Broadway Mennonite Brethren Church (Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada)

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Chilliwack Mennonite Brethren Church, 1949-1950
Creator: Henry J. Wiens (1885-1975)
Digitized by Hiebert Library. Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies
Broadway Church, Chilliwack, BC
Source: D. Giesbrecht

Broadway Mennonite Brethren (MB) Church, located in Chilliwack, British Columbia, began as a daughter church of the East Chilliwack Mennonite Brethren Church. In the mid-1940s, the recently established East Chilliwack congregation was quickly experiencing overcrowding due to the large numbers of Mennonites moving to the Fraser Valley from the Canadian prairies. To relieve this situation, a group of urban members from East Chilliwack MB Church began holding their own services in the St. Thomas Anglican Hall near downtown Chilliwack. After meeting together for seven months, the new group decided to construct a new church building on the corner of Broadway and Maple. The building, measuring 72 by 44 feet, was completed and dedicated in 1947 and in the same year became a member of the British Columbia Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. The congregation was referred to as the Chilliwack Mennonite Brethren Church, a name that changed to Broadway Mennonite Brethren Church in 1970.

In 1969, the Broadway congregation decided to build a new structure on the same site. The congregation met at Little Mountain Elementary School until the new building was dedicated in early December of 1969. It had a seating capacity of 450 people. A new stage area, an enlarged foyer, a reconstructed balcony, and several other aesthetic changes were completed with volunteer labor in 1990.

For several years, the Broadway church assisted in a church plant effort in the Sardis area. In 1975, nine families left the church to form the core of the work in Sardis Community Church.

Jacob I. Bergen is considered the founding leader of the group, serving the church as lead minister from 1947 to 1958. Isaac H. Tiessen (1959–1963) was the first salaried minister. Other ministers have included Peter S. Thiessen, Bernard Epp, Herman Lenzmann and Gerhard G. Thielmann.

In 2020 the congregation's membership was 192 with an average attendance of 230.

Bibliography

Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches: Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies. "Broadway Mennonite Brethren Church." (accessed 3 June 2006). http://www.mbconf.ca/mbstudies/holdings/bc/broadway.en.html.

Canadian Mennonite (31 December 1969): 6.

Mennonite Brethren Herald (27 May 1988): 26; (12 October 1990): 18.

Additional Information

Address: 46611 Maple Ave., Chilliwack, BC, V2P 2K3

Phone: 604-792-9147

Website: Broadway Church, Mennonite Brethren

Denominational Affiliations:

British Columbia Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (1947-present)

Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (1947-present)

General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches of North America (1947-2002)

Broadway Church Leading Ministers

Pastor Year
Jacob I. Bergen 1947-1958
Isaac H. Tiessen 1959-1963
Henry Warkentin 1964-1976
John Friesen (interim) 1976
John E. Friesen 1976-1979
David Neumann (interim) 1980-1981
Robert J. Friesen 1981-2000
Wilf Richert (interim) 2002-2003
Gary Simpson 2004-present

Broadway Church Membership

Year Members
1947 111
1950 182
1955 246
1960 293
1965 227
1971 276
1975 338
1980 290
1985 261
1990 238
1995 243
2000 286
2005 295
2010 333
2015 254
2020 192

Maps

Map:Broadway Mennonite Brethren Church (Chilliwack, British Columbia)


Author(s) Hugo Friesen
Richard D. Thiessen
Date Published May 2023

Cite This Article

MLA style

Friesen, Hugo and Richard D. Thiessen. "Broadway Mennonite Brethren Church (Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. May 2023. Web. 7 Dec 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Broadway_Mennonite_Brethren_Church_(Chilliwack,_British_Columbia,_Canada)&oldid=177860.

APA style

Friesen, Hugo and Richard D. Thiessen. (May 2023). Broadway Mennonite Brethren Church (Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 7 December 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Broadway_Mennonite_Brethren_Church_(Chilliwack,_British_Columbia,_Canada)&oldid=177860.




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