Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada)

Source: Wikipedia Commons

Vancouver, the great Canadian seaport (2006 estimated population, 611,869; 2007 metropolitan area estimate, 2,249,725) on the Pacific coast, is situated at the southwest corner of the province of British Columbia. Mennonites have been living in Vancouver since 1930. By the late 1950s their number was about 3,000, including Van­couver's smaller twin city, New Westminster. At that time most of the Mennonites lived in South Vancouver, where the four churches were located - two General Conference Mennonite and two Mennonite Brethren. There were 5 Mennonite physicians practicing in Van­couver. In the late 1950s, two homes, the Mary Martha Girls' Home and Bethel Girls' Home, cared for the single women working in the city.

Following World War II the number of Mennonites in Vancouver increased due to the relocation of Mennonites from the Fraser Valley and other areas of Canada as well as the immigration of Mennonites from Europe and South America. The population of Vancouver increased dramatically beginning in the 1980s due to immigration from Hong Kong and mainland China, other south-east Asian countries, India, and in more recent years, from South America. Both provincial Mennonite conferences focused much of their church planting work within a number of these immigrant groups, drastically changing the face of the Mennonite church in Vancouver.

Mennonite congregations in Metro Vancouver, 2008

Congregation	Denomination	Location	Members
Arabic Evangelical Church	Mennonite Brethren	Surrey	33
Bethel Chinese Christian MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	259
Bethel Mennonite Church	Mennonite Church	Langley	246
Burnaby Pacific Grace Church	Mennonite Brethren	Burnaby	195
Cedar Park Church	Mennonite Brethren	Delta	137
Chinese Grace Mennonite Church	Mennonite Church	Vancouver	70
Coast Hills Community Church	Mennonite Brethren	Surrey	52
Culloden MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	192
Deaf Community Christian Church	Mennonite Brethren	Burnaby	53
Discovery Church of Ridge Meadows	Mennonite Brethren	Maple Ridge
Eagle Ridge Bible Fellowship	Mennonite Brethren	Coquitlam	138
East Ridge Community Fellowship	Mennonite Brethren	Maple Ridge	60
Emmaus	Mennonite Brethren	Surrey
Esperanza Multicultural Church	Mennonite Brethren	Burnaby	120
Faithwerks Oakridge	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver
First United Mennonite Church	Mennonite Church	Vancouver	282
First United Spanish Mennonite Church	Mennonite Church	Vancouver	50
Fraserview MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Richmond	211
Grace Ethiopian Evangelical Church	Mennonite Brethren	Burnaby	85
Gracepoint Community Church	Mennonite Brethren	Surrey	403
Heritage Mountain Community Church	Mennonite Brethren	Port Moody	105
Hindi Punjabi Gospel Chapel	Mennonite Brethren	Surrey	56
House For All Nations	Mennonite Brethren	Burnaby	300
Hyde Creek Community Church	Mennonite Brethren	Port Coquitlam	75
Imago Dei Christian Community	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	10
Jericho Ridge Community Church	Mennonite Brethren	Langley	117
Killarney Park MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	141
Langley Mennonite Fellowship	Mennonite Church	Langley	110
Lao Christian MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Surrey	38
Living Hope Christian Fellowship	Mennonite Church	Surrey	149
Maple Ridge Community Church	Mennonite Brethren	Maple Ridge	135
Mennonite Japanese Christian Fellowship	Mennonite Church	Surrey	15
New Hope Christian Church	Mennonite Brethren	Delta	156
North Langley Community Church	Mennonite Brethren	Langley	452
North Shore Bethel Christian MB	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	88
North Shore Japanese Church	Mennonite Church	West Vancouver	11
North Shore Pacific Grace Mandarin	Mennonite Brethren	North Vancouver	103
North Shore Pacific Grace MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	North Vancouver	14
Pacific Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver
Pacific Grace Mandarin Church	Mennonite Brethren	Burnaby	104
Pacific Grace MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	322
Pacific North	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver
Peace Chinese Mennonite Church	Mennonite Church	Richmond	60
Peace Mennonite Church	Mennonite Church	Richmond	189
Point Grey Inter-Mennonite Fellowship	MB / MC	Vancouver	57
Port Moody Pacific Grace MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Port Moody	335
Potter's Hand Community Church	Mennonite Brethren	North Vancouver	17
Real Life Community Church	Mennonite Brethren	Surrey
Reality Vancouver	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver
Richmond Bethel Church	Mennonite Brethren	Richmond	158
Richmond Chinese MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Richmond	197
Richmond Pacific Grace MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Richmond	50
Sherbrooke Korean Mennonite Fellowship	Mennonite Church	Vancouver	12
Sherbrooke Mennonite Church	Mennonite Church	Vancouver	223
Silver Valley Community Church	Mennonite Brethren	Maple Ridge	22
South Hill MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	116
South Langley MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Langley	210
South Vancouver Pacific Grace MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	156
Surrey Mennonite Church	Mennonite Church	Surrey	15
Tri-City Chinese Christian Church	Mennonite Brethren	Port Moody	50
Urban Journey	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver
Vancouver Chinese MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	110
Vancouver Chinese Mennonite Church	Mennonite Church	Vancouver	170
Vancouver Christian Logos Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	101
Vancouver Vietnamese MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	7
Vancouver Vietnamese Mennonite Church	Mennonite Church	Vancouver	31
Westside Church	Mennonite Brethren	Vancouver	76
White Rock Mennonite Christian Fellowship	Mennonite Church	White Rock	30
Willingdon MB Church	Mennonite Brethren	Burnaby	2,031
Total			9,510

The information for this table is taken from the 2007 directories for the British Columbia Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches and Mennonite Church British Columbia.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the Mennonite church in Vancouver was multi-ethnic and multi-lingual, with approximately 10,000 members and several thousand more attending worship services every Sunday.

Author(s)	Heinrich Goerz
	Richard D. Thiessen
Date Published	December 2008

Cite This Article

MLA style

Goerz, Heinrich and Richard D. Thiessen. "Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. December 2008. Web. 25 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Vancouver_(British_Columbia,_Canada)&oldid=102969.

APA style

Goerz, Heinrich and Richard D. Thiessen. (December 2008). Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Vancouver_(British_Columbia,_Canada)&oldid=102969.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 798. All rights reserved.

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