Ghe

Mennonite Brethren
Churches
of

North America

AN ILLUSTRATED SURVEY

Kenry J. Wiens

THE

Mennonite Brethren Churches

of

North America

AN ILLUSTRATED SURVEY

by

Henry J. Wiens

Field Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Conference of
the Mennonite Brethren Church of North America and Solicitor
for the Conference Mission and Educational Endowment Fund,

1947—1952

Printed by

The Mennonite Brethren Publishing House
Hillsboro, Kansas
1954

Printed in U. S. A. /

f( THE V

C

t

^OPERTY Of .

t’HCMlTE BRETHREN

LER

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated
to the builders of the Church of fesus Christ,
especially to those of the Mennonite Breth-
ren Conference, who labored and sacrificed
in order that the various local churches
could be established and expanded.

PREFACE

During my travels as Solicitor for the Endowment Fund
of the Mennonite Brethren Conference, it was my privilege to
visit all the Mennonite Brethren churches in the United States,
53 in number, and all the Mennonite Brethren churches in the
provinces of Canada, 80 in number. I was able also to take
pictures of the church buildings in which these churches are
at home.

Upon showing these pictures in various congregations,
the suggestion was frequently made that they should be gath-
ered into a book. Many people would be interested in such a
collection, it was said. At first I hesitated, but soon the idea
struck me favorably.

1 sent out questionnaires to the leaders of the churches for
the purpose of obtaining more definite information in regard
to the time when the church was first organized, the number of
members with which it began, the name of the first pastor or
leader, the number of Sunday school classes, the number of
extension stations, the number of missionaries that had gone
from the church to the foreign field, the number of members
at present, and the name of the present leader. The coop-
eration of the leaders in responding to the questionnaire was
good. The brief write-ups that go with the pictures of the
church buildings present the data collected in this manner.

In the preparation of the first chapter I read The Men-
nonite Brethren Church by John H. Lohrenz and the Ktonferenz
Beschluesse of the conferences of the various years.

This booklet may truly be called a picture book, but
even a picture book may have its value. This is especially
true since the pictures show the houses of worship through-
out the Mennonite Brethren Conference, the places where our
own brethren meet from time to time for edification and
praise. The pictures in the book are arranged according to

6 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

states and provinces rather than according to the order in
which they were visited.

And now this book goes out. May it be instrumental in
stimulating the members of the various churches to make all
these places of worship true light houses from which the Light
of the World, Christ Jesus, may be sent to all the people.

Henry J. Wiens

San Jose, California, July 1, 1954.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Preface 5

An Introduction of the Author 9

Chapter 1. The Mennonite Brethren Church and its Mis-
sionary Concern 11

The Organization of the Mennonite Brethren Church in

America , .11

The Early Missionary Activities of the Conference ,.— 12

The Mission Fund 13

Pioneers on the Mission Field of the Conference^ ....14

Chapter 2. On Tour for Mennonite Brethren Conference
Missions and Education 19

Chapter 3. The Mennonite Brethren Churches of the Paci-
fic District 25

California 25

Oregon ,. 48

Washington 49

Chapter 4. The Mennonite Brethren Churches of the

Southern District + ....51

Colorado 51

Kansas h 52

Oklahoma 65

Texas * 81

Chapter 5. The Mennonite Brethren Churches of the

Central District * 86

Minnesota -86

Montana ^ 89

Nebraska 91

North Dakota 99

South Dakota * 103

8 Mennonite Brethren Churches

Chapter 6. The Mennonite Brethren Churches in Alberta—. 105

Chapter 7. The Mennonite Brethren Churches in British
Columbia 116

Chapter 8. The Mennonite Brethren Churches in Manitoba 137

Chapter 9. The Mennonite Brethren Churches in Ontario.... 159

Chapter 10. The Mennonite Brethren Churches in Sas-
katchewan + 171

Sunset 191

AN INTRODUCTION OF THE AUTHOR

The parents of Henry J. Wiens, Jakob and Marie Wiens,
came to the United States on the steamship Switzerland, which
brought to this country immigrants from South Russia. They
landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 24, 1879. From
here they went by train to Nebraska to join friends who had

Henry J. and Elizabeth Wiens, San Jose, California

earlier come to this country and there they settled on a farm
near the little town of Bradshaw in York County.

On November 17, 1885, the son Henry was born to them.
He was the youngest of seven children.

The little country school a mile from the old homestead
furnished Henry the opportunities of an elementary school ex-

10

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

perience. He received his instruction in the German when his
parents sent him to German school in the community where
he was taught by teachers such as P. J. Friesen, Henry Klas-
sen, C. J. Kliewer, J. S. Regier, and Isaac Doell. Often school
attendance was interrupted by duties on the farm. Though
much he would have liked to get a college education, it was
never possible for him to attend a college.

Under the ministry of the late Missionary John H. Pan-
kratz, who in 1900 conducted evangelistic services in the com-
munity, Henry accepted the Lord as his personal Saviour. He
was baptized on April 8, 1901, by Elder Johann J. Regier.

Elizabeth Harder Wiens was the second of eleven chil-
dren born to Martin and Anna Harder in Boone County, Ne-
braska, on May 16, 1884. In 1893 her prents with their family
moved from Boone County to York County, Nebraska, and
settled near Henderson.

As a girl Elizabeth had an important part in helping pro-
vide for the family. She worked much as a practical nurse
and a general housekeeper, leaving little time for school. The
teachers Peter P. Regier and Bernard Neuman instructed her
in the German.

Elizabeth was converted under the ministry of Missionary
John H. Pankratz and later baptized by Elder Johann J. Re-
gier.

When in 1906 Henry J. Wiens and Elizabeth Harder were
married, they made their home on the old homestead which
Father and Mother Wiens had acquired when they came to this
country in 1879. Here they brought up their family until 1920
when they left Nebraska with their seven children to make
their new home near Reedley, California. California has con-
tinued to be their home since that time.

The Mennonite Brethren Churches of
North America

An Illustrated Survey

Chapter 1

THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH AND
ITS MISSIONARY CONCERN

“Diligent in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.”

(Romans 12:11)

Simon Peter in reply to the question of Jesus, “But whom
say ye that 1 am?” made the great confession saying, “Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” whereupon Jesus re-
plied, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it” (Matthew 16: 16-18).

Upon this confession of faith the Mennonite Brethren
Church is founded. It is thus a member of the Church of Je-
sus Christ of which Jesus Himself says, “The gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.”

The Organization of the Mennonite Brethren Church
in America

The beginning of the Mennonite Brethren Church in
America dates back to the year 1874 when the first members
left their homes in Russia and settled in America. In 1878
one group organized in Kansas as the Ebenezer Church with
the brethren Peter Wall and Franz Ediger to lead the church
and to preach the Word. Elder Abraham Schellenberg be-
came the leader of the church the following year. Another
group met and worshipped in the Henderson, Nebraska, com-
munity with Rev. Peter Regier as the first minister. A group
in Minnesota elected Rev. Heinrich Voth as leader and thus
established the Bingham Lake Church. The church which
later became the Silver Lake Church organized in South Da-
kota with Heinrich Adrian as presiding minister.

12

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The first offical conference of the Mennonite Brethren
churches in America convened at Henderson, Nebraska, in
1879. Twenty-two delegates attended. These came from the
churches in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota
to be present at the love feast and mission festival on Sunday
and for business deliberations the following two days.

The churches met in conference anually until 1909 when
the body was divided into district conferences with the provis-
ion that a general conference convene only once in three years.

Among the early leaders in the conference was Abraham
Schellenberg, who presided at 18 conferences and traveled ex-
tensively in the interest of building the churches. He played
an important part in the organization and administration of the
various Conference activities. The elders Cornelius Wedel,
Johann Foth and David Dyck from Kansas, Johann Regier
from Nebraska, and Heinrich Voth from Minnesota were other
outstanding leaders.

The growth of the Conference was continuous. New
churches sprang up in the prairie section of the Middle West.
The work in Canada was begun in the years 1888 and 1892
and soon there were a goodly number of churches in Canada.
To present the churches of the Conference and their houses of
worship as of today is the story of this book.

The Early Missionary Activities of the Conference

Home missions had an important place in the endeavors
of the Conference during the early years. Workers were
called, work assignments made, and offerings contributed to
support the work. The first extension work of the Conference
was undertaken in Manitoba.

From the very beginning there was present among the
brethren a lively interest in foreign missions which made it-
self felt in conference sessions. The first specific reference to
foreign missions on record is in the Report of the Conference
of 1881 when the delegates voted to allow one-half of a mis-
sion offering on the festival Sunday or the amount of $26.36
for the support of foreign missions.

At the conference in 1884 a letter from G. N. Thompson,
a Baptist missionary in India, was read. In this letter the
writer extended to the Mennonite Brethren Conference an in-
vitation to participate in a mission work in India by contrib-

The United States and Canada

13

uting annually one hundred dollars which would support a
native worker on the field. The Conference accepted the in-
vitation. The following year two workers were supported on
the India field. The Conference in 1885 elected a Mission
Board of eight members with Rev. Cornelius Wedel as chair-
man.

The missionary activities of the Conference reached into
Africa when in 1887 the support of a native worker of the
Baptist mission in the Cameroon was voted.

The Mission Fund

The brethren at the conference in 1898 felt definitely the
Lord’s leading in inaugurating an independent mission work
in a foreign country. The government, however, required a
dependable source of financial support as a guarantee of sup-
port and stability for the mission work. This led to creating
the Mission Fund. The goal for the fund was set at $50,000,
which amount was soon raised.

When in 1933 Tabor College was accepted as a Confer-
ence school, the support of education was placed on the en-
dowment basis and what began as the Mission Fund came to be
known as the Endowment Fund providing support for both the
mission and educational activities of the Conference.

Henry A. Martens of Buhler, Kansas, a member of the
Board of Trustees at the time, was appointed Solicitor for the
Endowment Fund in 1933. He was an energetic worker cov-
ering the field extensively and accomplishing encouraging re-
sults. The Endowment Fund was raised to over $300,000.
Brother Martens continued the work of solicitation until he
was unexpectedly stricken with illnesses while visiting the
churches in Canada. He returned to his home in Buhler and,
after a brief stay with his loved ones, he succumbed to his ill-
ness and went to be with his Master, whom he served so well.

Brother Martens had many friends and supporters for the
Endowment Fund. There were, however, many congregations
that had not been contacted and in those that had been vis-
ited there were new families ready to be added to the roll of
supporters of the endowment program. Prayers were made
asking God to provide another worker in this important area
of service.

14 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Early in 1947 an invitation came to me to come to Hills-
boro for an interview with the members of the Finance Com-
mittee of the Board of Trustees. The Lord in the meantime
had prepared me. The result of the meeting was that 1 was
chosen Solicitor for the Endowment Fund. As soon as ar-
rangements could be made, 1 was to go into the field. After
returning to my home in San Jose, California, we at once be-
gan to make preparations for visits to the various churches in
the interest of the Endowment Fund.

Pioneers on the Mission Field of the Conference

The missionaries shown in this section represent the work
of missions in the beginning of the Mennonite Brethren For-
eign Mission Program. Many others have gone out into var-
ious fields and are serving in many parts of the world under
the Mission Board. These faithful servants are serving well.
Some have gone to their reward. Lonely graves mark the
resting places of these brothers and sisters who gave them-
selves and their lives in service to the King.

Thousands of indigenous Christians in foreign lands are
now busy building the Church of Jesus Christ. No one shall
be able to stop this work until His church is complete.

