Alumni Profiles
From basketball star to keeper of stories: CMU alum brings Mennonite history to life
25 at 25 | Andrew Klassen Brown (CMU '16, '21)
![Andrew Klassen Brown (CMU '16, '21): "[CMU] enabled me to explore my faith, deconstruct and blow up whatever preconceived ideas that I had. CMU encouraged me to think about things intellectually, theologically..."](https://www.cmu.ca/phpthumb/phpThumb.php?src=/uploaded/Andrew_KB_photo_1140.png&w=1500&h=1500&aoe=0&q=100&f=.jpg)
Andrew Klassen Brown (CMU '16, '21): "[CMU] enabled me to explore my faith, deconstruct and blow up whatever preconceived ideas that I had. CMU encouraged me to think about things intellectually, theologically..."
Andrew Klassen Brown makes working in archives sound as exciting as an experimental jet test pilot.
The 32-year-old CMU alum works as the Archivist and Records Manager with Mennonite Central Committee Canada, serves as the vice-president of the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, and spends his free time visiting secluded attractions important to Mennonite history, such as the Mennonite Memorial Landing Site on the Banks of the Red River near Ste. Agathe, MB.
It's safe to say he lives and breathes Mennonite history.
However, this wasn't always the case. Klassen Brown grew up a basketball star in his small hometown of Piney, MB, with a desire to be an engineer. His only experience with the Mennonite world was a few weeks a year at a nearby Mennonite-run summer camp. During that time, he would probably be hard pressed to know who Menno Simons even was.
He eventually followed his camp friends to CMU, where he decided to complete his Bachelors of Arts with majors in history and political studies and subsequently a Master of Arts in Theological Studies (in 2016 and 2021, respectively). He says, "the benefits of CMU are pretty addictive," when reflecting on his combined 10 years of study at CMU.
"[CMU] felt like an extension of the camp community that I was chasing. I think it enabled me to explore my faith, deconstruct and blow up whatever preconceived ideas that I had. CMU encouraged me to think about things intellectually, theologically, and in a community of people who are doing probably pretty similar things," says Klassen Brown.
As is typical with a CMU education, Klassen Brown was required to engage critically with theology. He says Anabaptist theology, simply "made sense" to him. "I liked the systematic but flexible nature of it. I liked the core beliefs that leaned on a strong Jesus interpretation. But one that wasn't restrictive."
After completing his practicum at the Mennonite Heritage Archives, there was no turning back.
He says he "certainly went off the deep end since then."
To Klassen Brown, the archives hold tremendous spiritual value for a community of people. The "cloud of witnesses," he says, referring to a biblical passage in Hebrews that exalts those whose lives provide encouragement and guidance for believers, "shape and form us to this day."
"I'm literally surrounded by stories of people and people's stories of faith, of service, of Mennonite history and theology. And, part of my job is to tell those stories, learn those stories, and contribute to them."
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