Closure of Northern Fellowship Chapel

The Northern Fellowship Chapel (NFC) in Creighton, Sask., a member of the Evangelical Mennonite Conference (EMC), began services in 1960 because a schoolteacher, Henry Klassen, saw that the community needed an evangelical church. The congregation was formally organized on November 1, 1964, with 11 members. Since 1965 it has been affiliated with the EMC.

Northern Fellowship Chapel’s early leaders or pastors were Arnold Wiebe, Mel and Mary Koop, Dan and Norma Koop, George and Elsie Braun, Arnold Leister, Harvey Kroeker, Dan and Lottie Thiessen, and Terry and Mary Ann Smith. NFC then had interim pastoral couples.

Northern Fellowship Chapel congregants join in a time of worship on January 24, 1999. (EMC photo)

In 2001 NFC began to share a pastoral team with Cornerstone Community Church (formerly Flin Flon MB Church), a Mennonite Brethren congregation established in Flin Flon, Man., in 1984. Its joint pastoral couples have been Dale and Marge Warkentin, Alex and Carla Suderman, Scott and Natalie Koop, and Randall and Faith Krahn (2010–present). Retired pastoral couple Lorne and Margaret Moorhead are part of the local pastoral care team.1

Although in recent years the size of congregation had dwindled significantly, members continued to provide ministry to children and adults in the community of Creighton. In 2021, they gifted the church building to a charitable organization in the community, and since that time have been meeting together with the Cornerstone Community Church congregation. The Northern Fellowship Chapel made the decision to close permanently in 2022. We thank God for the 62 years of faithful witness of the Northern Fellowship Chapel to the community surrounding Creighton.

– General Board