View source for Hamm, Elmer (1920-1987)

Elmer Hamm: minister; born 27 April 1920 in Gouldtown, Saskatchewan, the oldest of six sons born to Isaac and Maria (Schellenberg) Hamm. Elmer married Lena Rempel, daughter of Peter G. and Helena Rempel on 19 September 1948. They had six children: Lawrence, Esther, Arlene, Stanley, Julia, and Melvin. Elmer Hamm died on 8 October 1987.

Elmer attended [[Herbert Bible School (Herbert, Saskatchewan, Canada)|Herbert Bible School]] and was baptized in the [[Sommerfeld Mennonites|Sommerfeld Mennonite Church]] in Gouldtown in 1940. In 1941 the Hamm family moved to a farm near MacGregor, Manitoba, where Elmer married Lena Rempel in 1948. They had six children. 

Hamm became active in [[MacGregor Evangelical Mennonite Church (MacGregor, Manitoba, Canada)|MacGregor]] as a Sunday school teacher and choir leader. He was elected minister when the congregation joined the [[Evangelical Mennonite Conference (Kleine Gemeinde)|Evangelical Mennonite Conference]] (EMC) in 1952 and served there until 1960, when he sold his farm in order to study at [[Steinbach Bible College (Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada)|Steinbach Bible College]]. Hamm then became a full time minister, first in MacGregor, Manitoba, and then in the [[Wymark Evangelical Mennonite Church (Chortitz, Saskatchewan, Canada)|Wymark Evangelical Mennonite Church]] in Saskatchewan. During his time in Wymark he served on the EMC Board of Missions (1967-1972) and began a series of Low German radio broadcasts called Evangel Tidings.

In 1973 the EMC Board of Missions asked Hamm to plant a church in the northern community of La Crete, [[Alberta (Canada)|Alberta]]. By 1976 the group was large enough to undertake a church building that was completed in 1978. Providing services in English, along with musical instruments and other more progressive features of church life, the congregation attracted people from [[Mennonite Brethren Church|Mennonite Brethren]], [[Mennonite Church Canada|Mennonite Church Canada]] and other denominations living in La Crete, as well as members of the local [[Old Colony Mennonites|Old Colony]], [[Sommerfeld Mennonites|Sommerfeld]] and [[Bergthal Mennonites|Bergthaler]] churches. By 1983, the year the Hamms retired to Swift Current, Saskatchewan, the [[La Crete Christian Fellowship (La Crete, Alberta, Canada)|La Crete Christian Fellowship]], which affiliated with the EMC thanks to Hamm’s leadership, had grown to 150 members.
= Bibliography =
Janzen, Peter. “History of LaCrete Christian Fellowship.” <em>Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta Newsletter</em> (October 2001): 8.

Klassen, Irene, ed. <em>Their Mark, Their Legacy</em>. Calgary, AB: Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta, 2006.
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