Petitcodiac Mennonite Church (Petitcodiac, New Brunswick, Canada)
The Petitcodiac Mennonite Church in New Brunswick, Canada, had its origins in a 1977 advertisement in Harrowsmith magazine offering land for sale. This caught the eye of two members of the Nairn Mennonite Church in Ontario. On Esther Sunday in 1977 Fred Nordemann and Peter Bunnet flew to New Brunswick to check the possibilities. By Christmas 1977 the first farm was bought, and a total of five families had arrived from Ontario by July 1978.
The founding families organized as Mennonite Fellowship-Sussex, and were accepted as a member of the Western Ontario Mennonite Conference. John Brubacher, who had briefly served as a pastor at Nairn, was asked to coordinate church activities. Since they met in homes, the Inter-Mennonite Yearbook in 1978 referred to the group as a house church.
In 1980 the new congregation established a group home for learning disabled adults known as the Havelock Community Residence. With the assistance of Mennonite Central Committee, they established OPAL, Inc. to manage the program. Over time Opal became a community-based, government-funded project. In 1982 the group began to meet in the Kiwanis Community Center instead of members' homes, partly to better accommodate OPAL residents.
In May 1985 the congregation changed its name to Petitcodiac Mennonite Church to better reflect its community involvement. In 1986 it also joined the Conference of Mennonites in Canada, a national Mennonite conference.
The Petitcodiac Mennonite Church has also been heavily involved in sales of Ten Thousand Villages products in the Maritimes, and in 2005 purchased a store to provide sales and wearhouse space.
In 1995 the congregation purchased a former liquor store, and transformed it into a church building.
In 2017 Petitcodiac's purpose statement read:
At PMC we seek to follow Jesus as we ...
- Practice Christ-like living , guided by
- Mennonite Theology, within a welcoming
- Community of believers.
Bibliography
Elliot, Brian. A Brief History of Petitcodiac Mennonite Church, 1978-1988. Petitcodiac, NB: The Church, 1989. Available in electronic text at http://www.petitcodiacmennonitechurch.org/history-ten.html.
Epp-Tiessen, Esther. "New Brunswick congregation ministers to community." Mennonite Reporter 19, no. 22 (13 November 1989): 13.
Mennonite Reporter (28 July 1986); (16 October 1995): B1; (30 October 1995): 15.
"Petitcodiac Mennonite Church." MCEC Reflections (1988): 57.
Rogalsky, Dave. "Ministering in the 'far east'" Canadian Mennonite 12, no. 4 (18 February 2008): 13-14.
Additional Information
Address: 285 Old Post Road, Petitcodiac NB E4Z 4N8
Phone: 506-756-2442
Website: Petitcodiac Mennonite Church
Denominational Affiliations: Mennonite Church Eastern Canada Conference
Pastoral Leaders at Petitcodiac Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| John Brubacher | 1978-1984 |
| Stanley Shantz (Interim) |
1984 |
| Siegfried Janzen | 1985-1995 |
| Werner DeJong | 1999-2006 |
| Eric & Marilyn Henderson (Interim) |
2007-2008 |
| Marvin Friesen (Interim) |
2010 |
| Gordon Driedger | 2011-present |
Membership at Petitcodiac Mennonite Church
| Year | Membership | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 10
- |
1985 | 20 |
| 1995 | 39 | ||
| 2000 | 29 | ||
| 2008 | 37 | ||
| 2015 | 38 |
Map
| Author(s) | Sam Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | January 2017 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Sam. "Petitcodiac Mennonite Church (Petitcodiac, New Brunswick, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. January 2017. Web. 18 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Petitcodiac_Mennonite_Church_(Petitcodiac,_New_Brunswick,_Canada)&oldid=147015.
APA style
Steiner, Sam. (January 2017). Petitcodiac Mennonite Church (Petitcodiac, New Brunswick, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Petitcodiac_Mennonite_Church_(Petitcodiac,_New_Brunswick,_Canada)&oldid=147015.
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