Welcome
We welcome you to our community of faith, where we strive to experience God's love and grace every day. We believe that each one of us is made in the image of God, and that we are called to walk together in service to one another and to our world.
We welcome all who seek to deepen their relationship with God, regardless of age, race, gender, or background. We believe that our diversity enriches us and helps us to better understand and appreciate the vastness of God's love.
As Anabaptists, we are committed to following Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives, including our relationships with others and our care for God's creation. We seek to live out our faith in practical ways, through acts of service, peacemaking, and justice-seeking.
The earth is the Lord's and everything in it.
affirmation statement
Charleswood Mennonite Church is rooted in the Anabaptist Mennonite tradition as a community of faith committed to becoming the body of Christ.
We welcome all persons to worship and participate with us. We acknowledge the image of God in every person including those of every gender identity and sexual orientation. We invite all to participate in our congregation’s practices such as baptism, church membership, church leadership, and marriage. We lament the prejudice and discrimination found in society and in the church, and we commit to holding each other accountable to the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.
We celebrate and affirm all persons worshipping with us. Together we seek to be a pilgrim community of mission, service, hospitality, grace, healing, justice, peace, and love.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we gather on ancestral lands, Treaty 1 territory, traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis.
A short history of the land where our church is located.
We have been here in Charleswood for about 60 years. But we are not the first people to inhabit this area. Before we came the city of Winnipeg had already developed this area and had put down streets —Haney and Eldridge. Haney was the name of a civil engineer who worked on the CP Railway when it crossed the Fraser River in B.C. He also worked in Winnipeg with the early streetcar transportation system. The Eldridge name comes from a Sottish-Irish family that lived in Winnipeg early on.
In 1868 the Roman Catholic Church decreed that this area be called the Diocese of St. Charles. When Winnipeg became a town in the early 1870’s this area got to be called Charleswood from the Diocese name and the many trees that grew here. In 1874 the town of Winnipeg sent surveyors to survey 80 riverlots each two miles long and 100 to 300 feet wide stretching from today’s Kenaston Blvd. to the Perimeter Highway. Our church sits on either Lot 22 or 23.
The Red River Metis used this land for hunting and trapping and before them the Anishinaabe (Ojibwa and Saulteau) people and the Swampy Cree camped and hunted here. On August 3, 1871, at Lower Fort Garry after a week of negotiations and discussions between the Crown representatives and members of various Indigenous groups Treaty 1 was signed. The assumption was that the land would be shared by settlers and Indigenous people. Both would farm the land and share in its resources. This Treaty is still in effect today.
So with the people who have occupied this area before us, God has been worshipped here as Creator, Great Spirit, Manitou and Jahweh. We thank God for this heritage.
Desire for reconciliation
Our decision to work in Reconciliation and Land Reparation with Indigenous peoples grew out of a strongly expressed desire in the congregation on December 12, 2021. To avoid past colonial patterns of power imbalance, we committed ourselves to self-education, relationship-building, and openness to invitations to participate in actions of solidarity. We rely on related Mennonite agencies, and others, to connect us with local Indigenous groups who may be open to engaging with us.
Get in touch
If you would like to contact us, feel free to send a message.