Salem Mennonite Fellowship (Atwood, Ontario, Canada)
The Salem Mennonite congregation at Atwood, ON resulted from a division from Nafziger and Lichti Amish over issues of doctrine and language. The Salem congregation used English exclusively, but retained the traditional Beachy Amish practice of unpaid ministers. Originally the group affiliated with the Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship, but later became unaffiliated. The congregation established its own outreach near Athens, Ontario (Canaan Christian Fellowship) in 1982.
The congregation's membership in 1975 was 22, in 1985, 36. The congregation obtained a building in 1969. The congregation closed 13 March 2000; the church building was subsequently sold to the Mount Zion Mennonite Church.
The church was located 8 km northwest of Milverton on the 12th line of Elma Township. Bishop for the congregation in 1986 was Lorne J. Steckley, who helped found the congregation in 1967. He remained the bishop at the time the congregational closed.
Bibliography
Yoder, Elmer S. The Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship Churches. Hartville, OH: Diakonia Ministries, 1987: 369.
Glenn Zehr to Sam Steiner, 23 November 2002.
Additional Information
©1996-2010 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.
MLA style: Epp, Marlene. "Salem Mennonite Fellowship (Atwood, Ontario, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. April 1986. Web. 19 March 2010. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S245.html.
APA style: Epp, Marlene. (April 1986). Salem Mennonite Fellowship (Atwood, Ontario, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 March 2010, from http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S245.html.
