Wilmot Mennonite Church (Baden, Ontario, Canada)

Wilmot Mennonite Church, Baden, Ontario.
Source: Church website.

In the early 1960s in rural Wilmot Township, Waterloo County, Ontario there were seven congregations of the Mennonite Conference of Ontario in close geographic proximity. Some of these small congregations began to share pastors, who served multiple congregations each Sunday. Conference leaders suggested several mergers, or even consolidation into one centralized congregation in Wilmot Township. This did not happen, but several mergers would take place. One of these resulted in the Wilmot Mennonite Church.

In 1966, when Lester Bauman was pastor of the Geiger Mennonite Church, the nearby Baden Mennonite Church, located in the town of Baden, invited him to serve them as pastor as well. They worked together in a variety of ways--alternating Sunday evening services and combined worship services during the summer. In 1971 when Stanley Shantz served as pastor, the two congregations agreed to become one in all but name and membership. In 1974 the congregations agreed to joint services, which were held at the Geiger building because of its larger size. The unofficially merged group was known as the Baden-Geiger Mennonite Church.

In November 1975, the Geiger building burned. The congregations then moved to Baden, using the Township Hall as their headquarters while renovations were made to the Baden building in order to better facilitate the combined group. Then services were held for a time in the renovated Baden church building.

On 15 May 1977 the a vote came to formally amalgamate the congregations under the name Wilmot Mennonite Church. They also decided to build a new church building on the former Geiger property. This was completed in 1979. The Baden property continued to be used as a fellowship and activity hall for the congregation until it also burned on 14 April 2000. This building had been rented by the West Hills Mennonite Fellowship for Sunday worship for about nine years.

Bibliography

Caldwell, Brian. "Baden church building fire set." Kitchener-Waterloo Record (18 April 2000): B1.

Mennonite Reporter (9 February 1976): 4; (3 October 1977): 13; (21 January 1980): 9.

Additional Information

Address: 2995 Bleams Rd. New Hamburg, ON, N3A 3J3

Phone: 519-634-5030

Website: Wilmot Mennonite Church

Denominational Affiliations:

Mennonite Church Eastern Canada

Mennonite Church Canada

Wilmot Mennonite Church Pastoral Leaders 

Minister	Years of Service
Lester Bauman	1966-1971
Stanley Shantz	1971-1979
Will Stoltz	1979-1986
Jean-Jacques Goulet	1986-1992
Glyn Jones	1992-2003
Renee Sauder (Interim)	Sept 2003-Aug 2005
Gary Horst	Sept 2005-Aug 2008
David Rogalsky	Oct 2008-Aug 2016
Susan Allison-Jones	Sep 2016-present

 

Wilmot Mennonite Church Membership

Year	Members
1970	144
1975	135
1980	111
1985	115
2000	125
2008	140
2015	120
2020	62

Map

Map:Wilmot Mennonite Church (Baden, Ontario, Canada)

Author(s)	Samuel J Steiner
Date Published	January 2017

Cite This Article

MLA style

Steiner, Samuel J. "Wilmot Mennonite Church (Baden, Ontario, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. January 2017. Web. 25 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Wilmot_Mennonite_Church_(Baden,_Ontario,_Canada)&oldid=171717.

APA style

Steiner, Samuel J. (January 2017). Wilmot Mennonite Church (Baden, Ontario, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Wilmot_Mennonite_Church_(Baden,_Ontario,_Canada)&oldid=171717.

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