Our Name
Our Vision
Our Diversity
What Janzen's sermon argues is that the unity and identity of the church is not based on our posture toward any current slate of hot issues, but on something more lasting, more profound. For Ottawa Mennonite Church, this called for a strenuous examination, and affirmation, of our Anabaptist traditions. Ottawa Mennonite Church's forceful and effective outreach seems to have been predicated on an equally strong inward vision.
Certainly we can easily point to a number of specific changes that occurred during the late 1960s and early 1970s, not only at Ottawa Mennonite Church but in almost all churches in North America. But, in a sense, the history of Ottawa Mennonite Church during this period illustrates not a dramatic venture into new unknown territory, but rather a re-affirmation of, and re-alignment with Mennonite tradition -- that long standing tradition that calls upon us to maintain the vital tension between an effective mission in the world in affiliation with whatever forces for good we can latch on to, and our identity as a distinct people with deeply rooted traditions of scepticism toward any mass movement or exercise of power masquerading as justice.
Even in early discussions on the organization of the Ottawa Mennonite Church this ethnic homogeneity was in question. Care was taken to ensure that the congregation was shaped in a manner that was fair and acceptable to the several religious denominations represented.
At our congregation's 25th Anniversary celebrations in 1984, Bill Janzen commented that "...a characteristic of Ottawa Mennonite Church history is that of diversity. We represent different church backgrounds, different historical backgrounds. This diversity is enriching and challenging. It means that we cannot rely all that much on culture and ethnicity to bond us together. We must build our unity on the basis of our common faith."
Our congregational life is defined not so much by its boundaries
(defining who is in and who is out) as by what is at the centre (what we hold in common and what
goals we are moving toward). In 1991, in an analysis prepared by
Don Friesen for presentation at the Canadian Mennonite Bible
College ("Being the Church in the 1990s"), people with the
following religious backgrounds were counted as being members of
Ottawa Mennonite Church community:
Lutheran, Anglican, United, Orthodox, Baptist,
Hutterite, Plymouth Brethren, Presbyterian, African
Independent Church, Reformed, Jewish, Christian and
Missionary Alliance, Evangelical, Christian Scientist,
Quaker, Amish, Roman Catholic, plus a variety of
Mennonites.
Also in 1991, out of 133 households in the congregation, 35
households had one or more persons born and raised in another
country:
Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, El Salvador, Vietnam, the
Caribbean, Sudan, Denmark, New Zealand, Cameroon,
Paraguay, the former Soviet Union, Ghana, Germany,
Laos, Malaysia, Scotland, England, Wales, the
Netherlands, and the United States.
"Such a congregation may be somewhat unwieldy," says Don, "but I regard it as a sign of health that we hold within the same body, people of so many different backgrounds and cultures. Diversity, after all, is at the heart of the biblical vision of the church. I also think that diversity enriches congregational life, helping us gain a broader perspective on our values, and pushing us to review ever again what is at the centre of our faith and our life together."
Besides this ethnic and religious diversity, in 1991 there was much international experience within the congregation: in 28 households, one or more persons had served overseas with Mennonite Central Committee, Non-Governmental Organizations, or as embassy and high commission staff-in Haiti, Bangladesh, Barbados, South Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Zaire, England, Switzerland, Bolivia, Somalia, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Nicaragua, China, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Jordan, Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia. An additional 31 households had one or more persons who had lived overseas or travelled extensively throughout the world. So out of 133 households, 94 of them had one or more persons with significant international exposure and experience. This international scope of the congregation is reflected in our corporate sense of mission, in programmes like the Refugee Assistance Programme and SelfHelp Crafts.
(Much of the material on this page is gleaned from the "Ottawa
Mennonite Church 35th Anniversary Commemorative Booklet")
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