Mount View Mennonite Church (Aldersyde, Alberta, Canada)
Source: Mennonite Community Photograph Collection, The Congregation (HM4-134 Box 1 photo 010.8-29).
Mennonite Church USA Archives, Goshen, Indiana.
Mount View Mennonite Church, located at Aldersyde, Alberta, between Okotoks and High River, originated through the colonization of rural Alberta in the late 19th century. Settlers to the area came from the United States and from Ontario. Elias W. and Catharine Bricker of Ontario was the pioneer settlers in the area, coming with the first home-seekers' excursion sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1889. Other Mennonite families settled in the area in 1900 and 1901. The congregation was formally organized on 30 April 1901, shortly after S. F. Coffman from Vineland, Ontario had first conducted services in February 1901. The congregation began with nine members, six men and three women. The first baptism, conducted by Coffman, was held on 26 May 1901, and the first communion was held on 16 June of that year. Originally services were held in the Maple Leaf schoolhouse. The first building, measuring 28 x 48 feet, was built in 1902, with a subsequent building program in 1939. Norman B. Stauffer is considered the founding leader of the group. The language of worship was English. The church, one of three Mennonite churches in Alberta, was the location of the organizational meeting of the Alberta District Mennonite Conference (now Northwest Mennonite Conference) on 27 July 1903.
Pastoral leaders of the congregation included Norman B. Stauffer, Isaac Miller, A. H. Wambold, Menno Gingrich, Owen O. Hershberger, Howard O. Stauffer, Harold Boettger and A. B. Glen Good.
Mount View Mennonite Church dissolved in 1974. The church building is now used as a private residence, while the church cemetery is now used by Trinity Mennonite Church of Calgary.
Bibliography
Bowman, Jim. "Discovering Alberta’s Mennonite Pioneer Family." Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta Newsletter, vol. 15, no. 3 (October 2012).
Regehr, T. D. Faith, Life and Witness in the Northwest, 1903-2003: Centennial History of the Northwest Mennonite Conference. Kitchener, Ont.: Pandora Press, 2003.
Stauffer, Ezra. History of the Alberta-Saskatchewan Mennonite Conference. 1960: 11.
Additional Information
Denominational Affiliations:
Northwest Mennonite Conference (1903-1974)
Mennonite Church (1903-1974)
Mount View Mennonite Church Membership
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1901 | 9 |
| 1925 | 40 |
| 1950 | 31 |
| 1955 | 19 |
| 1965 | 8 |
| 1974 | 6 |
| Author(s) | Ezra Stauffer |
|---|---|
| Jim Bowman | |
| Date Published | May 2013 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Stauffer, Ezra and Jim Bowman. "Mount View Mennonite Church (Aldersyde, Alberta, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. May 2013. Web. 18 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mount_View_Mennonite_Church_(Aldersyde,_Alberta,_Canada)&oldid=116762.
APA style
Stauffer, Ezra and Jim Bowman. (May 2013). Mount View Mennonite Church (Aldersyde, Alberta, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mount_View_Mennonite_Church_(Aldersyde,_Alberta,_Canada)&oldid=116762.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 760. All rights reserved.
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