Anchor of Hope Anabaptist Fellowship
Anchor of Hope Anabaptist Fellowship in the city of Stratford, Ontario began in 2017 as an outreach of Fairhaven Amish Mennonite Church in nearby Poole (Perth County). Originally conceived as a children's outreach in the city in 2003, the ministry grew until it was decided to purchase an existing building on Erie Street. The children's ministry, today known as the Stratford Bible Club, has grown to regular Thursday evening meetings of about 60 children from the surrounding community. Anchor of Hope's membership presently (2024) consists of about 20 households. It is an evangelical Anabaptist church in the Amish Mennonite tradition.
On December 4, 2023, an offer was accepted to purchase the former Parkview United Church and its adjacent buildings at the corner of Ontario and Parkview in Stratford, in order to obtain more space for worship and educational ministries. Their first worship service in the new building was on February 18, 2024.
The congregation began a school at the same location on September 3, 2024 called Anchor Christian Academy. Initial enrollment was 21 students.
Former ministers of the congregation were Melvin Roes (Acting Bishop), Joseph Kuepfer, James Schmidt, and Deacon Richard Ropp. On July 7, 2023 James Schmidt and Richard Ropp were nominated to enter the lot for the office of Bishop. At an ordination service on July 9, 2023 the lot fell upon Richard Ropp. The new bishop was ordained by Bishop Melvin Roes, Bishop Jeff Drudge of Maranatha Conservative Mennonite Church (unaffiliated) in Drayton, Ontario, and Bishop Wayne Lapp of Cornerstone Mennonite Church (Beachy Amish) in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. James Schmidt and Joseph Kuepfer remained as congregational ministers. In 2024 both Bishop Roes and Minister Kuepfer retired from active ministry.
Abuse Scandal
In Mid-September 2024 information came forward regarding illegal conversion therapy practices among the children in the Stratford Bible Club and the Anchor Christian Academy. The abuse is presently under investigation.
History
The roots of the Anchor of Hope Anabaptist Fellowship extend 200 years into Canada's history.
In 1824 Alsatian Amish Mennonites immigrated to the British province of Upper Canada (Ontario), settling in Wilmot Township. By 1859, families had moved into nearby Wellesley Township, and by 1874 the Amish Mennonites expanded into Mornington Township (now Perth East). They built a church building in 1886, which created a division among the traditional "House" Amish and the more progressive "Church" Amish Mennonites. The House Amish became the genesis of today's Old Order Amish, centered in the Milverton area. The Church Amish erected the Mornington Amish Mennonite Church in Poole.
New worship styles and Sunday schools led to a division in the Poole congregation in 1903, when the more conservative element under Bishop Nicholas Nafziger left to form a new Mornington Amish Mennonite congregation (the original group eventually became Poole Mennonite Church). The Nafziger congregation retained traditional German worship with the use of the Ausbund songbook.
By 1974, some members of the Nafziger group became uncomfortable with continued usage of tobacco and alcohol, and wanting a "purer" communion table, they left to form the nearby Fairhaven Amish Mennonite Church under the leadership of Bishop Melvin Roes.
The Fairhaven congregation began a Christian school and planted three daughter congregations in Ontario: Fellowship Haven Amish Mennonite (Monkton, Perth County, 1991), River of Life Amish Mennonite (Perth, Lanark County, 2021), and Anchor of Hope Anabaptist Fellowship (Stratford, 2017).
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