Classification scheme:
III-13
Title: Floradale Mennonite Church fonds
Dates of creation: 1896-2019
Note: Further accruals are expected.
Physical description: 117 cm of textual records
Administrative history: Located at 22 2nd St., Floradale, Ontario, the congregation began services in 1857, and formally organized in 1889. The congregation first purchased a building from the Evangelical Church in 1867. After the Old Order division a new building was constructed north of Floradale in 1896; in 1936 a new church was built at the present location. Abraham Dettwiler and William Hembling are considered founding leaders of the group. The congregation originated through division from North Woolwich Old Order Mennonite after a division in 1889. Initially (1856-1867) the church met every eight weeks in the home of Deacon William Hembling.
The 1889 division of the North Woolwich Old Order from the Mennonite Conference of Ontario caused a split in the congregation, after which the church was officially organized as Floradale Mennonite. The Old Order retained use of the building and the conference group was without a church building until 1896.
The congregation affiliated with the Mennonite Conference of Ontario from 1889-1988, the Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada since 1988 and the Conference of Mennonites in Canada since 1995. The language of worship is English; language transition from German occurred in 1920s.
Major renovations took place in 1986, and a new building was erected at the present location in 2006.
Pastoral leaders since 1896 have included Abram B. Gingrich (1896-1936), Oliver D. Snider (1909-1934), Reuben Dettwiler (1934-1951), Rufus Jutzi (1951-1964), Weyburn Groff (1964-1965), Gerald Good (1965-1976), Lester Kehl (1976-1989), Stanley D. Shantz (1989-1990), Richard Yordy (1990-1991), Fred Redekop (1991-2016), Gary Knarr (Interim, 2016- )
Custodial history: The congregation has made regular donations to the Mennonite Archives of Ontario
Scope and content: There are four series of congregational records: formal records, informal records, church bulletins and newsletters
Notes: For further information see: Brent Bauman, Forged anew: a history of Floradale Mennonite Church, Hembling-North Woolwich-Floradale 1856-1996 (Floradale : The Church, 1996).
Original description created November 1999 by Sam Steiner
File list:
Series 1: Formal records
- Annual meeting, special meeting minute book, 1896-1963
- Congregational meeting minute book, 1963-1977
- Annual meeting reports, minutes, 1967-1969, 1972-1979
- Annual meeting reports, minutes, 1980-1988
- Church Council & congregational meeting minutes, 1976-1987
- Church Council minutes, annual reports, congregational meeting minutes, 1988-2019 (no Council minutes for 1999)
- Congregational survey, 1981
- Church Council minutes, 1958-1970
- Property Deed, 1897, map showing property purchased 1973
- Membership book, 1897-1940
- Membership records of deceased, transferred and withdrawn members, - 1989
- Church register or photo directory, 1975, 1977?, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999-2003, 2005-2010, 2012-2014, 2017-2019
- Church Constitutions, between 1963 & 1971, 1976, 1983, 2000
- Sunday school constitution, n.d.
- Building Committee minutes, 1985
- Mennonite Youth Fellowship minute book, 1950-1957 (holograph constitution and later minutes laid in)
- Mennonite Youth Fellowship minutes, 1950-1965 (early minutes re-copied)
- Mennonite Youth Fellowship missionary project record book, 1950-1956
- Mennonite Youth Fellowship financial records, 1958-1972, 1972-75
- Mennonite Youth Fellowship Faith Committee records, 1962-1964
- Mennonite Youth Fellowship minutes, 1972-1986
- Young Peoples Bible Meeting records, 1957-1960
- Stewardship for Mission in the local congregation, 1965
- Adult Fellowship meeting book, 1963-1969
- Summer Bible School records, 1935-1984 (not complete)
- Women's Mission & Service Commission minutes, 1976-1993, 1995-2000, 2008-2015
- Handbook for Youth Advocates, n.d.
- Missions Committee minutes, 1992
- Nurture Cabinet minutes, 1984, 1989
- Sunday school organization (1920s) and attendance records, 1920-1960 (box)
- Youth Ministry Council, 1997
- Vesper Sewing Circle
Minutes, 1958-1984
Financial records, 1968-1981 - Girl's Missionary and Service Auxiliary (GMSA) record books, 1972-1981, 1983-1991
- Women's Fellowship, 2016-
Series 2: Informal records
- Delton Martin, "The history of the Floradale Mennonite Church," 1967 (14 p.)
- Delton Martin, The history of the Floradale Mennonite Church, 1971
- Correspondence re: withdrawals of membership, 1964, 1968
- Misc. news clippings, 1957ff.
- Misc. programmes, 1924ff (includes dedication and ordination services)
- Family child assistance information (includes two photos), 1960s?
- Mennonite Youth Fellowship affiliated unit certificate, 1950
- Receipts from donations to K-W hospital, 1951
- Annual reports to Mennonite Conference of Ontario, 1957-1975
- Misc. lists, forms and questionnaires (includes car rally directions)
- Monthly calendars of events, 2001, 2004-2007, Feb 2009-2019
- Vacation Bible School certificate, 1934 (stored at back of large box of formal records)
- Starlite Fellowship records, 1989-2002
- Map of the Floradale Community, 1971
Note: Includes property owners ca. 1861, 1896 and 1971, and houses of worship - "The growth of the Floradale Mennonite Church, Floradale, Ontario, 1944-1964," Edith Martin, 1 Mar 1965
- New building floor plan, 2006
- Correspondence
1996 - Historical notes by Reuben Dettwiler
"Regarding Bro. Simeon Weaver's resignation from the office of Deacon"
"The beginnings of a Mennonite witness at Floradale"
Note: Items donated to the Archives in 2023 by Richard Olley
Series 3: Church bulletins
1955-1957, 1960-2019
Series 4: Newsletter
Focus on Floradale, 1985-2019