
Vancouver Vietnamese Mennonite Church	Vancouver
Wellspring Christian Fellowship	Abbotsford
West Abbotsford Mennonite Church	Abbotsford
White Rock Mennonite Christian Fellowship	White Rock
Yarrow United Mennonite Church	Chilliwack

 

The following congregations did not sign the covenant: Abbotsford Mennonite Fellowship (Abbotsford), First Mennonite Church (Burns Lake), First Mennonite Church Greendale (Chilliwack), and Olivet Church (Abbotsford). East Abbotsford Community Church (Abbotsford), a daughter congregation of Eben Ezer Mennonite established in 2003 that had associated with MCBC, also chose not to sign.

 

Bibliography

Additional Information

Mennonite Church British Columbia website

Mennonite Church British Columbia Executive

Table 1: Mennonite Church British Columbia Executive
(To sort the table click on a heading)

Session Number	Convention Served	Place of Convention	Chair	Vice-Chair	Secretary
01	1936	Sardis	Jacob H. Janzen	David Hausknecht	F. P. Thiessen
02	1937	Sardis	Jacob H. Janzen		Johann Goertz
03	1938	Sardis	Nicolai Bahnmann	David Hausknecht	F. P. Thiessen
04	1939	Sardis	Nicolai Bahnmann	Jacob B. Wiens	F. P. Thiessen
05	1940	Abbotsford	David Hausknecht	Jacob B. Wiens	F. P. Thiessen
06	1941	Coghlan	David Hausknecht	Jacob B. Wiens	F. P. Thiessen
07	1942	Yarrow	David Hausknecht	John Julius Klassen	Abram Warkentin
08	1943	Sardis	David Hausknecht	Jacob B. Wiens	Abram Warkentin
09	1944	Abbotsford	David Hausknecht	Johann Goertz	Abram Warkentin
10	1945	Abbotsford	Johann Goertz	P. Thiessen	Abram Warkentin
11	1946	Sardis	Johann Goertz	Aron Jantzen	G. G. Schmidt
12	1947	Vancouver	Johann Goertz	Aron Jantzen	G. G. Schmidt
13	1948	Abbotsford	Wilhelm Martens	Johann Goertz	G. G. Schmidt
14	1949	Aldergrove	Heinrich M. Epp	Wilhelm Martens	Peter J. Froese
15	1950	East Chilliwack	Heinrich M. Epp	Wilhelm Martens	Peter J. Froese
16	1951	Sardis	Heinrich M. Epp	Aron Jantzen	Peter J. Froese
17	1952	Abbotsford	Heinrich M. Epp
18	1953	Yarrow	George G. Schmidt
19	1954	Mission	Peter Froese
20	1955	Clearbrook	Peter Froese
21	1956	Vancouver First	Peter Froese
22	1957	Greendale	Gerhard I. Peters
23	1958	Aldergrove	Gerhard I. Peters
24	1959	Clearbrook	Nicolai N. Friesen
25	1960	Yarrow	Nicolai N. Friesen
26	1961	Vancouver First	Peter Froese
27	1962	Greendale	Peter Froese
28	1963	Chilliwack	Nicolai N. Friesen
	Date Elected
28	1963 February 15-16	Eden Mennonite	Jake Tilitzky	Henry H. Neufeld	George Nachtigal
29	1964 February 14-16	Bethel Mennonite	Jake Tilitzky	Henry H. Neufeld	George Nachtigal
30	1965 February 12-14	Mission U. M.	Jake Tilitzky	Henry H. Neufeld	George Nachtigal
31	1966 February 11-13	Cedar Hills Mennonite	Henry A. Wiens	M. H. Epp	George Nachtigal
32	1967 February 10-12	West Abbotsford Mennonite	Henry A. Wiens	M. H. Epp	George Nachtigal
33	1968 February 9-11	First U. M. Vancouver	Henry A. Wiens	Abe Buhler	George Nachtigal
34	1969 February 7-8	Olivet Mennonite	Jake Tilitzky	Abe Buhler	George Nachtigal
35	1970 February 6-7	Yarrow United Mennonite	Jake Tilitzky	Abe Buhler	George Nachtigal
36	1971 February 12-13	Greendale First Mennonite	Jake Tilitzky	David J. Nickel	George Nachtigal
37	1972 February 4-5	Eden Mennonite	George Nachtigal	David J. Nickel	John H. Derksen
38	1973 February 9-10	First U. M. Vancouver	George Nachtigal	Dick Rempel	John H. Derksen
39	1974 February 8-9	Eben Ezer Mennonite	George Nachtigal	Dick Rempel	John H. Derksen