Rev. and Mrs. N. N. Hiebert, Hillsboro, Kans.

The United States and Canada

15

Rev. and Mrs. N. N. Hiebert were the first missionary
couple to be sent by the Mennonite Brethren Conference of
America to the mission field in a foreign country. They left
for the field in India in 1899 and served for a period of one
and one-half years, when because of illness, it became neces-
sary for them to return to America.

Since his return from the field, Brother Hiebert has given
valuable services in traveling and speaking in the interest of
missions. He was also for many years an active member of the
Mission Board.

The Hieberts at this time are at home in the Mission
Home in Hillsboro. They are beneficiaries of the Missionary
Pension Fund.

The pictures of the Hieberts was taken two years ago
when the writer visited them in the Mission Home.

Deacon and Mrs. C. A. Wichert, Dinuba, California

Elizabeth Neufeld Wall Wichert sailed with Rev. and
Mrs. N. N. "Hiebert in 1899 as a missionary teacher for the
field in India. She continued her teaching on the field after
the Hieberts left and returned to America in 1906. After this
one term of service she remained in America because of poor
health. She became the wife of Brother Peter Wall who was

16

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

suddenly taken from her in a gas explosion. After a number
of years she was married to Bro. C. A. Wichert. The Wicherts
were at home in Dinuba where the sister passed away in 1953.

Anna Suderman Bergthold, Reedley, California

Anna Suderman Bergthold began her services as a mis-
sionary to India in 1898. The following year she joined the
N. N. Hieberts and Elizabeth Neufeld in India as a missionary
of the Mennonite Brethren Conference. She was married to
Missionary Daniel F. Bergthold in India in 1916.

After returning from the mission field the third time the
Bergtholds made their home in Alhambra, California, a sub-
urb of Los Angeles. Brother Bergthold passed away in 1948.
Sister Bergthold then made her home in the Home for the
Aged in Reedley, California.

Rev. and Mrs. P. V. Baizer left America in March of 1954
for their fourth term of service on the mission field in India.
When they left the first time in the year 1923, the writer had,
the privilege to take them to San Francisco from which port
they sailed on their first missionary journey. {

The two young brethren, Rev. H. S. Voth and Rev. F. J.j
Wiens were outstanding evangelists- in the Conference. Bothj
were students in the German Department of McPherson Col-

Rev. H. S. Voth and Rev. F. J. Wiens

The United States and Canada

18 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

lege, McPherson, Kansas, under the direction of Professor J.
F. Duerksen.

H. S. Voth was the oldest son of Elder Heinrich Voth of
Bingham Lake, Minnesota. He was married in Manitoba be-
coming the son-in-law of Rev. Heinrich Warkentin of Winkler.
He served well as evangelist and gave many years of his life
as member of the Mission Board.

F. J. Wiens was the son of Jakob Wiens of Henderson,
Nebraska. He served the Conference as evangelist both in
America and in Russia. In 1910 he and Mrs. Wiens began
pioneer mission work in South China.

Both of these brethren have gone to their reward but their
memory lingers in the hearts and minds of many.

“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of
the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as
the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).

Chapter 2

ON TOUR FOR MENNONITE BRETHREN
CONFERENCE MISSIONS AND EDUCATION

After accepting the work as Solicitor for the Endowment
Fund, we purchased a suitable house trailer and rented our
home in San Jose. Now we moved into the trailer house.
Every nook and corner was stuffed full of things. It was sur-

Our Home for the Trips, Ready to Take Off at the Farm Home
at Reedley, California, in the Summer of 1947

prising to see how much a good housekeeper could pack into
such a house on wheels. Things a man would not think of
were found and carefully placed and soon the many things
needed in the life of travelers were there and in readiness.
We were now to change over from a quiet home life to roam-
ing the country.

The man’s concern in such an enterprise has to do with
how to pull the house behind the car and with seeing to it that
there is gas in the tank. It is wonderful, however, to see how
easily a car pulls a well-balanced house trailer. Despite the

20

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

many mountains between California and the Middle West, the
trips between California and Kansas were made in four days
and even a little less.

For nearly six years this was to be “Home Sweet Home”
for us, except that during the winter months when the weath-
er conditions were unfavorable, we settled in a more solid
home. The first year, during which time we visited the
churches in California, Oregon, and Washington, we remained
in our trailer home throughout the winter.

This was a new way of life and had to be learned and
liking it had to be learned. Had it not been for the cause to
which we were giving ourselves, we would have hesitated very
much before entering upon such arrangements. It is simple
to move into one of these houses on wheels for a vacation
where the vacationer wants to eat and sleep for a short time in
his own place, but to live in it for months and years is quite
another matter.

We looked forward to our travels with great anticipa-
tions. We know now that oftentimes the realization did not
quite measure up to our anticipations, and we know also that
often they were far beyond our anticipations. The Lord daily
provided grace and courage to go ahead, even under occas-
ional difficult conditions. The Lord never forsook us and
never permitted harm to come to us in all our travels. Though
the health of Mrs. Wiens was not too good before leaving and
during the first year she had to submit to an operation, we
were very conscious that He who sent us undertook for her
and gave her health again, enabling us to continue to do our
work together and from our little home.

When we ended our wanderings of more than five years,
Mrs. Wiens urged me to sell the trailer house and not ever to
bother to get another one. The house, however, had served
its purpose well. We thank God that we could have it for our
trips. We thank God for allowing us the many miles and
miles of travel without serious accident.

July of 1947 was the time for us to begin our work. We
left California and came to Hillsboro. Here we parked at the
home of our children, the John J. Gerbrandts, who were then
active in the position of Field Secretary for Tabor College,
Several more weeks of preparation followed. And now we
were on our way to the first station to do the actual work.

The United States and Canada 21

The program of visitation in the churches and homes had
been carefully outlined by the Board of Trustees. The Sun-
days were to be used in acquainting the people with the En-
dowment Fund, the needs it served, the opportunities of help
it afforded, and the manner in which it was used in building
the Kingdom of God. The program of visits to the homes was
also announced.

The first stops were to be made in smaller churches.
Notices were sent to the churches in Western Kansas. With
much fear and trembling and prayer we started West.

The church at Ingalls was to be our first place of work.

It was a very hot day in July when we arrived and were wel-
comed by the pastor, Rev. D. J. Wiens. For the kind welcome
of these dear people into their home and congregation, we
are grateful to this day. We gained courage and confidence
and had every assistance in getting started in our work. The
members of the congregation too participated nobly in the
work. Our prayer and God-bless-you in their behalf was
easily uttered and most sincere. This week of going from
home to home presenting the Endowment Fund and the many
weeks that followed were a joy to us. The main part of the
book will present the churches we visited in the course of out
travels.

Our schedule called for visits to about one-half of the con-
gregations in the Southern District before the winter weather
would make travel difficult. We moved from place to place
until the fall of the year of 1947 when we stopped in Hillsboro
and took time out to attend the conferences of the Southern
District at the South Fairview Church in Oklahoma and of the
Central District meeting in Marion, South Dakota. Being pres-
ent to hear the reports of how the Church of Jesus Christ is
being built by His faithful servants is a blessing and an in-
spiration. Many of the brethren who were regularly seen at
these conferences have in the course of the last years finished
their work and gone to be with the Lord forever.

After these conferences we proceeded into Oklahoma once
more to visit the remaining churces. Everywhere the people
responded generously and the results were highly gratifying.
After finishing the work in Oklahoma, it was time to “pull up
stakes” and return to California for the winter months.

22 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The mild climate of the Pacific states during the winter
months furnished us the opportunity to visit the churches in
California, Oregon, and Washington.

In the spring of 1948 we turned east again to finish the
work in Kansas and to do our visits in our home state of
Nebraska, in which are located our birthplaces and our early
homes. Twenty-eight years had passed since we left Nebras-
ka. A side trip from Western Nebraska into Colorado took
us to the one church in that state.

The year 1948 was also the year of the convention of the
General Conference in Mountain Lake, Minnesota. According
to our plans we were to complete our visits in Minnesota be-
fore the conference in August. From under the large oak tree
where we set up housekeeping adjoining the pastor’s home in
Mountain Lake, we travelled into all directions visiting the
members of the congregations there. The kindly help given
by Brother and Sister A. A. Dick who were neighbors on the
other side was a tremendous encouragement. The days of
fellowship and of work with these kind friends continue to be
an inspiration to us.

The Board of Trustees had planned the visit to Alberta
for the time after the Mountain Lake Conference. It was not
possible to complete the arrangements for the visits to Alberta,
however, so we were scheduled for the churches in North Da-
kota and South Dakota. We were able to finish the work
here, although toward the end we found ourselves in rains and
colder weather. Soon we were again on the way to our winter
home in California.

On the return to California a stop-over in Hillsboro had
been arranged. This enabled us to be present at the Southern
District Conference convening in Hillsboro during the latter
part of October and to visit our children. And now we were
at last on our way to California to our new home in Dinuba
where we spent the winter after having completed the visita-
tion work in the Middle West.

The churches in the North were on the program of visits
for the year 1949. On the first Sunday of June I arrived in
Ontario. Here I visited the St. Catherines Church ^nd then
the other churches in Ontario. After a brief interruption I left
for British Columbia and did my work there. When Novem-
ber 10 came I discontinued the work in British Columbia in

The United States and Canada

23

order to be able to attend the conference of the Pacific Dis-
trict which that year met at Dallas, Oregon. After the fine
fellowship at the conference I returned to California to be at
home during the Christmas season and the winter months.

The work in 1950 was not begun until later in spring. We
were to spend our time visiting the churches in the North.
We began with the work that had been left in British Colum-
bia. After finishing here we remained in British Columbia for
the convention of the Canadian Conference which met in the
Clearbrook Mennonite Brethren Church near Abbotsford. This
was another opportunity to meet many old friends and make
new ones.

After the Canadian Conference we left to visit the
churches in Alberta where we were to spend the remainder of
the summer. Unexpected success and many blessings came
to us in these visits. Upon the completion of our work here
we left in the midst of rain and winter weather for the South
to visit the two churches is Montana. We were able to finish
the work in Montana and then we continued southward to
spend our fourth winter during our period of service in our
California home. On the way we were able to attend the
Southern District Conference at Ebenfeld in Kansas and to en-
joy a little rest in the home of the pastor of the Ebenfeld
Church, Rev. and Mrs. J. J. Gerbrandt. We then started our
trip to Dinuba, California, to celebrate Christmas at home and
to do some physical work on the ranch.

We were to begin the last year of work on the first Sun-
day in June of 1951 in the province of Saskatchewan. We
started in California in beautiful summer weather and by the
time we came to Montana, while passing through a driving
snowstorm, we were eating the cherries we bought in Lodi.
On the appointed Sunday, however, we arrived in Saskatoon
to begin the visits in Saskatchewan. A member of the Board
of Trustees, Brother F. J. Baerg, arranged the itinerary and
various brethren accompanied me in the work. Our last visit
in Northern Saskatchewan was in the church at Watrous. On
bad roads and in the midst of rain the people of the congrega-
tion came to the services and volunteered to make their pledges
to the Endowment Fund there.

On the following day we moved into the Herbert District
of Saskatchewan. We were able to complete the visits in this.

24

The Menno nit e Brethren Churches

area before the Canadian Conference which met in Herbert
in the newly-erected auditorium on the Bible School grounds.
After sharing in the blessings of this conference we left for
Winkler, Manitoba, the place where the convention of the
General Conference was to convene in August. Here we par-
ticipated in the activities of various committees and the con-
ference.

