Gilroy Mennonite Brethren Church (Gilroy, Saskatchewan, Canada)

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Gilroy Mennonite Brethren Church was a small congregation that met for a time in the Gilroy, Saskatchewan, village hall and was part of the Herbert Kreis (Circuit) of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. Gilroy is in the Saskatchewan RM #224 (Maple Bush) on Highway No. 42 between Riverhurst and Lawson, with Elbow about 25 km. north-north east. The congregation began in fall 1925 when the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization settled eight families fleeing from the Soviet Union on farms with more families settling the following year. An additional 12 families were settled in the Elbow area. In 1927 Jacob I. Bergen settled near Riverhurst and pastored Gilroy. There was a revival in the congregation in the early 1930s but by 1933 because of repeated drought and crop failures Bergen was forced to move 375 km. north to Mullingar.

The 1940s brought better crops and on September 1941 a large Thanksgiving festival was held with many invited guests. However, the 1940s also brought improved roads and better employment and farmland elsewhere and a number of families moved away. The congregation was without a pastor for a number of years and by about 1946 the congregation closed. In 1942, the Beechy congregation purchased a town hall, formerly used by the Mennonite Brethren congregation in Gilroy. The building was dismantled, transported to a section of land just outside of Beechy, and then used to construct a new church building.

Bibliography

Der Bote (17 March 1926): 2; (29 October 1941): 2.

Additional Information

Gilroy MB Church Ministers

Minister Years
Jacob I. Bergen 1927-1933
Wiens, Frank F. 1928-?
Braun, Peter P. 1928-1937
Dyck, Jacob P.

Gilroy MB Church Membership

Year Members
1929 36
1935 30
1938 29
1942 2


Author(s) Victor G Wiebe
Date Published September 2014

Cite This Article

MLA style

Wiebe, Victor G. "Gilroy Mennonite Brethren Church (Gilroy, Saskatchewan, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. September 2014. Web. 5 Dec 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gilroy_Mennonite_Brethren_Church_(Gilroy,_Saskatchewan,_Canada)&oldid=125501.

APA style

Wiebe, Victor G. (September 2014). Gilroy Mennonite Brethren Church (Gilroy, Saskatchewan, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 5 December 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gilroy_Mennonite_Brethren_Church_(Gilroy,_Saskatchewan,_Canada)&oldid=125501.




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