Nith Valley Mennonite Church

Classification scheme:

III-51

Title: Nith Valley Mennonite Church fonds

Dates of creation: 1973-2010

Physical description: 78 cm of textual records

Administrative history: Nith Valley Mennonite Church resulted from a merger of the Biehn Mennonite Church (see III-5) and the Blenheim Mennonite Church (see III-6) in 1975. The congregation uses the 1964 church building erected by the Biehn Mennonite Church three kilometers south of Highway 7 & 8 on Waterloo Regional Road 3.

The congregation has been affiliated with the Mennonite Conference of Ontario (1975-1988), the Mennonite Church (1975-1999), Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (1988-) and Mennonite Church Canada (1995- ). In 1925 there were 77 members; in 1950, 88; in 1965, 92; in 1975, 140; in 1985, 154; in 1995, 119; in 2000, 112.

Pastors have been Gordon Bauman (1975-1977), Amzie Brubacher (1977-1989), Harold Schilk (1989-1996), Sue C. Steiner (Interim, 1996/97), Bruce Keown (1997-2000), Henry Regehr (Interim, 2000/01), Matthew & Hendrike Isert Bender (2001- ). See the GAMEO entry for more information.

Custodial history: Accessions have been received from time to time, with some materials coming almost annually.

Notes: Original description created December 1998 by Sam Steiner.

File list:

Series 1: Formal records

Church Council minutes (Apr. 4, 1973-March, 1987)
Jan. 2002; Jan, Feb, September 2006; September 2007; Jan, Feb 2009, April 2010
Membership forms, 1978
Annual report, 1975-1979, 1981-1999/00, 2001/02, 2003/04-2005/06, 2007-2010
Directory, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1991-1996, 2003
Congregational guidelines, 1979, 1993
Youth sponsors job description, n.d.
Pastoral evaluation documents, 1979, 1997
Documents re: vote on name for the newly merged congregation, 1975
Building committee documents, 1986
Food Crisis Groups report, 2 Nov 1975

Series 2: Informal records

Congregational profile, 1974, 1997
"Timeline of congregational events and trends : Blenheim/Biehn/Nith Valley, 1940-1996, 1997
Misc. correspondence, 1973-
Programmes, brochures, etc.
Nith Valley Mennonite Church and its Roots / Koch, Alice. - New Hamburg, Ont. : Nith Valley Mennonite Church, 2000.
Correspondence and evaluation paper by Ann Weber in relation to New Hamburg Community Services work in the Hincks Street area, 1982.