In consultation with the leaders of the churches in Man-
itoba, the Board of Trustees decided to postpone the work of
solicitation in Manitoba until September. It was possible to
finish the work here even though toward the end colder weath-
er set in and when I left Winnipeg the ground was covered
with deep snow. The visits to the churches were now com-
pleted with the exception of a few congregations in the South-
ern District.

The month of August in 1952 was used to complete the
work in the Southern District. Rain in Oklahoma had been
scant and the crops poor. The brethren, however, contributed
and signed their pledges in the face of these conditions, so
that the work could be finished.

A review of these years of visitations in the churches and in
the homes has left me with the impression that our churches,
our brothers and sisters, are doing a great work for the Lord
and are doing it gladly. Sacrifices are being brought to fur-
ther the Lord’s work on the foreign field and in the homeland.

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season
we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

Chapter 3

THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCHES OF
THE PACIFIC DISTRICT CONFERENCE

California

California has 12 Mennonite Brethren churches. These
belong to the Pacific District Conference.

Bakersfield

The Mennonite Brethren Conference membership had been
growing rapidly on the Pacific Coast. Many of the brethren
were beginning to look for work in other than the well estab-

Bakersfield Mennonite Brethren Church

lished Mennonite Brethren communities. Some there were
who found work in the city of Bakersfield. Bakersfield is a
railroad center in which the shops of the Santa Fe and the
Southern Pacific Railroads are located. A number of our
brethren found and hold very good positions in these shops.

The Mennonite Brethren Church of Bakersfield was or-
ganized in 1913 with 35 members under the leadership of

26

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Rev. B. F. Friesen, a son of Dr. Julius Friesen of Boone Coun-
ty, Nebraska. The church has a Sunday school program con-
sisting of 16 classes and maintains one extension station. Four
missionaries from the church are on the foreign mission field.
Rev. Arthur Flaming, coming originally from the Central Dis-
trict, is the present pastor of the church of 190 members. The
church building is located in East Bakersfield.

Dinuba

In the year 1920 and the years following many homeseek-
ers came to the Reedley community. The church at Reedley

./

Dinuba Mennonite Brethren Church

was the largest church and attracted these newcomers and
was soon filled to overflowing. A second church was organ-
ized on May 10, 1925, under the leadership of Rev. J. H.
Richert with 150 members. This church found its home in
Dinuba. It has grown to become the second largest church in
California.

The church has 44 Sunday school classes and carries on
eleven extension projects, where the members bring the gospel

Pacific District Conference 27

to those who have no church ties. The membership numbers
604 and is served by Rev. B. J. Braun.

Recently the church erected a separate Sunday School
Building on its spacious church grounds.

Rev. and Mrs. B. J. Braun, Dinuba, California

Rev. B. J. Braun came to Canada with his parents in the
1920’s. He received his education in Tabor College and in
the Southwestern Baptist Seminary at Fort Worth, Texas. Af-
ter finishing his schooling, Rev. Braun became the pastor of
the Mennonite Brethren Church at Delft, Minnesota. He served
this congregation a number of years and then accepted the call
to the church at Dinuba. Mrs. Braun is the daughter of the
late Rev. Jacob Ewert of Mountain Lake, Minnesota. Rev.
and Mrs. Braun have five children.

Rev. Braun has been the Chairman of the Mennonite
Brethren Conference since 1948. He has served as member
of the Board of Trustees of the Conference.

Fresno

Fresno, a city with a population of about 100,000 and
located in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California, is
known as the “fruitbasket of the nation.” The Valley is shel-

28

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

tered from storms and a severe cold winter by the Coast
Range and Sierra Nevada Mountains and thus has become one
of the best fruit growing sections in the world.

The city is located on U. S. Highway 99 and can also be
reached via the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific Railroads
and by air. The wonders of the Sierra Mountains and the
many parks are within a few hours’ travel by auto.

The population of California and especially its larger
cities has been increasing rapidly during the last ten years.
This increase in population has also had its effects upon the

Fresno Mennonite Brethren Church

Mennonite Brethren settlements. The crowded churches and
the need for more jobs were responsible for a movement of the
Mennonite Brethren people to larger centers of population. A
group found jobs and established their homes in Fresno.

In January of 1943 the Fresno Mennonite Brethren
Church was organized with 53 members and Rev. J. D. Hofer
the first pastor. Today the church has a membership of 380.
There are 28 Sunday school classes and one extension station.
Eight missionaries from the church are on the foreign mission
field. Rev. Dan Friesen is the pastor. Besides being the pas-

Pacific District Conference 29

tor Rev. Friesen has served as chairman of the Pacific District
Conference two terms.

The fine new church building of this congregation can be
found on the corner of Olive and Orchard in the northeast
part of Fresno.

The Pacific Bible Institute, owned and controlled by the
Pacific District Conference, is located in Fresno and serves as
an effective agency in attracting people to the city and 1 to the
church.

Lodi

A group of members from the Mennonite Brethren
churches in Harvey, Goodrich, Sawyer, and other places in

Lodi Mennonite Brethren Church

North Dakota settled farther north in the San Joaquin Valley
and near the thriving center of Lodi. Brother Knoll, the own-
er of large vineyards, started the settlement and others soon
followed.

Lodi is a fruit-growing area. It is known the world over
of the famous Tokay table grapes, which keep their firmness
in shipping. Cherries are grown extensively. They ripen ear-
lier in this region than in any other part of the San Joaquin

30 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Valley. Lodi has a large German speaking population. It al-
so has many churches.

The city of Stockton, 15 miles south of Lodi, is connected
by canal with San Francisco making shipping by water to
ocean-going steamers possible.

The Lodi Mennonite Brethren Church was organized on
January 1, 1915, with 21 members under the leadership of Rev.
Peter P. Rempel. There are nine Sunday school classes that
are part of the program of the church. The church assists in
a number of missionary projects. The membership at present
is 100. Rev. H. H. Epp is the pastor.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles Mennonite Brethren Church

Los Angeles, a city of over a million people, is located in
southern California near the Pacific Ocean. Highway 99 run-
ning north and south and Highway 66 running east and west
lead to Los Angeles.

Pacific District Conference 31

The Los Angeles Mennonite Brethren Church was founded
in the early 1920’s. Rev. P. P. Rempel and Rev. P. N. Hie-
bert were among the early leaders of the church.

According to the 1953 Pacific Conference Yearbook the
membership of the church is 68. Rev. A. W. Friesen is the
leader and Rev. P. F. Wall is the assistant leader. Long dis-
tances and travel in heavy traffic in the large city make it diffi-
cult for members of the Mennonite Brethren faith to be united
in the one church.

Madera

Julius Siemens, a real estate agent, as early as 1913 publi-
cized the new settlement at Fairmead. U. S. Highway 99 was

Madera Mennonite Brethren Church

being built north of Fresno at the time and passed through
this community. The agent made use of the new highway not
only in his travels with the Model T Ford car, in which he was
always seen, but also as a talking point in selling tracts of land
in this part of the San Joaquin Valley.

In 1919 a group of ten members of the Mennonite Breth-
ren Church organized as a congregation with Brother Peter

32

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Wall, the first husband of Elizabeth Neufeld, the first mis-
sionary teacher of the Conference. The church today has 44
members and a Sunday school of nine classes. The church
operates a bus line to bring the children and others to Sunday
school and other meetings. Rev. Jacob R. Quiring is the pas-
tor of the group.

Orland

Real estate promoters in 1921 and 1922 were advertising
land still farther north in California. The so-called Cope
Ranch, a large complex of land owned by the Cope family,

Orland Mennonite Brethren Church

had been made available to land buyers. Reedley people were
taken to see the land by Brother Schneider. Brother Frank
Martens, Sr., bought a farm with a lovely* home near the Sac-
ramento River in this part of the state. Rev. H. F. Klassen,
formerly from Minnesota, who was active in the field of evan-
gelism in the Mennonite Brethren Church, also bought a place.
Others followed these first brethren.

Pacific District Conference 33

A church of 33 members was organized with Rev. H. F.
Klassen as the first pastor in 1923. Later Rev. John Siemens,
now of Dinuba, and Rev. David Letkenran, at present also in
Dinuba, served as pastors of the group. The church has 12
Sunday school classes and 108 members. Three missionaries
have gone to the foreign mission field from the church. The
group conducts services in the County Jail and the County
Hospital. The present pastor is Rev. Herman D. Wiebe.

Reedley

Reedley Mennonite Brethren Church

To many California was an unknown land, spoken of
only from hearsay, and dreamed of as the land of sunshine and
everlasting summer with golden oranges, lemons, and grape-
fruit. Few expected ever to see this so-called paradise on the
West Coast. There were some, however, who were inspired by
the words so often spoken, “Go west, young man, go west,”
and ventured out to go west, not knowing that this should be-
come the home of thousands of our Mennonite Brethren mem-
bers in a future not too far distant.

In Nebraska the Peter Harms family and a Neufeld family
packed and left for the West in the early 1900’s to settle near

34

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

the town of Reedley. At Inman, Kansas, the Dietrich Enns
family got ready, came to California, and located in the Wind-
sor community, near Reedley, in 1904. Many in the old and
established communities in other states followed these early
moves to California with keen interest. There were those who
did not like California and soon returned to their former
homes. Soon, however, some of these went back to California
a second time. Some moved as many as three times before
they could accept California as a permanent home. The fire
for the move westward started to burn and is still going
strong.

A group of 12 Mennonite Brethren members gathered in
the Windsor school building on June 12, 1905, and organized

Air View of the Reedley Church Grounds

the first Mennonite Brethren Church in California. Brother D.
T. Enns was appointed leader of this group by Elder Abraham
Schellenberg. In 1907 Rev. Abram A. Buhler, who had served
as leader of one of the newly organized churches in Canada
and had now moved to California, was elected leader of the
church.

The first Mennonite Brethren church building in Reedley
was erected on the corner of L Street where the present church

35

Pacific District Conference

building stands. This building was soon too small and in 1919
a new and larger church building was erected. Rev. D. C.
Eitzen was the leader of the church at that time. The pres-
ent building was started in 1949 at the time when Rev. J. B.
Toews was the leader of the church.

The Reedley Church has 70 Sunday school classes. It
has charge of six extension stations. Twelve missionaries
from the church are on the foreign mission field. The mem-
bership is 1345. Rev. H. R. Wiens is the present pastor.

The present church building is located on the corner of L
and Thirteenth Streets. The street running east and west is
South or Dinuba Avenue. The new homes on the south side
of the street are the residences of members.

Beginnings of the New Reedley Church Building

More than three years and close to $500,000 were given
to building the new church edifice. Sam Knaak, a successful
farmer and builder, used his courage and wisdom and the
grace of God as Building Superintendent supervising the
building of the new church. The labor required in erecting
the building was largely donated by the members of the con-
gregation.

36

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Home for the Aged and Part of the Sunday School Building

Pacific District Conference 37

The Home for the Aged, providing homes for our fa-
thers and mothers in the later years of life is on the ground
adjoining the Reedley Church. It is owned and operated by
the Pacific District Conference under an arrangement in which
the churches of the District share alike in maintaining the in-
stitution. Brother H. R. Martens of Reedley has been the
chairman of the organization since it was founded.

GATED -

UNTO JESUS. THE AUTHOR
AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH.

*-t HSB8JEWS 12,*

MENNONITE BRETHREN

CHURCH

REEDLEY. CALIF,

Bronze Plate in the New Church Building

Mounted at the entrance of the new building is the bronze
plate which displays the dedication of the building.

