La Glace Bible Fellowship (La Glace, Alberta, Canada)
Mennonite immigrants from the Soviet Union began arriving in northern Alberta in 1926. Services began in 1927 and the congregation formally organized in 1928 as the La Glace Mennonite Brethren Church. A meeting house was constructed in 1929. These families came from various Mennonite conference backgrounds. In 1934 they founded a Mennonite Bible School which existed until 1946. The congregation joined the Alberta Mennonite Brethren Conference in 1929.
In the 1940s families began to leave for the Fraser Valley, BC. The transition from German to English occurred in the 1950s. Ministers prior to 1955 included G. Wiens, J. Schmidt, Martin Hamm, N. Siebert and A. Janz.
In 1961 the church built a new meeting house using the old Bible School building. A subsequent building program took place in 1980. The name of the congregation was changed to the La Glace Bible Fellowship Church in 1985.
Bibliography
Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies. "La Glace Bible Fellowship." Web. 14 March 2012. http://www.mbconf.ca/home/products_and_services/resources/published_genealogies/mb_provincial_conferences_and_church_congregation_records/alberta_archives/la_glace_bible_fellowship_archives/.
Epp, Mary Konrad. "History of the La Glace Mennonite Brethren Bible School, 1933-1946." Unpublished typescript, 1987, 4 pp. Mennonite Historical Society of Canada collection, Mennonite Archives of Ontario.
Jubilee Celebration: Mennonite Brethren Church, La Glace, Alberta, 1928-1978, 35 pp.
Mennonite Brethren Herald (1 September 1978): 19; (27 May 1988): 9.
Siebert, Mary N. "An Historic Overview of the MB Church of La Glace Now Called the La Glace Bible Fellowship." Unpublished typescript, 1985, 4 pp. Mennonite Historical Society of Canada collection, Mennonite Archives of Ontario.
Toews, John A. A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church: Pilgrims and Pioneers. Winnipeg, MB: Kindred Press, 1975: 166, 262.
Archival Records
Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Winnipeg, MB: Volume 334, Reel 54.
Additional Information
Address: Box 98, La Glace, AB T0H 2J0
Telephone: 780-568-4341
Denominational Affiliations:
Alberta Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (1929-present)
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (1929-present)
General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (1929-2002)
La Glace Bible Fellowship Ministers
| Minister |
Years |
|---|---|
| Johann Schmidt | 1930–1931 |
| Abr. Janz | 1932–1938 |
| Abr. Konrad | 1939–1943 |
| Martin Hamm | 1944–1945 |
| Abr. Konrad | 1946–1950 |
| John Kroeker | 1951 |
| Ed Martens | 1952–1956 |
| Henry Willms | 1957-1960 |
| John J. Heidebrecht | 1957–1971 |
| George Block | 1960–1962 |
| Victor Pankratz |
1963-1975 |
| Dwight Nickel | 1976–1978 |
| John Schmidt | 1978 |
| Art Isaac | 1979–1983 |
| Peter Boschman | 1984–1994 |
| Jack Janzen | 1995 |
| Henry Willms | 1996 |
| Nelson Senft |
1997-present |
La Glace Bible Fellowship Membership
| Col 01 | Col 11 |
|---|---|
| 1937 |
73 |
| 1955 | 52 |
| 1965 | 45 |
| 1985 | 48 |
| 1995 |
66 |
| 2000 | 84 |
| 2010 | 65 |
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 264. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.
©1996-2012 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.
MLA style: Toews, A. A. and Richard D. Thiessen. "La Glace Bible Fellowship (La Glace, Alberta, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. March 2012. Web. 22 May 2012. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/L18ME.html.
APA style: Toews, A. A. and Richard D. Thiessen. (March 2012). La Glace Bible Fellowship (La Glace, Alberta, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 22 May 2012, from http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/L18ME.html.
