Oliver Mennonite Church (formerly Oliver United Mennonite Church) (General Conference Mennonite Church), located near the town of Oliver, British Columbia, a member of the Conference of Mennonites in British Columbia from 1940 until 1987, began in 1933, when settlers Johann Harms, Jakob Harms, and Abraham Spenst came from the prairie provinces of Canada. The first preacher, Jakob Thiessen, came in 1938. The congregation was organized on 19 June 1938 and the first meetinghouse was dedicated in November 1939; it was enlarged in 1942 to seat 100. The members were immigrants from Russia in the 1870s and 1920s. In 1954 the congregation had 43 members.  In that year, Gerhard A. Neufeld became the leading minister, and served until 1966. Other leaders were Alvin Epp, Henry Dueck, John J. Klassen, Helmut Klassen, Henry Dueck and J. A. B. Adams who served during the 1980s.  Membership ranged from 49 in 1950 to 27 in 1965, 30 in 1975 and 13 in 1985.  The church was closed in 1987 at which time the membership was down to 10. The language of worship was English; the transition from German occurred in the 1960s.

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Address: Box 877, Oliver, BC, V0H 1T0.
Location: R. R. 1, Fairview Road.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 55-56. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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