Rev. J. B. Toews was the leader of the Reedley Church
during the construction of the new church building. He had
earlier served a number of churches both in Canada and the
United States. Rev. Toews is a member of the Foreign Mis-
sion Board. In 1952 he served as delegate to the World Men-
nonite Conference in Basel, Switzerland, and visited the Men-
nonite Brethren mission fields in Africa. At the present time
he is the Deputation Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board.

Members of the Mennonite Brethren Churches in the
Reedley and Dinuba areas own and maintain the Hartland
Bible Camp, a beautiful camp site with dining hall, cabins for
boys and for girls and cabins owned by individual members

DEDI

m

38

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Rev. J. B. Toews, Hillsboro, Kansas

of the churches and located about forty miles from Reedley in
the high Sierras. The group operating the camp is organized
as the Hartland Association.

The Immanuel Bible Academy located in Reedley is a
joint project in which the Reedley and Dinuba and the Zion
churches participate.

California and Irrigation

The bountiful water supply has helped make California
what it is today. Before the irrigation projects, dry farming
was the farm practice followed. Vast wheat fields covered
the area of Reedley and surroundings. Mr. Reed, after whom
Reedley is named, is said to have delivered as many as a mil-
lion bushels of wheat. . At present storage reservoirs con-
structed by building cement dams across rivers in the moun-
tains at strategic places, provide a water supply for irrigation
and for generating electric power. There is also a good un-
derground water supply.

The Kings River, near Reedley, furnishes the water sup-
ply for Fresno, Sanger, Parlier, Reedley, Dinuba, Selma, and
Kingsbury areas. Head gates are installed about fifteen miles

Pacific District Conference

39

Irrigation of Vineyards in the Reedley-Dinuba Area

up the river and the water is then brought in large canals to
the farm lands below enabling farmers to grow every kind
of fruit. This has made California very wealthy.

California and National Parks

The United States government by Act of Congress has
set aside large tracts of forest land in California. General
Grant Park is located about 50 miles east of Reedley. The
Sequoia National Park is about 60 miles east of Dinuba. The
two parks are connected with a hard surface road at an eleva-
tion of 6000 feet. Centuries-old trees, the Sequoia Gigantea,
are found in these parks. The Big Tree is 36 feet in diameter
at the base and about 300 feet in height. It is estimated that
it is 4000 years old. These trees are preserved by the gov-
ernment.

The lumber business, fed by the trees from the moun-
tains, has flourished in this area. A lumber mill, furnishing
employment to many, is located between Reedley and Dinuba.

Mt. Whitney, 14,495 feet high, the highest mountain in
the United States, is found in Sequoia Park.

40

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The Big Redwood Tree in General Grant Park

Rosedale

In the years 1907, 1908, and 1909 a spirit of moving
stirred the Mennonite Brethren people. Some moved to the
western parts of Kansas and Oklahoma. A number made the
move as far west as California. A group from Kansas and
Oklahoma settled in a new location known as Martensdale,
about 10 miles north of Bakersfield. When later difficulties
arose in this settlement, the people resettled in the Rosedale
community.

Rosedale is located on Highway 178 connecting the Pa-
cific Ocean and the high Sierra Mountains along the Kern
River.

The Rosedale area is one of the best cotton and alfalfa
growing sections. Water comes to this area by the way of the
Central Valley Irrigation Project and the Shasta Dam in Nor-
thern California.

Pacific District Conference

41

Rosedale Mennonite Brethren Church, the Parsonage, and
Rev. and Mrs. P. N. Hiebert

The Rosedale Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
in 1909 with about 45 members. Rev. Jacob Kliewer was the
first pastor of the church. At present eleven Sunday school
classes are working in building God’s kingdom. Two exten-
sion stations are maintained. The membership is 165. Rev.
P. N. Hiebert is the pastor of the church.

San Jose

Many young men in the older communities were begin-
ning to look for work elsewhere. In the early 30’s some of
the Reedley young people ventured out and stopped in the
city of San Jose to work in the canneries. This type of work
was only seasonal. Soon, however, there were those who re-
mained for the entire year and finally some made San Jose
their permanent home. The mild winters and cool summers
were attractions hard to resist.

San Jose is on U. S. Highway 101 and can also be reached
on U. S. Highway 99 via Pacheco Pass.

42

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The first members of the Mennonite Brethren Church
found substitute church homes until the group was large
enough to organize their own church. This organization took
place October 20, 1940, with 20 members present and under
the direction of the Home Mission Board of the Pacific Dis-
trict Conference. The late Rev. J. S. Dick, a former mission-
ary to China, assisted in the organization. Rev. D. J. Ger-
brandt was the first pastor of the church. The new church
building was planned and built when Rev. J. K. Warkentin
was the pastor.

San Jose Mennonite Brethren Church

The church today has 18 Sunday school classes and one
extension project. One missionary from the church is on the
foreign field. The membership is 253. Rev. William Neu-
feld is the present pastor.

Pacific District Conference 43

Parsonage of the San Jose Mennonite Brethren Church

The church building is located at 1195 Clark Street. The
parsonage is on Clark Street in the Willow Glen District.

Rev. William Neufeld and Rev. Dan E. Friesen

Officiating at the dedication of the new church building
in San Jose were the brethren William Neufeld, pastor of the

44

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

San Jose Church, and Rev. Dan E. Friesen, pastor of the
Fresno Church. Both brethren are members of the Board of
Education of Mennonite Brethren Conference.

Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge

The Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge crosses San Fran-
cisco Bay between Oakland and San Francisco. The span is

The Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge

eight miles long and has five traffic lanes in each direction and
a lower deck for trains and heavy trucks. The main structure
is carried by four steel towers about 500 feet above the water.
Huge cables are suspended from these towers and carry the
structure first across the main channel from San Francisco to
Yerba Buena Island and from thence to the Oakland side.

The Golden Gate Bridge is also a suspension bridge and
spans the Golden Gate which is the inlet into San Francisco
Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The Bay furnishes San Fran-
cisco one of the largest inland harbors in the world.

Pacific District Conference

45

Shafter

The Shafter-Wasco district was the first new farming
area settled after the Reedley community. Shafter is nine
miles due west of Lerdo, which is located on U. S. Highway
99, the busiest main highway on the West Coast linking Cal-
ifornia, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.

At the time when the Shafter area was settled it was a
raisin-producing region. This was a time when raisins were
selling at a permium. Other fruits do well here also. At the
present time most fruit-growing has been discontinued and

Shatter Mennonite Brethren Church

extensive potato and cotton farming have been substituted.
Shafter is the largest long white potato growing region in the
United States. Deep wells supply the water necessary for ir-
rigation. As more land was brought under cultivation, more
pumping was done. This caused the water level in the wells
to drop, so that today most wells are deepened to get the
precious water.

The Shafter Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
under the leadership of Rev. P. P. Rempel, well known evan-
gelist, with 27 members. Today the church has 523 mem-
bers and a Sunday school of 33 classes. The church main-

46

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

tains the Park Lawn Mennonite Brethren Church and the
Grace Mennonite Brethren Church. Three missionaries from
the church are on a foreign field. Rev. Waldo Wiebe is the
present pastor.

Winton

A number of brethren came to California from Canada
and from Aberdeen, Idaho, in 1920 and settled in the Living-
ston area. This settlement did not prove satisfactory, how-
ever, so they moved to the Winton area, south of Denair and

Winton Mennonite Brethren Church

about four miles east of Atwater on Highway 99. The Holde-
man Mennonites have a large church in Winton.

In the summer of 1922 the Winton Mennonite Brethren
Church was organized under the leadership of Rev. J. M. Enns,
son of Rev. Johann Enns, formerly from Henderson, Nebraska,
and later from Munich, North Dakota. The church has six
Sunday school classes and is responsible for one extension
station. The present membership is 46. Rev. Menno A.
Schellenberg is pastor of the church.

Zion Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church

ren churches of this area. The Zion Church is one of the
cooperating churches in the Immanuel Bible Academy and in
the Pacific Bible Institute.

The Zion Church is under the leadership of Rev. C. F.
Plett. Members of the church own radio station KRDU, from
which the Dinuba Mennonite Brethren Church broadcasts
every Sunday and the Reedley Mennonite Brethren Church
during the weekend and Sunday evening.

The growth of the church has made it necessary a num-
ber of times to enlarge the church building.

Zion

The Zion Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church is a rural
church two miles south and three miles west of Dinuba and
five miles south and one mile east of Reedley.

The Zion Church was organized when the late Rev. Klein-
sasser with his family and the Hofer family, both families from
South Dakota, settled in this part of California. There has
always been a cordial feeling and a cooperative working re-
lationship between the Zion Church and the Mennonite Breth-

Pacific District Conference

48 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Oregon

Oregon belongs to the Pacific District Conference and
has two Mennonite Brethren Churches.

Dallas

Two young men, Frank Friesen and David Nachtigal, in
the early part of 1900 started from Henderson, Nebraska, and
traveled West to see the world and while on the way to earn
enough to supply their daily needs. They came as far west
as Dallas, Oregon, where they found employment and stayed

Dallas Mennonite Brethren Church

for a time. They liked the country and their work and stayed
long enough to fall in love with some young ladies in the Salt
Creek District. They were married and established their
homes here. At first they affiliated with the Baptist Church
and later they united with the Mennonite Brethren Church.

Dallas is a thriving lumber-producing center and has at-
tracted a number of lumber mills. Some of the brethren found
employment in these mills.

In 1906 a Mennonite Brethren Church with 15 members
was organized in Dallas. Rev. P. C. Hiebert was the first

Pacific District Conference 49

pastor. The phurch at present has about 20 Sunday school
classes. Two families of the church serve a station under the
American Sunday School Union. Five missionaries from the
church are on foreign mission fields. The present membership
is 346. Rev. Walter L. Penner is the leader.

The original church building was located in the Salt
Creek district, a few miles north and west of the city of Dal-
las. Here it served its members who at the time were farm-
ers in this area. When the church building no longer provided
sufficient room for the members, a new building was erected
at the corner of Washington and Hayter Street. The new
building has been enlarged so as to be able to accommodate
the growing church.

West Salem

Salem, Oregon, is the second largest city in the Willa-
mette Valley of Oregon. The Willamette River has its source
on the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains and runs into
the great Columbia River, which forms the boundary between
the states Oregon and Washington. Salem is located on U. S.
Highway 99E and 50 miles south of Portland and 15 miles east
of Dallas. West Salem is a residential district on the west
bank of the Willamette River.

For some time the Dallas Church maintained a mission in
West Salem. In 1940 a church was organized with 27 mem-
bers and Rev. A. A. Loewen as pastor. The church today is
known as the Kingwood Bible Church. The name Kingwood
refers to its location in the Kingwood District. It has 164
members according to the Pacific District Conference Year-
book of 1953. There are 14 Sunday school classes. Six for-
eign missionaries have come from this church. Rev. Frank
Wiens, formerly the pastor of the Sawyer Mennonite Brethren
Church in North Dakota, is the present pastor.

Washington

Blaine

Homeseekers in the Pacific Northwest were on the alert
to find new homes for themselves and their children. A little
group of settlers made their homes on the logged over land

50

The Mcnnonite Brethren Churches

south and west of Birch Bay, near the United States-Canada
border. Others bought farms already built up in this area.

Blaine and Birch Bay are close to the ocean and just east
of Vancouver Island. Blaine has a large fish cannery. Bel-
lingham, a large city and center of industry, consisting espe-
cially of lumber mills, is located 23 miles to the southeast.

