Pax House at Menno Hall

We are pleased to announce that Wanda Froese has accepted the position of Director of Menno Hall Student Residence (now named Pax House), effective October 29, 2025.

As the successor to the Menno Simons Centre, which the PCDA operated from 1986–2020, Pax House will be our new student residence and academic hub at Menno Hall. Together, PCDA and HyLand (part of MCC BC) are building Menno Hall at the gateway entrance of the University of British Columbia (UBC) as a multi-purpose development, featuring student housing, rental apartments, gathering and meeting spaces. The PCDA looks forward to Wanda building the team that will prepare to open Pax House at Menno Hall in September 2026.

Menno Hall will be an exciting place for students, residents, and academics to live, reflect, and study in a purpose-built new development at the Gateway to the UEL. See our new website at www.mennohall.com for more information.

It’s been two years since the Menno Simons Centre closed, and we are now very excited to share our vision for a new Menno Hall student residence project at the gateway of UBC in the University Endowment Lands (UEL) since our rezoning application has been accepted.

Register with Zoom to join us for an Information Session at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 19, 2022. The agenda will be:

• Presentation of some of the architectural materials that will be on display at the Public Open House event being scheduled for the beginning of June
• Q&A time with the project development team.

The UEL’s public consultation period will run from mid-May through mid-June, so we want to inform you about what we’re proposing and how you can help.

The PCDA is pleased to introduce Joshua Kuepfer as our Anabaptist Interim Ministry Coordinator (AIMC). He is an alumnus of the Menno Simons Centre and has experienced living in other Christian communities such as A Rocha and with MCC in Uganda. On a part-time basis, Joshua will be working under the direction of our Campus Ministry Committee to:

• develop alumni connections and build our online presence, including social media accounts
• assist with arrangements related to our ownership of the Bernice Gerard Ministry House and the former Lutheran Campus Centre property
• plan and host student and Menno alumni events throughout the year
• network with UBC campus ministries, chaplains, and academics as we further develop our ministry plans for the future Menno Hall on our UEL site.

If you are a student in Vancouver interested in community living, or an alumnus of the Menno Simons Centre looking to reconnect, Josh Kuepfer can be reached by:

• e-mail at
• phone at 604-224-5202.

We are looking to hire an Anabaptist Interim Ministry Coordinator to provide hands-on leadership and support to the Board of the PCDA during the gap year(s) between the end of our work at 4000 West 11th Avenue and the opening of our new “Menno Hall” project at the UBC Gateway (corner of Wesbrook & University Blvd). This quarter-time position will help us with our social media presence, special events, and networking with UBC campus ministries.

For details and how to apply, see our job posting at pcda.bc.ca/anabaptist-interim-ministry-coordinator-2020-job

As of March 16, 2020, the Gerard House has been closed to the general public and the events of the University Christian Ministries have been suspended. See the https://www.ucmatubc.com/ site for their latest news.

Parking space assignments at 2026 Wesbrook Mall are being held without charge for the assigned users during this state of emergency while UBC operations are impacted. Thank you to those of you who are essential services and serving our community!

The Pacific Centre for Discipleship Association (PCDA) has extended the lease of the Gerard House to the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) BC & Yukon District to continue their University Christian Ministries (UCM) through April 30, 2021. The PCDA continues to administer the assignment of parking stalls. We are working with an architecture firm and are in touch with the University Endowment Lands (UEL) Administration in anticipation of making a rezoning application.

As of September 1st, the Gerard House is under lease to the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), BC & Yukon Region, for the benefit of their University Christian Ministries (UCM) student ministry program. The PCDA continues to administer the assignment of stalls in the parking lot. The Menno House Committee and the Board of the PCDA are working on planning for the development of our new Menno House student residence, including preparations for making a rezoning application to the University Endowment Lands (UEL).

At the end of May 2018, the Pacific Centre for Discipleship Association will purchase the property at 2026 Wesbrook Mall. We plan to continue operations at the Bernice Gerard Ministry House (a.k.a. the G House) in collaboration with the University Christian Ministries while we finalize the design of a new student residence and prepare our rezoning application to the UEL.

If you are looking to join the men’s discipleship program this summer only, apply to the Menno Simons Centre and ask about our second site. If you are interested in being part of the G House in the Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 academic terms, contact UCM@UBC.