©Mennonite Heritage Centre 2003
Last updated 30 Jan 2019

Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Bergthal Mennonite Church (Didsbury, Alta.)

Retrieval numbers: Volumes 86, 1628, 2940, 4001, 4689, 2154, 5576, 6359

Title: Bergthal Mennonite Church (Didsbury, Alta.) fonds
Dates: 1962-2018
Extent: 47 cm of textual records
Repository: Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives

Historical note

The Bergthal Mennonite Church was founded in Didsbury, Alberta, in 1903. It joined the Conference of Mennonites in Middle Canada in 1910. There were Sommerfeld as well as General Conference members but many Sommerfeld families left after the 1910 decision to join one conference. They had built their first meeting house in 1903 and this was moved west in 1918-1919 along with the cemetery. In 1923 and following, many new Mennonite immigrants from Russia joined the congregation. In 1929 a basement was added to the meeting house. In 1931 the membership was 104.The building was enlarged in 1934. In 1937 a Bible institute was begun by the congregation. This Bible institute was taken over by the conference in 1946. In 1938 the membership was 105. The buildings were sold to the conference and a new meeting house for the congregation was completed in 1948. This building was enlarged in 1965-1966. In 1951 the membership stood at 164; in 1967 at 201; in 1980 at 193; and in 2000 at 156. The leaders of the congregation were: Abram Dyck, Jacob Hamm (1903-1910), Gerhard Neufeld (1910-1946), Daniel Unruh (1921-1923), Isaac Epp (1923-1925), C. D. Harder (1927-1935), J. P. Loewen (1931-1988), John Sawatzky (1931-1945), William Falk (1931-1932), Cornelius Neufeld (1932-1991), Jack Neufeld (1932-1972), Martin Goerzen (1958-1963), Werner Froese (1967-1977), Erwin Siemens (1977-1981), David Letkemann (1982-1986), Norman Bergen (1988-1991), Bruce Wiebe (1992-2000), Menno Wiebe, interim pastor (2001), Elwin Garland (2002-2009), Mike Nimz (2009 - 

Scope and content note

This fonds contains bulletins (1968-2018), congregational meeting minutes which include at times financial statements (1962-1990), financial statements (1969-1980), annual reports (1975-1993), directories (1977-1994), programme ([1971]), congregational history (1978), newsletters ([198-?]-1997), and constitution and rules ([196-?]-1981). The records pertain to the founding and development of the Mennonite congregation Didsbury, Alberta. They document some of the leaders and participants in the congregation.

Index terms

Subject terms

Bergthal Mennonite Church (Didsbury, Alta.)

Creators

Bergthal Mennonite Church (Didsbury, Alta.)

Adjunct descriptive data

Finding aids

Inventory file list available.

Notes

Restrictions on access

No restrictions on access.

Other notes

Textual records have been deposited on a regular basis at the Mennonite Heritage Centre. Described by Bert Friesen 19 September 2002.

Bergthal Mennonite Church (Didsbury, Alberta) fonds file list:

Volume 86

  1. Bergthal Mennonite Church congregational meeting minutes (1962), rules of parliamentary procedure ([196-?])
  2. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1968)
  3. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1969), financial statements (1969)
  4. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1970)
  5. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1971), financial statements (1971), deacons installation service ([1971])
  6. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1972)
  7. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1973)
  8. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1974)
  9. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1975), annual reports (1975)
  10. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1976), financial statement (1976)
  11. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1977), membership list (1977), congregational meeting minutes (1977), annual reports (1977)

Volume 1628

  1. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1978), 75th anniversary booklet with brief congregational history (1978), directory (1978), congregational meeting minutes (1978)
  2. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1979), congregational meeting minutes (1979)
  3. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1980), financial statement (1980), paper on opportunities for single persons ([19-]), newsletter ([198-?]), constitution (1980)
  4. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1981), congregational meeting minutes (1981), annual reports (1981), congregational policy handbook (1981)
  5. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1982), congregational meeting minutes (1982), annual reports (1982)
  6. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1983), congregational meeting minutes (1983)
  7. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1984), congregational meeting minutes (1984)

Volume 2940

  1. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1985), congregational meeting minutes (1985), annual reports (1985)
  2. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1986), congregational meeting minutes (1986)
  3. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1987), congregational meeting minutes (1987)
  4. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1988), congregational meeting minutes (1988)
  5. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1989), congregational meeting minutes (1989)
  6. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1990), congregational meeting minutes (1990)

Volume 4001

  1. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1991)
  2. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1992)
  3. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1993), annual reports (1993)
  4. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1994), directory (1994)
  5. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1995), newsletter (1995)
  6. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1996), newsletter (1996), directory (1996)
  7. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1997), newsletters (1997)

Volume 4689

  1. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1998)
  2. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (1999)
  3. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2000)
  4. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2001)
  5. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2002)
  6. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2003)
  7. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2004)

Volume 2154

1.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2005)

2.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2006)

3.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2007)

4.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2008)

5.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2009)

6.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2010)

Volume 5576

1.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2011)

2.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2012)

3.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2013)

4.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2014)

5.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2015)

Volume 6359

1.  Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2016)

2. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2017)

3. Bergthal Mennonite Church bulletins (2018)