Fellowship Haven Amish Mennonite Church (North Perth, Ontario, Canada)
Fellowship Haven Amish Mennonite Church is an Anabaptist congregation located in Monkton, Municipality of North Perth, Ontario. It originated in 1991 as the first outreach congregation of Fairhaven Amish Mennonite Church in Mornington (now Perth East) Township.
History
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 (Monkton, Perth County, 1991), River of Life Amish Mennonite (Perth, Lanark County, 2021), and Anchor of Hope Anabaptist Fellowship (Stratford, 2017).
Today
Although still identifying as an Amish Mennonite Church, Fellowship Haven has largely abandoned their Amish heritage in favour of evangelical Protestant doctrines and practices. Women still adhere to a form of Amish Mennonite identity, while men in the church have completely abandoned their traditional plain clothes, except during worship services.
