Crosshill Mennonite Church (Millbank, Ontario, Canada)

Crosshill Mennonite Church, 1966.
Source: Kitchener Public Library.

Crosshill Mennonite Church.
Source: Brian L. Shantz Ltd. Website

In 1949 the Maple View Mennonite Church near Wellesley, Ontario, purchased the Boyd Presbyterian Church (built in 1888) located in Crosshill, with a dream of continuing a community Sunday school established after the then United Church of Canada congregation closed in 1947. It also wanted to establish a daughter congregation. A re-dedication service was held in the church building in 1950, and members from Maple View Mennonite Church who lived near Crosshill, along with some community neighbors, began to worship at Crosshill.

Pastoral leadership and membership in the Crosshill Mennonite Church remained combined with Maple View until 1970. Growth of the church, leadership changes, and social change in the late 1960s prepared the way for Crosshill Mennonite church to establish its own identity as an independent congregation.

Orland Gingerich, in his book, The Amish of Canada, suggested that “a more conservative stance by Mapleview bishops” also encouraged Crosshill’s identity as a separate congregation. This stance restricted women with cut hair in worship, and insisted upon a more stricter interpretation of the woman’s prayer veil.

In 1966 Steve Gerber was ordained to be a minister at Crosshill and in 1967 Ervin Erb was ordained to leadership as a deacon. The growing congregation also required more Sunday school space and a larger sanctuary. In 1972 an addition to the 1888 building was completed.

The decades that followed brought leadership changes, introduced the role of elders, found a place for musical instruments in worship, and brought new openness to the role of women in the church.

With the retirement of Ervin Erb in 1984, a team of elders began to help the minister with pastoral care and church leadership. The following years again brought change--perhaps the most visible was the use of musical instruments to aid in worship.

A visioning process in 1996 helped Crosshill to further define its identity and mission. This included a belief that God called it to be a growing, caring, congregation that was involved in the community. In order to have a place for everyone to celebrate God’s presence in worship, the congregation identified the need for an updated, inviting facility.

Following a needs analysis, the decision was made to build a new facility rather than renovate the existing building. A parcel of land was purchased at 2357 Hutchison Road, with construction completed in 2006. The original building was sold to the Crosshill Old Colony Mennonite Church.

Bibliography

Crosshill Mennonite Church Historical Committee. "History." 2013. Web. 5 December 2016. https://crosshillmennonite.wordpress.com/history/.

Mennonite Reporter (20 March 1989): 13; (12 July 1993): 12.

Steinman, Patti. "The history of Crosshill Mennonite Church," Research paper, Canadian Mennonite Bible College, 1983, Mennonite Heritage Centre.

Archival Records

Church records at Mennonite Archives of Ontario.

Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Volume 4606.

Additional Information

Address: 2537 Hutchison Road RR 1, Millbank, ON N0K 1L0

Phone: 519-699-5299

Website: Crosshill Mennonite Church

Denominational Affiliations:

Western Ontario Mennonite Conference (1970-1988)

Mennonite Church (1970-1999)

Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada (1988-present)

Conference of Mennonites in Canada / Mennonite Church Canada (1995-present)

Crosshill Mennonite Church Pastors

Name	Years of Service
Stevanus J. Gerber (1918-2017)	1970-1985
Raymond G. Erb (1933-2018)	1986-1994
James R. "Jim" Reusser (1929-2017) (Interim)	1994-1995
James Gerber	1995-2012
Doug Amstutz (Interim)	2012-2013
Max Kennel (Associate Youth)	2012-2014
Julie Ellison White	2013-2024
Steve Cox (Interim)	December 2024-

Crosshill Mennonite Church Membership

Year	Members
1970	160
1975	189
1980	190
1985	171
1990	136
1995	132
2000	138
2010	186
2015	193
2020	150

Map

Map:Crosshill Mennonite Church (Millbank, Ontario, Canada)

Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article

By Joseph C. Fretz. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 742. All rights reserved.

Crosshill Amish Mennonite Church is located six miles north of the Wellesley Mapleview Amish Church in Waterloo County, Ontario. The two places of meeting serve the membership of the one congregation, known as the Wellesley congregation. It began in an unused church in which they held summer Bible school in 1948. Two years later the congregation bought the building and began Sunday school. More than 100 worship here regularly. The ministers of Mapleview share in preaching at this place.

Author(s)	Samuel J Steiner
Date Published	December 2016

Cite This Article

MLA style

Steiner, Samuel J. "Crosshill Mennonite Church (Millbank, Ontario, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. December 2016. Web. 22 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Crosshill_Mennonite_Church_(Millbank,_Ontario,_Canada)&oldid=179958.

APA style

Steiner, Samuel J. (December 2016). Crosshill Mennonite Church (Millbank, Ontario, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 22 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Crosshill_Mennonite_Church_(Millbank,_Ontario,_Canada)&oldid=179958.

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©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.