The Faith Mennonite congregation began meeting in 1986 for Sunday evening Bible study and prayer at the New Prussia school south of Wellesley, Ontario. On September 6, 1987 the first worship service was held with an attendance of 43. With no ordained minister, early preaching was done by lay members or area Mennonite ministers. The group organized committees for Sewing Circle and Sunday evening programs.
In Spring 1988 Oetzel’s United Church invited the congregation to rent its building northwest of New Hamburg. The first worship service was held there on July 3, 1988 with an attendance of 55 and the first baptism occurred on March 4, 1989. Faith Mennonite purchased the church building on December 1, 1989.
As the church grew, further programs were added – a youth group in 1991, and an Expansion Committee by 1993. A portable classroom for the growing Sunday school was added in 1994. Vacation Bible School began in 1996. In 2003 the congregation had 115 members with Sunday morning attendance of approximately 170.
In 2003 property was purchased in the hamlet of Kingwood for a proposed new church building. In January 2005 the congregation made the decision to forge ahead with the building project. The first service was held in the new building on April 2006. The new facility enabled the church to make use of a larger sanctuary, a fellowship hall/gym and more rooms for Sunday school classes. In 2009, an advisory committee was established to facilitate the effective working of the congregation as an independent congregation.
As with any church, our story is not so much that of the physical building and its changes over time, but rather the stories of the hearts and hands of those who make up the church and are dedicated to the expansion of God’s kingdom. The real story of our congregation is the combination of everyone’s testimony about the work of the Lord in each of our lives as we are called to share it with those that we meet on a daily basis.