About
Sunday Schedule
Sunday School
9:30 am – 10:15 am
Classes for kids age 4 to adults
Worship Service
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Kidz Church
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Kindergarten to Grade 5
Staff
Senior Pastor: Rev. Philip Wheaton
Pastor of Student Ministries:
Pastor Mike Wilson
Administrative Assistant: Linda Hoock
Custodian: Leni Martens
What We Believe
The purpose of our Church and Congregation is (founded upon the scriptural instructions given in Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:16-20):
to guide all people into accepting the gift of salvation from God through Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
to bring people into fellowship with other believers,
to prepare and encourage believers in the work of ministry, and
to honour God with our lives.
History
Martha Braun
I am one of the fortunate ones! I was there at the first services in 1936, as a little girl, and I remember so many of those faithful people who responded to God’s call to start Bethel Church. One full acre of land was graciously donated by Mr. J. Krause, on which to build the Coghlan Mennonite Church, where the men sat on one side of the building and women on the other side. The first wedding occurred in 1939, the marriage of Otto & Meta Guggenheim. The first baptism was held in 1939 when 9 people from the congregation were baptized into Jesus Christ. In those days we girls were only allowed to wear black for the baptisms! Dan Peters, the husband of Katie Peters who is still a member here today, was amongst those included. Bethel’s first musical choir was organized by Rev. Aron Janzen, and they only sang accapella music. The Women’s Aid group met from the very beginning and one of their activities was the washing and bleaching of flour sacks, made into pillowcases for later sale at the annual auctions. The first deacons were appointed in 1939, Mr. John Siemens and 1943, Mr. Peter Dyck. In 1946 I remember that a basement was added to the church building. During that same year women were also given the right to vote at Annual Meetings of congregation! These were certainly exciting, yet tough times for our families as they did the work of pioneering this area. The war years were especially difficult because we struggled with being German-speaking people in Canada and many of our boys were faced with being conscripted into the army. The issue of conscientious objection, and all that meant to families, became one of the main issues of the day. Yet, through all of this, God remained faithful to us and provided for our needs. From generation to generation, you are God.
