AMBS response to ministerial misconduct by John D. Rempel

  • Posted November 2, 2020
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As announced on Oct. 20, Mennonite Church Eastern Canada terminated the ministerial credentials of John D. Rempel following an investigation into multiple complaints of ministerial sexual misconduct that happened while he was Campus Chaplain at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, in the 1970s and ’80s.

At AMBS, we join the wider church in offering our prayers of lament for the survivors, while honoring their courage to come forward. We also pray for their healing, and for anyone whose own experiences of boundary violation are triggered by this news.

John is a 1974 graduate of AMBS and was a Teaching Faculty member from 2003 to 2012. He was Associate Director of the Institute of Mennonite Studies (IMS) at AMBS during his time on the faculty and was involved with several IMS publications. See a statement from IMS linked below.

At AMBS, we are committed to institutional accountability and will center the needs of survivors if we learn of misconduct by John or any AMBS-affiliated individual that occurred at any time during their tenure at AMBS. The AMBS statement linked below includes information about how to make a confidential report.

We recognize that many people, including many AMBS alumni, are struggling with this news. We acknowledge that our responses may include deep sadness, anger and/or a sense of betrayal. We center survivors as we pray for all involved and impacted, and as we work for transformation in the church and in its institutions, including AMBS.

Kyrie eleison.

David Boshart, President
Beverly Lapp, Vice President and Academic Dean

Portions of the content above were written by Janeen Bertsche Johnson, Alumni Director and Director of Campus Ministries, for an email that was sent to AMBS alumni on Oct. 22. If you are an AMBS alum who did not receive the email and would like to receive future alumni-related emails, please email [email protected].

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