At the time when Rev. and Mrs. N. N. Hiebert had their
home in Salem, Oregon, a call came to them asking that they

Blaine Mennonite Brethren Church

serve the little group of settlers in Washington. The Hieberts
then moved to Washington and bought their own little farm.

The church was organized December 18, 1937, with 23
members and Rev. N. N. Hiebert as the first pastor. The first
church building was built on the farm belonging to the Hie-
berts. In 1948 a new building was erected alongside the old
one. The church at the present has 17 Sunday School classes
and two extension stations. It has two missionaries on the
foreign field. There are 182 members. Rev. D. P. Schultz is
the present pastor.

Southern District Conference

51

Chapter 4

THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCHES OF THE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT CONFERENCE

Colorado

Colorado belongs to the Southern District of the Menno-
nite Brethren Conference. There is one Mennonite Brethren
Church in the state.

Joes

Members from the Henderson Mennonite Brethren Church
in Nebraska came to the Joes or Kirk community in Colorado,

Joes Mennonite Brethren Church

about 40 miles west of the Kansas-Colorado border, in the year
1887. These first settlers were about 50 miles from the near-
est town. Colorado at this early date was frontier country
with much wild life. Poisonous snakes were a menace to man
and beast, so much so that some of the early settlers lost loved
ones because of rattlesnake bites.

The Mennonite Brethren Church in this community was
organized January 1, 1892. Brother Heinrich Bergthold was

52

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

elected the first leader. In October of that year Rev. David
Dick from Woodson County, Kansas, made his home in Colo-
rado. He was then unanimously elected leader. A sod build-
ing to serve as the place for worship was erected November
24, 1892.

The Church today has nine Sunday school classes. One
family is in the foreign mission field. There are 61 members.
Rev. Eldo Ratzlaff is the leader of the group.

Kansas

Kansas belongs to the Southern District of the Mennonite
Brethren Conference and has ten Mennonite Brethren Churches.

Buhler

Buhler Mennonite Brethren Church

Buhler is a little village located one-half of a mile north
of the Little Arkansas River and 19 miles south and a little
west of McPherson. Here a person enters any business estab-
lishment and is understood speaking the low German. Many
older people have settled here after retirement.

Southern District Conference 53

One of the immigrants on the steamship Switzerland that
docked in Philadelphia in June of 1 8 79 was the Elder Abraham
Schellenberg. He and his family settled near Buhler. He was
elected the first pastor of the Ebenezer Mennonite Brethren
Church east of Buhler. There were at that time 26 members.

Elder Schellenberg played an important role in building
the Church of Jesus Christ. He was the leader of the Confer-
ence many years, a personal worker, an evangelist, a counse-
lor in home missions and foreign missions, and was respected
by young and old, always willing to serve his Lord, the Church
and the Conference.

The charter of the Mennonite Brethren Conference was
taken out at Buhler. The foreign missions work was first or-
ganized here.

The Buhler Church at present has 28 Sunday school
classes and two extension stations. One married couple from
the church is serving on the foreign mission field. The mem-
bership of the church is 524. Rev. Jacob J. Toews is the pre-
ent pastor.

Dorrance

Dorrance Mennonite Brethren Church

54

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The little western town of Dorrance is located on High-
way 40 about 60 miles west of Salina and 42 miles north of
Great Bend.

In 1912 a group of German-speaking Mennonite Breth-
ren members settled in this area. They organized a church
of 29 members under the leadership of Rev. Peter Wiens.
The dry years and severe dust storms in the thirties caused a
number of families to leave and resettle elsewhere.

Today the church has five Sunday school classes. One
married couple serves as missionaries in South Texas. The
membership is 49. Rev. Gerhard Warkentin is the pastor.

Ebenfeld

Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church

The first Mennonites coming to Kansas found the country
wild, there were no roads, and high grass covered the ground,
and trees were found only along rivers and streams.

Ebenfeld, six miles southeast of Hillsboro, was chosen as
a site for a settlement by a group of members of Mennonite
Brethren churches. The name Ebenfeld refers to the level
country in which the community is located. Except to the
north and west, the farms are mostly free of deep ravines and

Southern District Conference 55

rivers. To the north is the Cottonwood River which goes on
a rampage during heavy downpours, which are common in
this area.

The Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church was started in
1875 with about 25 members. Rev. Peter Eckert was the first
leader. In a year during which new immigrants moved in and
united with the church, the membership increased to over 125
members. The late Elder Johann Foth became the leader of
the group soon after the church was organized and served in the
position of leader many years. Other important brethren in

The Original Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church

the church were Rev. J. K. Hiebert, Rev. G. W. Lohrenz and
Rev. Christian Seibel.

The Ebenfeld Church at the present time has a Sunday
school of 17 classes. The Steinreich Church has been an ex-
tension project for over 40 years. Three missionaries serve
in the field of foreign missions. The church has 250 mem-
bers. Rev. Allen Fast is the pastor of the church.

In 1951 the Ebenfeld Church observed its Seventy-Fifth
Anniversary. The original building, erected in 1876, served
the congregation until 1904. Since no photographs of the old

56

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

church building were available, it was reproduced by Prof. A
R. Ebel of Tabor College from descriptions of the outline and
a pattern as given by members who had attended the services
of the church.

Ebenfeld Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Plate

A bronze plate was placed in the front of the present
building on the occasion of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary as
a token of gratitude to God for the blessings received and the
opportunities to serve in the course of 75 years of continuous
history.

Ebenfeld has played an important part in the program in
which Christ is building His church with the promise that “the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Many members have
gone out from ths church to places elsewhere to have a part in
building the kingdom of God.

Hillsboro

Tabor College was located in the city of Hillsboro in
1908. Since that time the Mennonite Brethren population in
Hillsboro has been growing steadily. When in 1915 the Pub-
lishing House was moved from McPherson to Hillsboro, it
soon became evident that Hillsboro was to be a center of the
Mennonite Brethren Conference activities. In 1953 the Con-

Southern District Conference 57

Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church

ference Office Building, with office space for the Mennonite
Brethren Conference boards, was erected. Today many older
and younger people live in Hillsboro because a number of Con-
ference activities are located here. Tabor College attracts
many to Hillsboro for the winter months when the school is in
regular session.

The Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
April 25, 1881, with 34 members present. Rev. John Harms
was the first pastor.

The church today has 841 members. The membership in-
cludes a group of Conference workers. The Sunday school
program is composed of 36 classes. The church has six ex-
tension stations. Six missionaries from the church are active
in foreign missions. Rev. Waldo Hiebert, son of Rev. and Mrs.
N. N. Hiebert, is the pastor of the church.

Tabor College

The organization of the Tabor College Corporation was
completed in the spring of 1908. This was the response to a
long-felt need on part of the Mennonite Brethren churches and

58 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren churches for a college of their
own.

On September 5, 1908, the school opened its doors to stu-
dents the first time in the .church building of the Mennonite
Brethren Church. Three teachers were in charge of the in-
struction and administration. Thirty-nine students enrolled this
first day. H. L. Buller from Henderson, Nebraska, was the
first to enroll as a full-time student.

Ten years the school was housed in the first Tabor Col-
lege building. The building and equipment had grown to have

Tabor College as seen from Highway 50N

a valuation of about $24,000. Practically all of these material
values were destroyed in a fire the morning of April 30, 1918.

Immediately after the fire, a Building Committee and a
Finance Committee were appointed by the Board of the Cor-
poration and the campaign for a new and more adequate
$100,000 building for Tabor Collge was started. On Septem-
ber 12, 1920, the new building was dedicated.

From the beginning until the close of the school year
1933-34, Tabor College was owned and controlled by the Ta-
bor College Corporation. In 1933 the Corporation offered the
school to the Mennonite Brethren Conference. The offer was

Southern District Conference 59

studied and discussed by the delegates in convention at Hills-
boro in October, 1933, and then referred to the 116 churches of
the Conference giving the churches the opportunity to express
themselves as favoring or opposing the acceptance of the school.
When the returns were counted, a two-thirds majority of the
votes cast was in favor of accepting the offer of the Corporation.
Tabor College thus became a Conference school. During the
school year 1934-35 the school was closed and reorganized
and reopened in the all of 1935. The school operated under
the charter of the Conference until 1952 when the college was
again incorporated under its own charter.

The objectives of Tabor College are (1) to impart knowl-
edge of Christianity and to encourage its application in daily
living, (2) to instruct students in the teachings and practices of
the Mennonite Brethren and Krimmer Mennonite Brethren
churches and to encourage students to serve the Church, (3)
to create a desire to search for truth, (4) to develop critical
thinking in the basic areas of human knowledge, (5) to stimu-
late students to understand and assume the role of Christian
citizens in a democratic society, (6) to help students discover
and develop themselves, (7) to learn to express personal and
social experiences in ways consistent with Christian principles,
and (8) to develop competence in social, physical, and scien-
tific skills.

Tabor College was built upon the foundation Jesus Christ
and upon this foundation it stands.

Ingalls

The West attracted more and more people to the rich farm
land of the open prairies. Here was a good soil for wheat
farming. Young people and older ones came to settle with
their families. They went as far west as the Colorado border.

A church was organized in the Syracuse area. This was
abandoned later. When the Board of Trustees two years ago
investigated the location only a lonely grave was discovered on
the former church grounds. The property, however, still be-
longs to the Mennonite Brethren Conference.

The records of the early history of the Ingalls Mennonite
Brethren Church are incomplete They do show, however, that
on August 20, 1922, a group of 44 people attended the first

60

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Sunday school in that community. On October 17, 1922, the
group decided to purchase a church building which was to be
known as the Ingalls Mennonite Brethren Church. Brother
Henry Gaede was the leader of this group. The minutes of the
meetings at Ingalls speak only of Sunday school elections
until June, 1925. A record of a church meeting with Henry
Gaede presiding was made under the date of June, 1925. Some

Ingalls Mennonite Brethren Church

of the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren members, who formerly
had a meeting place northeast of Garden City, have been wor-
shipping with the Mennonite Brethren group at Ingalls.

The church at Ingalls today has seven Sunday school
classes, Rev. J. W. Fast is the pastor.

Lehigh

Lehigh is a little town on Highway 50N seven miles west
of Hillsboro. The settlers of Lehigh laid out the streets in a
northwest to southeast direction parallel to the tracks of the
Santa Fe Railroad. This had led many, including the writer,
to think of Lehigh as not straight with the world, not due north
and south and east and west. Later thought, however, led the

Southern District Conference 61

writer at least to accept this arrangement as practical, in fact,
in larger cities the streets run in any direction and even in cir-
cles.

The Lehigh Mennonite Brethren Church was organized in
1884 under the leadership of Rev. David Dick, one of the lead-
ers in the early history of the Mennonite Brethren Church in
America. The record does not show the number of persons
present at the time of the organization.

Lehigh Mennonite Brethren Church

Today the church has six Sunday school classes. One
missionary from the church is on the foreign mission field. The
membership is 52. Dr. P. R. Lange is the pastor.

Lehigh and other churches with a smaller membership
have a very essential part to play in building for God.

Steinreich

The Steinreich Church, formerly was a mission station
of the Ebenfeld Church. This is a rural church located ten
miles east of the Ebenfeld Church and about ten miles south
of Marion, just one mile west of Highway 77, which goes
through Lincoln, Nebraska, to the north and Oklahoma City
to the south.

62

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Steinreich Mennonite Brethren Church

It was impossible to obtain the information needed for a full
and most recent report on the church. The Yearbook of the
Southern District Conference of 1953, however, lists it as hav-
ing a membership of 48 and Rev. C. E. Fast as the pastor.
Ministerial students from Tabor College have served the Stein-
reich Church at various times.

