Amish Mennonites in Ontario

(Under Construction)

Celebrating their 200th Anniversary in Ontario in 2024, Amish Mennonites are a well established part of provincial history. First arriving in Wilmot Township (Waterloo Region) in 1824, today these Anabaptist Christians are living in various areas of Ontario.

A diverse history has seen Amish Mennonite divisions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, forming traditional, conservative and progressive branches. Today the Old Order Amish, the Beachy Amish Mennonites, and the Maranatha Amish Mennonites are the three descendant groups of the original settlers, with the most progressive group of Amish Mennonites now a part of Mennonite Church Canada.

Progressive Amish Mennonites

After divisions between the House Amish and emerging Church Amish in the United States, the same occurred in southwestern Ontario in the 1880s.

According to Amish historian Orland Gingerich, "The different convictions with regard to Sunday worship finally resulted in permanent divisions of most of the congregations before the end of the century and, among the worship issues- church music, Sunday school, evening services and meeting houses- the building itself became the most divisive factor."

The British Province of Upper Canada (Ontario) was host to the first Amish Mennonite congregations, beginning in Wilmot Township in 1824. Christian Nafziger of Bavaria is considered the founder of this colony, with settlers arriving here from both Bavaria and Alsace. Also a part of the Wilmot congregation was nearby St. Agatha.

The East Zorra congregation was established next, in 1837, and Blake congregation in 1849. Wilmot Amish Mennonites expanded into nearby Wellesley Township in 1859, and they subsequently expanded into Mornington Township in Perth County, 150 years ago, in 1874.

East Zorra Amish Mennonites established separate congregations in nearby Cassel in 1935 and Tavistock in 1942. A mission congregation named Riverdale in Millbank was established in 1946. The Nairn congregation in Ailsa Craig began in 1948, Crosshill in 1949, Avon in Stratford in 1952, Valleyview in London in 1953, Zion in Wellesley also in 1953, and Hillcrest in 1964. This rapid expansion was the work of the Amish Mennonite Conference of Ontario, organized in 1925.

Before 1886, all congregations in Ontario were considered Amish Mennonite. When Jacob Amman led what became known as the 'Amish Division' among the Mennonites in western Switzerland in 1693, his group became formally known as Amish Mennonite after 1711, with most of their congregations eventually located in the Alsace region.

Emigration brought Amish Mennonites to the United States beginning in the 18th Century and to Upper Canada (Ontario) in the 19th Century. By the mid 19th century disagreements within the Amish communities in the United States eventually led to yearly Ministers Meetings to establish unity. With disagreements widening between traditionalists and progressives primarily in matters of church organization, worship, and usage of emerging home and farm technologies, the Ministers meeting of 1865 in Ohio became a watershed event, which cemented the division between progressives and traditionalists, who became known as Old Order Amish.

Conservative Amish Mennonites

In 1824 Alsatian and Bavarian 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). The desire of members to build a church building in 1886 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. This congregation was more evangelical in its focus, while the Nafziger church remained "Old Beachy".

The Fairhaven congregation began a Christian school and planted three daughter congregations in Ontario: Fellowship Haven Amish Mennonite Church (Monkton, Perth County, 1991), River of Life Amish Mennonite (Perth, Lanark County, 2021), and Anchor of Hope Anabaptist Fellowship (Stratford, 2017).

A Charge to Keep I Have

Ontario Amish Mennonite Conference

Members in 1925

• Wilmot Amish Mennonite Church
• East Zorra Amish Mennonite Church
• Wellesley Amish Mennonite Church
• Poole Amish Mennonite Church
• Hay Amish Mennonite Church

Discipline of the Ontario Amish Mennonite Conference 1926

Former Amish Mennonite Congregations

1) Wilmot Amish Mennonite Church; now Steinmann Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC)); est. 1824.

2) St. Agatha Amish Mennonite Church; now St. Agatha Mennonite Church; (MCEC); est. 1824.

3) East Zorra Amish Mennonite Church; now East Zorra Mennonite Church (MCEC); est. 1837.

4) Hay Amish Mennonite Church (Blake); 1848-1981.

5) Wellesley Amish Mennonite Church; now Maple View Mennonite Church (Ontario Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches); est. 1859.

6) Mornington Amish Mennonite Church; now Poole Mennonite Church (MCEC); est. 1874.

7) Mornington Amish Mennonite Church (Nafziger Congregation); 1874-2019.

8) Cassel Amish Mennonite Church; now Cassel Mennonite Church (MCEC); est. 1935.

9) Tavistock Amish Mennonite Church; now Tavistock Mennonite Church (MCEC); est. 1942.

10) Morningview Amish Mennonite Church (Unaffiliated); 1945-2023.

11) Riverdale Amish Mennonite Church; 1946-2017.

12) Nairn Amish Mennonite Church; now The Church at Nairn (MCEC); est. 1948.

13) Valleyview Amish Mennonite Church; now Valleyview Mennonite Church (MCEC); est. 1951.

14) Avon Amish Mennonite Church; now Avon Mennonite Church (MCEC); est. 1953.

Amish Mennonite Congregations in 2024

1) Cedar Grove Amish Mennonite Church (1911); Wellesley Township; Maranatha Amish Mennonites

2) Fairhaven Amish Mennonite Church (1974); Township of Perth East (Perth County); Beachy Amish Mennonites

3) Pine Haven Amish Mennonite Church (1989); Markstay-Warren; Beachy Amish Mennonites

4) Fellowship Haven Amish Mennonite Church (1991); North Perth (Perth County); Unaffiliated Amish Mennonite

5) Whitechurch Amish Mennonite Church (1999); Whitechurch; Maranatha Amish Mennonites

6) Anchor of Hope Anabaptist Fellowship (2017); Stratford; Unaffiliated Anabaptist

7) River of Life Amish Mennonite Church (2021); Town of Perth (Lanark County); Unaffiliated Amish Mennonite

See Also

Milverton Anabaptist Institute Online

Anabaptist Groups in Perth County

Perth East Amish and Mennonites

S. S. G. Edwards