Joseph B. Hagey - Ministry

Ministry

Hagey was ordained as a minister on February 10, 1839, most likely by Benjamin Eby. Hagey was ordained bishop to aid the elderly Eby on May 31, 1851. He served as both pastor to the Hagey congregation and as bishop to all the congregations in Waterloo Township. Following in the shadow of the much loved and charismatic Eby, Hagey’s tenure and accomplishments were never as widely praised.

Towards the end of his career, he was challenged by the divisions revival meetings brought to the Ontario Mennonite Conference. The initial tension was sparked by both a revival in Solomon Eby's congregation in Port Elgin, Ontario, in 1870, and a similar revival within Waterloo County. These meetings were often held in people’s homes in the style of the Methodist prayer or revival tent meeting. This often flamboyant and spontaneous style of liturgy was not generally accepted within the Mennonite community at that time. At first Bishop Hagey embraced new converts form these meetings and baptized those from Eby’s Port Elgin revival. This changed by the time the Waterloo converts sought baptism, directly because of objections lodged by the conference leadership itself. This group was baptized later in 1871 by an American bishop invited north by the revivalists, letting the matter increase the growing division between the two camps. The resulting division created the break-away group the Reformed Mennonites (later part of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ).