The Portage Avenue Church began services about 1930, and formally organized on 4 October 1936. In the 1920s, the only Mennonite Brethren church in Winnipeg, Manitoba was the North End Mennonite Brethren Church. This made traveling to the church difficult for the people living in the south end of Winnipeg. This group began to meet in their own part of town in a rented chapel, Maple Street Mission Church. They then rented a second story room but moved after realizing that their neighbors were spiritualists. In 1933 the group purchased a building at 344 Ross Avenue. In 1936, the congregation became independent from the North End Mennonite Brethren Church and was officially accepted into the MB Conference. It was known as the South End Mennonite Brethren Church.

In 1940 the South End MB Church bought the former Wesley Methodist Church at William and Juno with a seating capacity of 1,200. In 1961 a new church was built on Portage Avenue at Raglan Road. Peter J. Kornelsen is considered the founding leader of the group. It was then known as the Portage Avenue Mennonite Brethren Church until September 2005, when "Mennonite Brethren" was dropped from the name.

Bibliography

Additional Information

Address: 1420 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3G 0W2

Phone: 204-774-4414

Web site: Portage Avenue Church

Denominational Affiliations:

Mennonite Brethren Church of Manitoba (1936-present)

Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (1936-present)

General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (1936-2002)

Portage Avenue Leading Minsters

Portage Avenue Membership

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 587. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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