Tampa

The Tampa Mennonite Brethren Church is located in the
town of Tampa about 19 miles northeast of Hillsboro. High-
way 15 brings the traveler within five miles of the town.

Records showing the time of organization, the number of
persons present, and the name of the first pastor seem to be
lacking. The church, however, has been active many years.

The church at present has 54 members. Rev. Louis Goertz
is the pastor.

Ulysses

The vast prairies in the western part of Kansas attracted
the wheat farmers. The drawback in farming this area is the

Tampa Mennonite Brethren Church

Southen District Conference

64 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

fact that the soil is a fine silt and blows easily in dry seasons.
In favorable seasons this land yields bumper crops, especial-
ly in winter wheat and row crops. The town of Ulysses is lo-
cated in this wheat growing area.

The Mennonite Brethren Church at Ulysses was organized
in 1928 with 30 members present. Rev. Isaac Harms served
as the first pastor. The church has six Sunday school classes.
Two missionaries from the church are on the foreign mission
field. At present there are 55 members. Rev. John Flaming
is the pastor.

Wichita

Wichita First Mennonite Brethren Church

Wichita is one of the fastest growing cities in Kansas. It
is located on Highway 81 and has the Santa Fe and Rock Is-
land Railroads making connections with all parts of the United
States. The manufacture of private and government airplanes
is one of the most important industries of the city. When the
airplane factories first came to Wichita, they were far out to
the southeast. Today the city has grown around them. Wich-
ita is a fine place to do business and is also an excellent place
in which to earn a living.

Southern District Conference 65

The members of the Mennonite Brethren faith organized
themselves into a church in 1942 with 19 members present.
Rev. Estil Schale was the first pastor.

Today eight Sunday school classes are at work. The
church has one extension station. The membership is 70. Rev.
Orlando Harms was the last pastor. When he became the
Executive Manager and Editor of the Mennonite Brethren pub-
lications and moved to Hillsboro, Brother J. J. Klassen took
charge of the church.

The church building and the parsonage are located at
1702 West Second Street.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma belongs to the Southern District of the Menno-
nite Brethren Conference and has 10 Mennonite Brethren
Churches.

During the first 18 years of the Mennonite Brethren
Church in America its activities were limited to the states of
Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota,
and the province of Manitoba in Canada. The growth during
this period was a natural growth in which the children of the
church families were added to the church membership upon
having experienced a conversion and baptism. Some growth
took place by the coming of later immigrants of the Mennonite
Brethren faith from the old country as single families. Very
few from the outside were added to the church.

New opportunities for expansion came when Oklahoma
was opened for settlement in 1893. This new territory was to
become the home for many younger couples and for parents
with children seeking greater opportunities.

Balko

With the need for new farms for the younger generation
settlers moved west and built homes as far as Hamilton County
in Kansas and Beaver County in the Panhandle of Oklahoma.
In some cases parents left their former homes with their chil-
dren in the hope of greater opportunities on the plains in the
West.

Balko, located about ten miles north of the Texas border
and between Boyd on Highway 83 to the west and Beaver to

66

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Balko Mennonite Brethren Church

the east, provided one such new location. This is a fine level
country well adapted to grain-farming. A settlement of Men-
nonite Brethren people was formed in this section in the early
1900’s.

The Balko Church was organized in 1906 with nine mem-
bers present. Rev. Sam Hodel, now living in British Columbia,
was the first pastor.

The church at present has ten Sunday school classes and
a membershp of 141. Brother D. H. Fenner is the leader of
the group.

Bessie

A new settlement along the Washita River in Oklahoma
was growing rapidly. Newcomers began to settle in the Bessie
community, located on Highway 183, ten miles south of Clin-
ton. Farms along the west banks of the Washita River as far
south and west as Cordell and west of Bessie are owned by
members of the Bessie Church.

In 1905 the Bessie Mennonite Brethren Church was or-
ganized with 35 members. Rev. A. B. P. Schmidt was the
ieader of the group.

Southern District Conference

67

Bessie Mennonite Brethren Church

Today the church has 14 Sunday school classes. Two
missionaries from the church are on the foreign mission field.
The membership is 152. Rev. Elmo Warkentin is the pastor.

The Bessie Church building is located four miles west of
Bessie and the parsonage is at 620 Caddo Street in Cordell.

Collinsville

Young people in many communities had a difficult time
finding suitable farms close to the old home and began to look
to new places in which to earn a livelihood. A considerable
shifting of people from one community to the next was started.
A number of members from the Mennonite Brethren Church in
Henderson, Nebraska, bought farms in the Collinsville area in
eastern Oklahoma, about 100 miles east of Enid and 22 miles
northeast of Tulsa. The early settlers here thought of wheat-
growing as their vocation. In the course of years, however,
they discovered that mixed farming and dairying was more
profitable. In this area there are many shallow oil wells,
wells operated without the high towers. At one time there
were also valuable ores mined. These, however, had al-
ready been abandoned when the Mennonite settlers came.

68

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Collinsville Mennonite Brethren Church

In 1913 the Mennonite Brethren Church was organized in
this community with 12 members. The first pastor was Rev.
B. C. Wedel.

At the present time the church has a membership of 76.
There are 12 Sunday school classes. Rev. Leonard J. Vogt is
the pastor.

Corn

Mennonites found a desirable farming district in the fer-
tile valley of the Washita River in Washita County., Here the
little village of Corn located 14 miles south of Weatherford be-
came the center of the settlement. At Weatherford is the near-
est railroad for Corn. The village started with a store and a
post office and later it grew to be a small town. Highway 66,
the so-called Main Street of the United States is the north
boundary of the settlement and Highway 41 running through
Cordell is the southern boundary.

The Mennonite Brethren Church at Corn was organized
in 1893 with 16 families. Rev. Abraham Richert was the first
leader. At one time this was the largest church in the Confer-
ence. It is today one of the larger churches.

Southern District Conference

69

Former Corn Mennonite Brethren Church

70

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The Sunday school of the Corn Church has 41 classes.
A Gospel Team serves several of the smaller churches of that
area. The church provides a weekly Sunday broadcast. It
serves two rest homes. Ten missionaries on the foreign field
and seven in home mission work have come from this church.
The church has 625 members. Rev. J. P. Kliewer is the pastor.

Former Corn Mennonite Brethren Church in Flames

The enlarged house of worship served the church wed un-
ril in 1949 it was destroyed by fire. On a stormy wintry Sun-
day morning the alarm was given announcing that the Corn
Church was on fire. Within an hour the fine structure was in
ashes. Instead of worshipping in comfort as they were accus-
tomed to it, on this particular Sunday morning, the members
and many friends of the church stood helpless.

At once the work of clearing the debris and erecting a new
house of worship was started. Many days of hard labor and
much financial sacrifice by the members made a new fine
church building possible in a comparatively short time, which
building is now the home of the congregation.

,0 PET "At a later time a tornado hit the community and did ex-
tensive damage to the latest structure.

Southern District Conference

71

Road Sign of the Corn Mennonite Brethren Church

Corn Home for the Aged

The Old People’s Home is maintained by the church on
grounds near the church building. At the time of the tornado

72

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

the older people were gathered together for prayer and were
wonderfully delivered from all harm.

Enid City

The city of Enid dates back to the time when the Cherokee
Strip, a strip of land the government had purchased from the
Indians in what is now Oklahoma, was opened to settlers.
Homesteads of 160 acres could be obtained for a nominal sum
of money and in no case exceeding two dollars an acre. Enid
became an oil center with large oil refineries and a grain cen-
ter with large grain storage elevators storing thousands of bush-
els of wheat annually. Many Mennonite young people found
profitable employment in this city.

In 1924 a group of 18 Mennonite Brethren members were
organized as the Enid City Mennonite Brethren Church under
the leadership of Rev. P. C. Grunau, at present the Treasurer
of the Board of Trustees of the Mennonite Brethren Confer-
ence.

The church today has 15 Sunday school classes. It has
175 members. Rev. C. E. Fast is the pastor.

Enid Mennonite Brethren Church

73

Southern District Conference

Enid North

North Enid Mennonite Brethren Church

In 1897 a group of members of the Henderson Mennonite
Brethren Church in Nebraska established themselves near
Kremlin and about eight miles north of the city of Enid on some
of the finest wheat-growing land of the South. Rev. Peter
Regier, the first pastor of the Henderson Church in Nebraska,
was among the early settlers in this area. He moved here to
find greater opportunities for himself and his large family.

Rev. Peter Regier was the leader in establishing the Men-
nonite Brethren Church here. Thirty members were present at
the organization meeting.

There are 20 Sunday school classes at present. Two
workers are engaged in extension work. The membership is
213. Rev. Robert C. Seibel is the pastor.

The church, known as the North Enid Mennonite Breth-
ren Church, is located four miles north of Enid near what was
formerly known as North Enid. The parsonage of the church
is in the city of Enid at 425 West Mulberry Street.

74

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Fairview North

Twelve o’clock noon on September 16, 1893, was an event-
ful moment in the history of Oklahoma. This was the hour
when the Strip, a narrow tract of land just south of the Kan-
sas border, was opened for settlement under an arrangement
which allowed settlers a homestead of 160 acres of land. A
number of members of the Mennonite Brethren Church took
part in this run.

North Fairview Mennonite Brethren Church

Brother Carl Wichert, later of the North Fairview Church,
relates how the brethren Martin Just, Henry Bartel, John and
Will Hein, and Frederick and Carl Wichert from the Ebenfeld
community were together in Caldwell, Kansas, about one mile
from the border waiting to register and to make the run. In
one week there had gathered in this little town about 50,000
people. The place had only one water well, so the bucket
went up and down the well all day long supplying water for
the people and horses. At twelve o’clock noon on September
16, the shots were fired along the border and the run was on.

75

Southern District Conference

The group, of which Brother Wichert was one, traveled all
day and when night came found themselves empty-handed.
They had been unable to stake a claim which was to enable
them to file for a homestead. They then returned to Ebenfeld.
In November of the same year, however, they started out again.
Brother Wichert this time homesteaded land northwest of Fair-
view. He moved on to this place in April of 1894. Their first
home was three feet wide and ten feet long. This furnished
shelter until they were able to build a dugout 14 by 20 feet.
Thus in the midst of hardships and trials the brethren made a
start in this new world.

The Nord Hoffnungsfeld (North Field of Hope) Church
was organized in 1895 with 98 members. Rev. Jacob Kliewer
was the first pastor.

The membership in 1948 was 123. In 1949 the church
voted to build a new church building in the city of Fairview.
Having begun building, the church united with the South Fair-
view Church and thus formed the Fairview City Church.

Fairview South

South Fairview Mennonite Brethren Church

76

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The south border of the Cherokee Strip, opened, at the
time of the run in 1893 was where Hitchcock is located. While
many came into this area from the north, there were some en-
tered from the south. A group of brethren that came in this
way settled in the neighborhood of Isabella and west.

A Mennonite Brethren Church of 69 members was or-
ganized here in 1895 as the Sud Hoffnungsfeld (South Field
of Hope) Church. Rev. William Hergert was the first leader
of this group. In later years the old sod building which served
as the first meeting house was replaced by a larger and more
modern structure.

The church in 1951 had 16 Sunday school classes. Three
of its members are active as missionaries on the foreign mis-
sion field. The membership at that time was 162. Rev. J. J.
Karber was the pastor

When the church consolidated with the North Fairview
Church in 1951, the old building was dismantled and the lum-
ber used in the building of the parsonage on the church grounds
for the new Fairview City Church.

