Sherbrooke Mennonite Church

When Sherbrooke Mennonite Church (located in Vancouver, British Columbia) was founded in 1965, it was primarily made up of German-speaking immigrants recently arrived from Russia (this article recounts the church history). The congregation held both English and German weekly worship services until 2010. In 2001, a Vietnamese Mennonite congregation began meeting in the building as well, and in 2004, Youngmo Choi was part of a group that approached then pastor Garry Janzen about creating a Korean Fellowship. Some members wanted the Korean and English groups to worship together, but separate monolingual services have continued in order to accommodate recent immigrants whose primary language is Korean. Some people who join Sherbrooke Korean Fellowship are new to the Mennonite denomination, while others already had Anabaptist connections in Korea. The journals pictured below are published by the Korean Anabaptist Fellowship (for more information on Christianity in Korea, this article by Hyun Kyon Hanna Chang analyzes early converts’ singing, and this website gives a brief history of Anabaptism in Korea).

A korean hymnbook, left, and journals published by the Korean Anabaptist Fellowship, right. Photos by Katie Graber.

The Korean group (which has fewer than 30 people) meets with the English group (more than 150 people) once per month, and those services tend to be primarily in English. When the Korean Fellowship meets on its own, participants sit around a table in a room across the hall from the main sanctuary. Here, Youngmo prays during the Korean service with the sounds of singing (“Praise the Lord, the Almighty”) from the English service close by.

The participants send songs requests to Youngmo during the week, and he leads them on Sunday morning with guitar. His daughter also accompanies with piano. When I attended on February 28, 2018, they sang a variety of songs from traditional to contemporary, originally written in Korean or translated from English. “I will sing unto the Lord” was written by Donna Brockway in 1972.

After singing, participants take turns reading Bible passages and discussing their themes. Following the service, the Korean and English participants ate at a fundraiser lunch together, a traditional Russian Mennonite meal of sausage and verenika served in the basement of the church.

Sherbrooke Mennonite Church

Upland Peace Church

White River Mennonite Church

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