1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: When you come they will build it

It is no surprise that Steinbach probably has more churches per capita than anywhere in Canada. As the population of Steinbach grew over its first 150 years, so did church populations. Small churches became bigger churches, and bigger churches added on before buying more land, and building really large churches.

Often, over the years, a Steinbach congregation would outgrow its building, or a difference of opinion would cause a split, which resulted in the establishment of a new church. The growth and prosperity of Steinbach has as its underpinning, the community family values and the faith of its first 18 families of settlers, who came in 1874 in search of a home where they could live in peace and enjoy freedom to practice their Mennonite religion.

Steinbach’s first Mennonite church has undergone countless expansions, modernizations and rebuilds over the years, but the Evangelical Mennonite Church still remains one of the community’s largest churches, occupying the same spot on Main Street as the first EMC building that went up in 1912.

When Steinbach changed from being a village in the RM of Hanover to a town on its own, there were seven church congregations, all of Mennonite denomination. Fifteen years later, three non-Mennonite churches had been added to Steinbach’s church directory.

The people of Steinbach have always attempted to be good citizens of this country, by giving generously of their time, finances and abilities to the community’s many needs. These concepts of helping the less fortunate have been promoted and supported both at home and abroad.

The United Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church had been rural congregations, and when they chose to close down their country churches at Clear Springs and Friedensfeld, both churches relocated to town.

The United Church of Canada had several churches in the Steinbach area, as well as Clear Springs, Niverville, Giroux and Otterburne.

In 1950, United Church services were begun in the Steinbach Collegiate auditorium. Five years later, the former Chortitzer Church building became available when a new Chortitzer Church was built on Hanover Street. The old church building was moved to a site on Steinbach’s Main Street.

Dedication services for this new house of worship for the United Church were held on December 2, 1956.

In the early 1980’s, a third congregation began holding services in what had been the former Chortitzer Church building with the organization of a Steinbach Catholic parish. Seven years later the current Catholic church was built on Loewen Boulevard.

Sunday, June 19, 1966 went down in the annals of local Lutheran Church history as the day of dedication of a new church in Steinbach, and the day of the merger of three district Lutheran churches.

Today, the many churches in Steinbach of Mennonite, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Catholic, Baptist, United, Independent, Evangelical Free and other denominations reflect an ongoing ability to cooperate, in spite of differences of opinion where religious matters are concerned.

There are countless examples of combined efforts to raise money for overseas relief, like the operation of a Mennonite Central Committee thrift store that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars annually or projects like a 1974 “starv-a-thon”, which saw 1,100 volunteers from four Steinbach churches go without food for 40 hours to raise $17,000 for the needy in India and Africa.

While the Evangelical Mennonite Church is still the most prominent of the Mennonite congregations in Steinbach, and the Main Street church is still one of the largest, the return of Ray Duerksen to Steinbach as Southland Community Church pastor in 1995 marked the beginning of a period of phenomenal growth for what is now the largest church in Steinbach.

By 2002, Southland’s congregation had increased to over 1,000 and had outgrown its 16,000-square-foot church with a 400-seat auditorium, off Highway 12 in the south end of the city.

Serving Seniors purchased the church building and converted it to a 55-Plus Centre, which is now the Pat Porter Active Living Centre.

Southland built its new worship centre on the current site on Highway 52 in 2003 and completed the next major expansion, just four years later.

Four years later, in 2011, another major expansion was desperately needed for the busy church. Four separate services were being held to accommodate the 3,300 parishioners trying to squeeze into 740 seats in the pews.

Three Way Builders began construction in the summer of 2011, with the project scheduled to be complete by the end of 2012.

By January of 2012, construction of the 60,000-sq.-ft. expansion was well underway and moving along with the placement of two giant steel beams, which are the integral backbones holding the $15 million project together.

Each beam weighed 63,000 pounds and measured over 128 feet in length and was 13.5 feet deep. WS Steel built the beams on the church yard on Highway 52 in Steinbach’s west end.

When the doors opened on the completed expansion, up to 2,000 people at a time had more breathing room for the two services planned for each weekend.

Southland Church has been Steinbach’s largest church for some years, and the newly-built worship space made it one of the most spacious in Manitoba.

Springs Church, on Lagimodiere Boulevard in Winnipeg’s east end, is just marginally larger, being able to house 2,400 in its sanctuary.