Fairview City

Fairview Mennonite Brethren Church

Southern D s.

77

As more and more of the members of the Mennonite Breth-
ren Churches retired to nearby towns, the need for churches
in towns became more urgent. In the United States compara-
tively few rural churches remain.

Fairview had become the home of a number of retired
families. When the North Fairview congregation decided to
improve its church building, they agreed to build a new house
of worship in the city of Fairview. The grounds in the country

Rev. D. J. Wiens, Fairview, Oklahoma

were exchanged for a city property and building operations
started in 1949. In 1951 the two churches, the North Fairview
Church and the South Fairview Church, united to form the City
Church.

The church today has a membership of 415. It has 22
Sunday school classes. Four members are missionaries on the
foreign field. Rev. D. J. Wiens is the pastor.

Okeene

Okeene is a prosperous community located about 8 miles
south of Isabella and eight miles west of the Cimarron River.
A group of homeseekers found suitable land in this area and

78

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

established their homes here after the opening of the Cherokee
Strip.

Okeene Mennonite Brethren Church

Under the leaderhip of Rev. Henry Rush 12 families
joined and were organized into the Okeene Mennonite Brethren
Church.

The church today has 91 members. The Sunday school
consists of six classes. Rev. E. C. Ollenburger is the pastor.

Post Oak M is si-on

The years from 1890 to 1900 were years of much mission
activity in the Mennonite Brethren Conference. There was an
interest in beginning a mission work in Africa. Rev. Peter H.
Wedel, a worker on fire for God and effective in building the
Church of Jesus Christ, had prepared himself in a special way
for Christian service while attending the Baptist Theological
Seminary at Rochester, New York. He had successfully served
as evangelist in the churches a number of years and was looked
upon as one who was to go as a missionary of the Conference
to the Cameroon in Africa. When approached by a friend who
sought to persuade this enthusiastic Christian worker not to

Southern District Conference 79

go to Africa but rather stay in America and do some work in
Russia since he was so much needed in both places in preach-
ing the gospel, he replied saying, that if he should be one stone
in the foundation of foreign missions, he was willing to die for
this cause in Africa. It was a blow to the high hopes held by
the Conference when in 1895, Rev. Wedel left for Africa under
a German Baptist Missionary Society. After a brief period of
service in Africa, Rev. Wedel contracted a tropical illness,
which forced him to discontinue his work and return to Amer-
ica. On ship on the Atlantic, however, he died and was given
a grave in the waters of the ocean.

Post Oak Mennonite Brethren Church

As early as 1894 the brethren of the Conference looked
for mission opportunities among the Indians in this country
and for workers to serve in such a work. The territory in Ok-
lahoma which was the home of the Comanche Indians was after
considerable study chosen as a field for missionary activity.
The United States government made a grant of 160 acres of
land, five miles north of Indiahoma, for the mission. Rev. and
Mrs. Heinrich Kohfeld were appointed missionaries to this field.
The erection of a mission home and a church was soon begun.
The field was known as the Post Oak Mission. Rev. J. S. Dick
and his wife Tina served as missionaries here.

80

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Rev. Heinrich Kohfeld started this work with no members.
Today there are 178 members at this mission station. The
Sunday School consists of 14 classes. Rev. Herman J. Neu-
feld is the pastor.

Rev. and Mrs. D. J. Gerbrandt, I

Mission School at India ho nia

A home and a Mission School was erected on a sizeable
acreage a little north and west of the city of Indiahoma in 1948.
The school under the direction of a number of teachers is in
operation at this time.

Post Oak Mission School, I

■

Southern District Conference 81

Rev. and Mrs. D. J. Gerbrandt served as missionaries at
the Post Oak Mission a number of years. At present they are
field missionaries to the Indians and the Mexicans in this part
of Oklahoma.

Weatherford

The Weatherford Mennonite Brethren Church is the latest
Mennonite Brethren Church to come into existence. Weather-
ford is located on United States Highway 66, known as the
Main Street of the United States and used by more people
crossing the country than any other. The highway through

Weatherford Mennonite Brethren Church

Weatherford furnishes a direct route between the East and
California and between Kansas and Oklahoma and California.

The church at Weatherford was organized January 17,
1954, with 16 members present. There are four Sunday School
classes. Rev. Victor Becker is the pastor.

Texas

Texas belongs to the Southern District of the Mennonite
Brethren Conference. It has three Mennonite Brethren
churches.

82

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Los Ebanos

The Southern District Conference of the Mennonite Breth-
ren Church began a mission work in south Texas, near the bor-
der of Old Mexico, in 1937. The field is on the banks of the
Rio Grande River, which forms the boundary line between
Mexico and the United States and flows into the Gulf of Mex-
ico at Brownsville.

The lower part of Texas can well be called the California
of Texas. The cold north winds seldom reach as far south as
south Texas. This region has thus become known for its

Los Ebanos Mennonite Brethren Church

grapefruit, many kinds of oranges, and other kinds of fruits
and vegetables. Persons sensitive to more severe climates,
find the climate here healthful.

In these parts are found many people in need of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. They are largely Mexicans. Many of them
are illiterate.

Rev. and Mrs. Harry Neufeld were sent to this field as
missionaries of the Southern District Conference. The Neu-
felds located in the Los Ebanos community. Here they have

Southern District Conference 83

labored long and hard in this great work. Later other mission-
aries came and new stations were opened.

The Los Ebanos Mennonite Brethren Church was organ-
ized in 1938 with eight members. Rev. Harry Neufeld was the
first pastor. At present the church has 50 members. The
Sunday school consists of seven classes. One extension station
is served by this group. Two memebrs o the church serve on
the foreign mission field and two on the home mission field.
Rev. Neufeld is the present pastor.

The church building at Los Ebanos was designed and
built by Rev. Neufeld and friends of home missions in the
Southern District.

Chihuahua

As the mission work in South Texas grew, a second church
was started at Chihuahua, a village nearer to Mission. The

Chihuahua Mennonite Brethren Church

church was organized April 27, 1941, with ten members. Rev.
Harry Neufeld was the first pastor here.

The church at present has 69 members and a Sunday
school of seven classes. The church has one extension station.

84

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

This group was early placed under the direction of Rev. H. F.
Thomas, who is the pastor of this church at this time.

A third mission station was opened at the village of Grulla
in 1946. Rev. Ruben Wedel is pastor of this church.

The Texas mission stations can be reached by taking
Highway 281, which originates in South Dakota and goes
through Hastings, Nebraska, Great Bend, Kansas, Lawton,
Oklahoma, and Wichita Falls, Texas. A trip to southern Texas
is a wonderful experience for people living in the northern
states.

Prempnt

Elder H. H. Flaming, a well-known brother and the only
living Elder in the Mennonite Conference in America, who lived

4 -

Premont Mennonite Brethren Church

at Corn, Oklahoma, found himself afflicted with a neuralgic
condition, from which he could find relief only in the warm cli-
mate of South Texas. He and his family made their homes,
therefore, near Premont, Texas. Others soon followed and es-
tablished their homes here.

Premont is located on Highway 281, about 100 miles north
of the border between the United States and Old Mexico. The

Southern District Conference 85

climate is summerlike throughout the year. Farmers grow
citrus fruits, vegetables, and grain. Much oil has been found in
this area, making Premont a wealthy community.

On November 17, 1929, a group of members of the Men-
nonite Brethren Church organized the Premont Church. Rev.
H. H. Flaming was the first minister.

Today the church has a Sunday school of five classes. It
has 55 active members. Rev. Lewis H. Boese is the pastor.

Chapter 5

THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCHES OF THE
CENTRAL DISTRICT CONFERENCE

Minnesota

Minnesota belongs to the Central District of the Menno-
nite Brethren Conference and has two Mennonite Brethren
Churches.

Bingham Lake

Immigrants coming to the United States were sought as
settlers for the open plains of the Middle West. The govern-

Bingham Lake Mennonite Brethren Church

ment had made large grants of land to railroad companies en-
gaged in developing the new territories in the West. The
agents of railroad companies were contacting Mennonites seek-
ing to interest and settle them on their extensive tracts. Those
advertising Kansas lands would do what they could to get the
settlers, while the representatives of land in the northern states

Central District Conference 87

would point out that Kansas and Nebraska were hot and dry
and that the Minnesota lands were more desirable. During
the first year of the coming of Mennonite immigrants to this
country, Kansas and Nebraska received the larger numbers,
but in 1875 a greater number settled in the state of Minnesota.

Minnesota is the land of ten thousand lakes. Fishing is a
great occupation. To the new settlers this proved a great
blessing. The early settlers said of the early days, “Whenever
the supply of meat ran short, we go fishing.”

Former Bingham Lake Mennonite Brethren Church

In the year 1875 the Bingham Lake Mennonite Brethren
Church was started by the late Elder Heinrich Voth with eleven
members. In the course of years many members of the congre-
gation made their homes in and around the small place of Delft,
so that, when the time for remodeling the building came, the
congregation decided to erect a new church building in Delft.
It was not an easy matter for the older members to give up the
former rural church home even though they consented to it.
The new church building was completed in 1948. The old
building was dismantled. Rev. William Neufeld, at present
the pastor of the San Jose Church, was the leader of the church
during the building program.

88

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The church at the present time has 164 members. There
are 19 Sunday school classes. Four missionaries from the
church are on the foreign field. Rev. G. S. Warkentin is the
pastor of the church.

A number of Conference workers have come from the
Bingham Lake Church. Included in this number are Rev. John
H. Voth and Rev. Frank Janzen, both missionaries to India, and
also Rev. H. S. Voth, a much-loved evangelist in the Confer-
ence.

Mountain Lake

Mountain Lake Mennonite Brethren Church

Between the cities of Windom and St. James lies the town
of Mountain Lake on Highway 60. Those who visit Moun-
tain Lake quickly agree that this is a beauty spot in the state
of Minnesota. The name Mountain Lake is derived from the
lake with a mountain in it located east of the town site. The
lake at this time, however, has been drained and is being
farmed. In its place an artificial lake has been built.

The Mountain Lake Mennonite Brethren Church was or-
ganized in 1875 under the leadership of Elder Heinrich Voth
with 20 charter members.

Central District Conference 89

The church today has a Sunday school of 22 classes. The
membership is 258. Four missionaries from the church are on
the foreign field. Rev. J. G. Baerg is the pastor.

The church building has in recent years been completely
remodeled and a parsonage built near the church. Both the
church building and the parsonage are located in the south
part of town. The Mountain Lake Church furnished the
grounds on which was held the Convention of the Mennonite
Brethren General Conference in 1948.

The Mountain Lake Church, the Bingham Lake Church,
and the Ebenfeld Church in Kansas were the first churches
built by the early brethren of the Mennonite Brethren Confer-
ence.

Montana

Montana belongs to the Central District of the Mennonite
Brethren Conference. It has two Mennonite Brethren churches.

Larslan

A number of homeseekers from Nebraska moved to the
Fort Peck Indian Reservation on the vast prairie lands of north-
eastern Montana when the reservation was opened for settle-
ment years ago. The group settled in the community known
as Volt.

The Mennonite settlements in Montana are a long distance
from the railroad and the highway. Larslan is about 30 miles
due north of Frazer, which is located on Highway 2 crossing
the state from east to west. A gravel road connects Larslan
with the highway.