40	1975 February 7-8	Eden Mennonite	George Groening	Dick Rempel	John H. Derksen
41	1976 February 6-7	First U. M. Vancouver	George Groening	Dick Rempel	Dick Hildebrandt
42	1977 February 11-12	West Abbotsford Mennonite	George Groening	John Sawatzky	Jurgen Schonwetter
43	1978 February 10-11	Eden Mennonite	George Groening	John Sawatzky	Siegfried Toews
44	1979 February 16-17	First U. M. Vancouver	George Groening	John Sawatzky	Siegfried Toews
45	1980 February 15-16	Cedar Valley	Dick Rempel	John Sawatzky	Siegfried Toews
46	1981 February 14-15	Kelowna Gospel Fellowship Appointed in interim	Dick Rempel John Sawatzky	John Sawatzky	David P. Neufeld
47	1982 February 12-13	Peace Mennonite	Peter Retzlaff	Wilmer Tessman	Les Klassen
48	1983 February 11-13	Olivet Mennonite	Peter Retzlaff	Wilmer Tessman	Les Klassen
49	1984 February 10-12	Eden Mennonite	Peter Retzlaff	Wilmer Tessman	MaryAnne Boschman
50	1985 February 22-23	First U. M. Vancouver Appointed in interim	Peter Retzlaff Wilmer Tessman	Wilmer Tessman	MaryAnne Boschman
51	1986 February 21-23	Eben Ezer Mennonite	Dick Rempel	Wilmer Tessman	MaryAnne Boschman
52	1987 February 20-22	Eden Mennonite	Dick Rempel	Wilmer Tessman	MaryAnne Boschman
53	1988 February 19-21	Cedar Valley	Dick Rempel	Walter Paetkau	MaryAnne Boschman
54	1989 February 17-19	Peace Mennonite	Jake Tilitzky	Walter Paetkau	MaryAnne Boschman
55	1990 February 16-18	Kelowna Gospel Fellowship	Jake Tilitzky	Walter Paetkau	George Nachtigal
56	1991 February 15-17	Bethel Mennonite	Jake Tilitzky	Walter Paetkau	George Nachtigal
57	1992 June 12-13	West Abbotsford	Walter Paetkau	John Sawatzky	George Nachtigal
58	1993 June 11-12	Burns Lake First Mennonite	Walter Paetkau	Rudy Nickel	Alan Dyck
59	1994 June 3-4	Peace Mennonite	Walter Paetkau	Larry Schram	Alan Dyck
60	1995 June 9-10	Eden Mennonite	Walter Paetkau	Larry Schram	Alan Dyck
61	1996 June 7-8	Eben Ezer Mennonite	Walter Paetkau	Larry Schram	Alan Dyck
62	1997 June 6-7	First U. M. Vancouver	Walter Paetkau	Larry Schram	Alfred Sawatzky
63	1998 June 5-6	Kelowna Gospel Fellowship	Larry Schram	Waldo Neufeld	Alan Dyck
64	1999 May 28-29	Sardis Sr. Secondary School	Gerd Bartel	Waldo Neufeld	Alan Dyck
65	2000 May 26-28	Mennonite Educational Inst.	Gerd Bartel	Doug Epp	Alan Dyck
66	2001 May 5	Peace Mennonite	Gerd Bartel	Doug Epp	Lorin Bergen
67	2002 June 8-9	Vernon Mennonite	Doug Epp	John Sawatzky	Lorin Bergen
68	2003 June 6-7	Cedar Valley Mennonite	Doug Epp	John Sawatzky	Lorin Bergen
69	2004 June 5	Eden Mennonite	Doug Epp	John Sawatzky	Karen H. Thiessen
70	2005 February 26	Peace Mennonite	Doug Epp	John Sawatzky	Karen H. Thiessen
71	2006 February 25	Eben Ezer Mennonite	Gerd Bartel	Karen H. Thiessen	Linda Matthies
72	2007 February 24	Eden Mennonite	Gerd Bartel	Karen H. Thiessen	Linda Matthies

 

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, pp. 181-182. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.

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MLA style: Tilitzky, Jacob and Richard D. Thiessen. "Mennonite Church British Columbia." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. November 2007. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 11 May 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/C6643ME.html>

APA style: Tilitzky, Jacob and Richard D. Thiessen. (November 2007). "Mennonite Church British Columbia." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 11 May 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/C6643ME.html>