Our History: 

The Mennonite Brethren In Christ, Ontario District (predecessor to the Evangelical Missionary Church) held its first camp meeting along the banks of the Grand River at Breslau, September 14-22, 1881. The “Berlin Weekly News” published this report: “There was a very large crowd, estimated at between three and four thousand, on Sunday afternoon…Something like one hundred families have pitched their tents for the whole meeting…A large staff of clerical and lay workers are present, and a powerful religious influence prevails.” In the years that followed, these “Bush Meetings” were held annually at various locations across Ontario.  This style of Camp Meeting was the predecessor to Christian Camping as we now know it in Ontario.

In 1925, sites in Kitchener and Stayner were purchased.  The Kitchener site hosted camp meetings for nearly 40 years, after which it was donated to Emmanuel Bible College.  The white pine acreage on Scott Street in Stayner was purchased in from the Gartlan Estate for $1500 to become Stayner Camp.  Stayner’s iconic Tabernacle was constructed in 1947, using timber from the grounds.  Youth camps began with Camp Pinewagami and Trail of the Pines in the 1950s.

In the 1970’s, leaders in the Missionary Church saw the need for additional camp programming with a lakefront property.  Mishewah’s site on Round lake has a history of camp ministry going back to 1954, when the property was bought by the Middleton Family and operated as Franklin Middleton Memorial Camp, then later as Camp Kirjatharba.  Pastors from our Northern Ontario churches discovered the camp site for sale, and the property was purchased in 1972. We ran our first summer as Camp Mishewah in 1973.

Both Camps were owned and operated by the Evangelical Missionary Church until 2002, when Evergreen Christian Ministries was formed and incorporated, in order to give independent governance to Stayner and Mishewah while remaining in partnership with the EMCC.