How God transformed revenge into dedication

We all model our lives on stories we’ve heard and the people who exist in those stories. There are, of course, the biblical accounts of God’s people and Jesus. But there are also stories closer to home. The stories of our parents, grandparents, or people we hear about often make a profound impact on who we are and what we work at becoming.

This series looks at some of those stories as told by people within our Canadian Mennonite Brethren church family.

Born during difficult years in Ukraine, Peter and Katharina Dyck felt justified to name their son Ernest. When Ernest was four, just days before immigrating to Canada, his father was shot by bandits. This event profoundly affected the whole family. As he grew, Ernest longed for a father. For years he wanted to go back to Ukraine and avenge his father’s death.

Ernest, his mother, and siblings immigrated to Canada in 1926 and began farming near Pincher Creek, Alberta. In 1937 they bought a farm in the Fraser Valley, B.C.

Ernest and Lydia now live in Virgil, Ontario.

Ernest experienced repentance and renewal during revival services at South Abbotsford MB Church in 1941. Later that year, he was baptized and joined the church. He was finally able to put aside the revenge he felt towards the bandits who had killed his father.

At approximately the same time, Lydia Krahn and her family moved from Saskatchewan to a berry farm near Abbotsford. She attended the same church as Ernest and both felt called to overseas mission work. They began preparing themselves for ministry in Belgian Congo under the auspices of the Mennonite Brethren Board of Missions. Following marriage they attended Bethel Bible Institute in Quebec, where they learned French.

From 1953 to 1960, Ernest and Lydia served with Mennonite Brethren Missions in Belgian Congo. Their children were born in varying circumstances. Norm arrived in Brussels, Stan in the back of a jeep in Congo, and Ruth during the turmoil of leaving the country.

Due to political unrest following the Congo’s independence, they were obliged to return to Canada. It was a big disappointment. Ernest taught for a year at Alberta Mennonite High School, then he and Lydia accepted a call from the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches to begin mission and church planting in Quebec. On the last Sunday of September 1961, they conducted the first worship service in St. Jerome. It was the beginning of the MB church in Quebec.

The first MB chapel service in St. Jerome, Quebec, September 1961.

Their ministry in the province grew. Long-term relationships developed around their dining room table, where Lydia would make wonderful, welcoming meals. Her passion for people and community concerns made a huge contribution to the development of the evangelical church in Quebec. But success was also due to the Quiet Revolution, which caused the populace to become disenchanted with their religious experience in the Catholic church.

In 1976, Ernest and Lydia founded St. Rose Bible School – later known as Institute Biblique Laval. Though there was often resistance to their mission, six churches were planted over a period of 17 years. The Dyck’s ministry resulted in a small, energetic group of congregations. In 1984, the Quebec congregations officially joined the Canadian Conference of MB Churches as a provincial conference.

While Ernest and Lydia give God the glory, it’s their dedication and earnestness towards mission and church planting that helped begin a vibrant provincial conference that’s part of who we are as Canadian Mennonite Brethren today.

Ken Reddig is director of the Centre for MB Studies, Winnipeg.