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Many residents of Matheson Island considered themselves Anglican, and ministers of that denomination visited to perform the occasional service or marriage, but they built no permanent church. In 1948, the Mennonite Pioneer Mission sent Jake and Trudi Unrau as their first resident minister on the island. Initially, the Unraus lived in the former log school built in the 1920s and church services were held at the Matheson Island School, as it was the largest building in the community. The Unraus purchased Lot 28, in 1952, as the site for a mission house and church.
Aided by the larger Mennonite constituency of southern Manitoba, local residents provided some supplies and labour to build the new church. Wood for the floor was transported from a sawmill at Little Bullhead on a homemade snowmobile. Logs for the building were harvested on the island. A dedication ceremony for the whitewashed log building was held in October 1953. A mission house was built nearby and it became the residence for the minister and his family and, when the church was too cold, services were held in it.
By 1966, the log church was rotting from beneath. Pete Warkentin, the minister from 1966 to 1972, misunderstood local residents who told him they needed a place to repair boats when he replaced the church floor with concrete and turned the building into a machine workshop. Church services were moved to a youth centre two lots down the road. When the next minister John Klassen arrived, the residents told him they had disapproved of turning the church into a workshop and they felt that using the church as a workshop was a desecration. In 1978, it was decided to move the “lumber” chapel, which was currently being used as the church, to a site next to the former St. George’s Roman Catholic Church, which was supposed to become the new Mennonite church. The project was never undertaken.
Finally, from the spring to fall of 1987, the original log church, which had been used as a mechanic’s shop, was converted back into a church. The dedication ceremony occurred on 18 October 1987. Further renovations were made in 1999.
Matheson Island Mennonite Church (March 2019)
Source: Christine LoffSite Location (lat/long): N51.74411, W96.91912
denoted by symbol on the map above
From Paddles to Propellers, The History of Matheson Island: A Fishing Community compiled and edited by Neill and Edith von Gunten, Matheson Island Community Council, 2003.
This page was prepared by Christine Loff.
Page revised: 14 April 2019
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