Many Rooms Church Community (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
Many Rooms is a house church that came into being in and around 2003. It was born out of a group of Christian friends and neighbours living in the West End, the Spence Neighbourhood specifically, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. As they met regularly to fellowship, pray and encourage one another starting in 1999, they discerned God’s leading for them to become a church.
When the numbers of people attending increased they found they needed to grow into three house churches (2005) and then four house churches (2009), back to three house churches (2012), then to six house churches (2015). In 2018 Many Rooms consisted of five house churches.
The house churches are added or re-absorbed according to leadership availability and energy, and because of fluctuations in numbers. Each church can be six to fifteen people. These groups meet each Sunday in their different homes to share a meal and have informal worship and bible study. Once a month the house churches gathered together in a rented facility for a larger, more formal worship time and a potluck.
In June 2018 roughly 60 people considered Many Rooms their church -- about eighteen of these were children and youth, five people had been baptized at Many Rooms, and there were about thirty baptized adults were members by joining a church covenant.
Many Rooms joined the Evangelical Mennonite Conference (EMC) in 2007 and has been loved and supported by this conference. The church obtained charitable status in 2008 and had a board of directors. Since 2015 Many Rooms employed two of its members to serve in part-time pastoral roles, giving general guidance, leadership development, providing resources, communicating, and doing pastoral care. Volunteers undertook the hosting, facilitation, and pastoral care that happened in each of the house churches. The church did not have a building for worship or an office.
In addition to being Anabaptist and pacifist, the most significant and unique value this church shared was a commitment to living in a particular neighbourhood and being in intentional community together.
Many people in the Many Rooms lived in some form of shared housing and the church covenant which was renewed annually. It emphasized the need to live near each other to live out this church’s calling. Most people lived within a half-kilometre radius. This allowed for more interactions throughout the week and often included sharing vehicles, rides, employment, financial assistance, and childcare, and collaborating in neighbourhood initiatives and informal visits on the street.
Bibliography
Additional Information
Mailing Address: 480 Spence Street, Winnipeg MB R3B 2R7
E-mail address: manyroomschurchcommunity@gmail.com
Denominational Affiliations:
Evangelical Mennonite Conference
Many Rooms Church Resource Pastoral Team
| Pastoral Team | Years |
|---|---|
| Jen Kornelsen & Stephanie Unger
Example || 2017- |
| Author(s) | Jen Kornelsen |
|---|---|
| Date Published | July 2018 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Kornelsen, Jen. "Many Rooms Church Community (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. July 2018. Web. 18 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Many_Rooms_Church_Community_(Winnipeg,_Manitoba,_Canada)&oldid=161094.
APA style
Kornelsen, Jen. (July 2018). Many Rooms Church Community (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Many_Rooms_Church_Community_(Winnipeg,_Manitoba,_Canada)&oldid=161094.
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