A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

ns as well as in factories at Windsor and other cities. From 1925 to 1932 the scattered M.B. families and members of the United Mennonite Church had joint-services in several towns of the county — Kingsville, Ruthven, Leamington and Wheatley. In 1932 Mennonite Brethren organized the Leamington M.B. Church. A small group also settled on Pelee island, eight miles south of Leamington on Lake Erie, but these families all moved back to the mainland after several years. The Leamington congregation experienced a painful schism in the thirties, when a number of families withdrew from the fellowship and organized their own M.B. church under the leadership of Heinrich Wiebe, a deacon. This group was opposed to open communion and the admission of non-immersed believers — a practice accepted by the Ontario Conference. When the Ontario Conference joined the General MENNONITE BRETHREN COME TO CANADA 173 Conference of Mennonite Brethren in 1939, the schism was healed and the group united with the church. 11 According to A. A. Huebert, a minister of the Leamington congregation for many years, the "tobacco-question" became a "conscience-question" for many church members. Although all members had abstained from smoking tobacco, many had, especially during the early years, been involved in raising tobacco. In 1948 the church accepted a resolution which contained a confession of past failings and a pledge to adhere to the position of the Canadian M.B. Conference in this matter." The strongest concentration of Mennonite Brethren in Ontario is found in the attractive fruit-growing belt of the Niagara Peninsula. Here in the historical settlement of the "Twenty," 16 the Vineland Mennonite Brethren Church was organized in 1932. Until 1934 the congregation had joint-services with the United Mennonite Church. After that separate meetings were held, first in a rented hall in Beamsville until 1937, and then in a remodeled building in Vineland. An active minister of this congregation for many years, Heinrich P. Wiebe, also founded a mental hospital in 1937, after having treated mental patients in his home for five years. Later, in 1947, Bethesda Mental Hospital became an institution of the Canadian Conference. In 1937 about one half of the ministers and members of the Vine- land congregation moved closer to Niagara-on-the-Lake and there organized the Virgil M.B. Church under the leadership of John F. Dyck. Beginning with a small membership, the congregation grew rapidly as a result of a strong influx of M.B. families from Western Canada, especial- ly North Saskatchewan. Here the establishment of a Bible school in 1938, and a private high school (Eden Christian College) in 1945, played an important part in the growth of the Mennonite Brethren community. Through evangelism and church extension work a daughter church was established in the late fifties at Niagara-on-the-Lake, known as Niagara Christian Fellowship Chap