Christian Anishinabec Fellowship
The Christian Anishinabec Fellowship (CAF) had its beginning in the early 1960s in the Northern Light Gospel Mission Conference. Several missionaries under Northern Light Gospel Mission organized a gathering of Native Christian men. At that time a "conference" was not the purpose for gathering, but fellowship and teaching was. This gathering became an annual event and subsequently the Native men helped to plan this meeting. By 1987 they were totally responsible for the meeting and were involved in planning outreach programs and other ministries as a part of their church. The Native pastors and their executive committee seek to minister to and nurture their members, guiding them in the way of the Lord. Through this kind of involvement they have come to feel a greater responsibility for each other and a greater sense of spiritual kinship, and they perceive better how they all fit together as a body in Christ.
In 1990, seven of the Native congregations of the Northern Light Gospel Mission Conference formed the Native Mennonite Conference, a body which related to, but did not participate in, the Mennonite General Assembly (MC). The Native Mennonite Conference changed its name in 1996 to the Christian Anishinabec Fellowship to better reflect its membership. Although its members are Mennonites, the CAF is not formally affiliated with the Mennonite Church (MC). In 2002 five congregations remained part of the Fellowship; in 2009 there were eight congregations with a total of 103 members: Bearskin Lake, Deer Lake, Fort Severn, Grassy Narrows, North Spirit Lake, Pikangikum, Poplar Hill and Sandy Lake.
Bibliography
Mennonite Yearbook & Directory, 1997, ed. James E. Horsch. Scottdale, Pa.: Mennonite Publishing House, 1997.
Anabaptist (Mennonite) Directory (2009): 45-46.
| Author(s) | Henry Hostetler |
|---|---|
| Date Published | March 2010 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Hostetler, Henry. "Christian Anishinabec Fellowship." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. March 2010. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Christian_Anishinabec_Fellowship&oldid=116493.
APA style
Hostetler, Henry. (March 2010). Christian Anishinabec Fellowship. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Christian_Anishinabec_Fellowship&oldid=116493.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 620. All rights reserved.
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