Wellesley Orthodox Mennonites

The Wellesley Orthodox Mennonites are a group of Old Order Mennonites located in Wellesley and Mapleton Townships in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The church was formally registered as the "Orthodox Mennonite Church of Wellesley Township" in 1962.^[1] The group, originally known as the Elam Martin Mennonites, celebrated their first communion together on April 6, 1958, after several families left the David Martin Mennonite Church (today legally known as Independent Old Order Mennonite Church) in Waterloo County, Ontario in the late 1950s, "on account of serious disagreements within the church".^[2]. Evidence shows that the families who left were concerned about modernization in their previous church, including the usage of power tools and welders. ^[3] From that time, the Orthodox Mennonites have focused on remaining very separate from modern technology, including electricity, telephones and computers. They use horses for farming instead of tractors, and their dress is very plain. Their Sunday service practices are centuries old and in German, although English may be used when visitors are present.

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↑ Amos Sherk: Unpubished History of the Orthodox and David Martin Mennonites (Primary Source), no date
↑ Royden Loewen: Horse-and-Buggy Genius: Listening to Mennonites Contest the Modern World, University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2016, page 56.

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[2] Amos Sherk: Unpubished History of the Orthodox and David Martin Mennonites (Primary Source), no date

[3] Royden Loewen: Horse-and-Buggy Genius: Listening to Mennonites Contest the Modern World, University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2016, page 56.

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