Grain-farming and cattle raising are the chief occupa-
tions in these parts. This area is known for its big grain crops
when rains come in season. The long hauls necessary to de-
liver crops and cattle to the railroad were time-consuming and
a difficult chore for the early settlers.

The Larslan Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
October 29, 1945, with 26 members present. Rev. Carl Dick,
who came to the church in 1945, was its first full-time pastor.
Rev. H. J. Enns accepted the leadership of the church in 1950.
The church provides a parsonage for its pastor.

90

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Larslan Mennonite Brethren Church

Today the church has five Sunday school classes. One
missionary from the church is on the foreign mission field.
There are 39 members. Rev. Walter Schlichting is the pastor.
The services of the church at present are conducted in the base-
ment of the proposed church building.

Lustre

Montana is known for its open prairies and it is also
known for its mountainous country with thousands of acres of
forest land, and the most beautiful mountain park in the
United States, the Glacier National Park, with its wonderful
glaciers, lakes, and canyons.

Among the Meononites who came to the Fort Peck Reser-
vation region when it was opened to settlers, there was a group
that settled in the Lustre community, where today can be found
some of the finest improved farms. The gravel road from
Highway 2 at Frazer and Oswago goes north to the Reserva-
tion with one branch going to Lustre and another to Larslan.
The Fort Peck Dam across the Missouri River, the largest earth
clam in the world, is about 50 miles south. At the time of

Central District Conference

91

Lustre Mennonite Brethren Church

its construction many settlers of the Lustre and Larslan com-
munities found profitable work here.

The Mennonite Brethren Church at Lustre was organized
November 17, 1917, under the leadership of Rev. J. F. Thies-
sen, who passed away at his home in Hillsboro a year ago.

Today the church has 131 members. The Sunday school
has 12 classes. One extension station is supplied by the
church. Four missionaries have gone to the foreign mission
field from this church. Rev. Leo S. Wiens is the pastor.

Nebraska

Nebraska belongs to the Central District of the Mennonite
Brethren Conference and has three Mennonite Brethren
churches.

Culbertson

The town of Culbertson is located on Highway 6 going
from Chicago to Denver in the western part of the state. It
is about 75 miles east of the Colorado line and about 12 miles
west of McCook.

92

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Culbertson Mennonite Brethren Church

The record of the Mennonite Brethren Church at Culbert-
son is not clear. The recollections of its early members would
indicate that the beginnings of the church date back as far as
1909, Brother John Wacker, who later moved to Reedley,
California, and died there, was the first minister. Rev. Adam
Ross, who has passed to his reward, served as pastor of this
church. Later Rev. Raymond Laird was pastor.

At present the church has 13 members. There are three
Sunday school classes. Rev. P. P. Baltzer is the pastor.

Eldorado

The date of the organization of the Eldorado Mennonite
Brethren Church is not known. It may have been before 1900.
The pastor of the Church at one time was Henry Heiser. Mem-
bers of the church left the community and those that remained
affiliated with congregations of other denominations. The
church building was sold about six years ago.

A Mennonite Brethren Church was located in Sutton a
number of years. This church was led by Rev. Christian
Deines.

Central District Conference

93

Eldorado Mennonite Brethren Church

There was also a church at Hastings, about 50 miles west
of Henderson. Rev. John Brahm was the pastor.

These churches were active at one time and now have
ceased to work. Various circumstances played a part in mak-
ing it necessary to close their doors. Could it be that someone
failed in the performance of duty?

Henderson

The Burlington Railroad played an important part in
settling immigrants in Nebraska, just as the Santa Fe Railroad
played its part in Kansas. A group of Mennonite immigrants
through the efforts of Cornelius Jansen and his son Peter pur-
chased 10,000 acres of railroad land in Jefferson County. Be-
atrice was the nearest trading center for the group until in 1887
the Rock Island Railroad laid its tracks in the middle of this
area, the so-called Russian Lane. The town of Jansen was lo-
cated on the new railroad. It was known as the first saloonless
town in Nebraska. This was accomplished when Jansen in-
sisted that into every deed be written a clause stating that
never a saloon could be built on the ground described in the
deed.

94

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The Mennonite Brethren Church in Jansen was started by
Rev. Isaac Wall and grew to have a sizeable membership.
When in later years many members moved away to other
places, the church was given up and the building sold. Rev.
Isaac Wall and his son Henry and their families moved to
Reedley, California. Here Rev. Wall lived to an age of 101
years and then passed to his reward.

Henderson

A group of Mennonite settlers purchased land north of
Sutton in York and Hamilton Counties and settled. Within
the group were many who had made the voyage on the steam-
ship Switzerland from Antwerp to Philadelphia in 1879. The

Henderson Mennonite Brethren Church

town of Henderson was founded in the heart of this settlement
in 1878.

The Henderson Mennonite Brethren Church was organ-
ized in 1877 with 30 charter members. The first pastor was
Rev. Peter Regier. When after a few years Rev. Johann J.
Regier, the brother of Peter Regier, from Boone County moved
into this community, he became the leader of the church. Rev.
Johann J. Regier was ordained as Elder and served the church

Central District Conference 95

until 1902 when Rev. J. J. Kliewer succeeded him. Rev. Klievv-
er was ordained Elder by Elder Heinrich Voth. He served the
church until the early twenties when he moved to the state of
Washington.

The church at present has 275 members. Its Sunday
school program consists of 16 classes One extension station is
maintained by the church. Three missionaries from the church
have gone out to the foreign mission field. Rev. Henry R.
Baerg is the pastor.

The church building was moved from the location two and
one-half miles northwest of Henderson into the town of Hen-
derson at the time when Rev. Gerhard Wiens was the leader.

Henderson Mennonite Brethren Church

The Henderson Church celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in
1952.

Many members of the church have gone into other com-
munities, both near and far, and continued building the Church
of Jesus Christ where they located. Among the places in which
former Henderson members settled and worked can be counted
Enid and North Enid in Oklahoma, Paxton in Nebraska, Colo-
rado, Munich in North Dakota, and various places in Kansas
and California. Missionaries that have gone out from this

96

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

church include Rev. and Mrs. F. J. Wiens, Mrs. Tina S. Dick,
Tina Kornelsen, and Rev. and Mrs. B. F. Wiens. These all
were active on the mission field in China. Mrs. J. S. Dick and
Mrs. B. F. Wiens are still active in various missionary activities
in this country, The others have left this scene of activity and
gone to be with the Lord whom they faithfully served.

Paxton

Paxton is a settlement extending from the town by that
name west to the station Roscoe and about 10 miles south to
Madrid. It is 33 miles west of North Platte, which is located
on Highway 30 beginning at Atlantic City, New Jersey, on the

Paxton Mennonite Brethren Church

East Coast and stretching across the country to Astoria, Wash-
ington, on the West Coast touching cities such as Chicago,
Omaha, Salt Lake City in Utah, Pocatella in Idaho, and Port-
land, Oregon. Paxton is located between the North Platte and
the South Platte Rivers.

The Union Pacific and the Burlington Railroads move the
thousands of bushels of winter wheat grown in this western
part of Nebraska.

Central District Conference 97

Former members of the Jansen Mennonite Brethren
Church, when in search of lower-priced lands, settled in this
area and prospered. The Mennonite Brethren Church was or-
ganized in 1918 with about 30 members. Rev. H. C. Flaming
was the first pastor.

The church today has eight Sunday school classes and a
membership of 75. Three missionaries from the church have
gone to the foreign mission field. Rev. LaVern Loewens is
the pastor.

The church building is located about ten miles southwest
of Paxton and about 16 miles northeast of Madrid. The par-
sonage and grounds enough for a cow and chickens are located
near the church building.

Conference Farm

Ready for the Wheat Harvest in Western Nebraska

In the 1940’s Endowment Fund money was invested in a
farm a few miles west of the Paxton Church with the under-
standing that brethren of the church would farm the land for
the Conference.

98

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Farming in this wheat belt of Nebraska is done on a large
scale. Combines move into the large fields of ripe grain and in
one operation cut the wheat, thresh it, and deliver it into large
trucks. The trucks take the grain to storage elevators or to
storage bins. The storage bins are a good investment because
they allow holding the wheat until it has the best price and it
also provides storage at harvest time when often the elevators
are filled.

The Conference has possession of a number of farms.
Some of these have been purchased with Endowment Fund
money as an investment and others have been deeded by own-
rs to the Conference mission program. The latter is an ar-
rangement whereby those with property interested in having
and leaving capital working for the Lord, can assign to the
Board of Trustees property that will provide means for car-
rying the Lord’s work during their lifetime and long after they
have finished their course in this life.

The income from such farms and properties goes to the
support of the mission work and educational work of the con-
ference as was intended by those who created the Endowment
Fund.

Delivering the Wheat into Steel Bins for Storage

Central District Conference 99

North Dakota

North Dakota belongs to the Central District of the Men-
nonite Brethren Conference. There are five Mennonite Breth-
ren churches in the state.

Harvey

A group of Mennonite Brethren people settled in the vicin-
ity of Harvey, the center of this great wheat-farming state,
about 95 miles southwest of Devil’s lake. The center of ac-
tivity for these people was south and west of Harvey. A small
stream, the Sheyenne River flows through the settlement.

Harvey Country Mennonite Brethren Church

In 1898 the Harvey Mennonite Brethren Church was or-
ganized with ten members. Rev. Christian Reimche became
the first pastor of the group and continued in this position
about 30 years. Brother Ludwig Seibel settled his large fam-
ily in this community. Two of his sons became leading
physicians in Harvey.

Since the members of the church were exclusively farmers
at first, the church building was located a considerable dis-
tance from Harvey. Members, however, began to move into
the city of Harvey and soon there was a need for a church

Harvey City Mennonite Brethren Church

Central District Conference 101

vey. Services are now conducted in both places with a joint
service each month.

The church has 20 Sunday school classes. There are 210
members. Rev. Loyal Funk is the pastor of the church.

Kief

Kief Mennonite Brethren Church

About half way between Harvey and Sawyer is the town
of Kief located about six miles south of Highway 52. A group
of people from Russia settled this community. Some are in
business in Kief, others are farming, raising wheat, barley,
oats, flax, and livestock.

In 1910 a church was organized among these Russian-
speaking brethren with Rev. E. Lushenko as the pastor. In
1948 at the Convention of the Central District Conference, the
church was accepted as a member of the Central District. This
is the only Russian-speaking church in the Conference.

The church today has six Sunday school classes. One
member is a candidate as missionary to the foreign mission
field. The membership is 40. Rev. A.i J. Neufeld is the pastor.

102 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Munich

The settlement of Mennonite Brethren members was
started in the Munich community when in 1897 a group of
homeseekers left Henderson, Nebraska, in covered wagons and
headed north until they came to Munich and settled there. Some
of these settlers homesteaded here, others bought land. The
group faced real difficulties but was determined to make a
new home for themselves and their children. Munich is about
50 miles due south of Winkler, Manitoba.

Munich Mennonite Brethren Church

A group of 90 joined themselves together and organized
the Rosehill Mennonite Brethren Church. Rev. Johann Enns
was the first pastor.

At present there are eight Sunday school classes in the
church. A 30-minute broadcast is sponsored weekly. Two
missionaries on the foreign mission field come from the church.
There are 60 members. Rev. G. W. Schroeder is the pastor.

Sawyer

Sawyer lies 16 miles southeast of Minot on the Souris
River, which comes out of Saskatchewan, makes a deep dip

Central District Conference

103

Sawyer Mennonite Brethren Church

.into the United States, and then turns up sharply into Canada
again emptying into Assinibone River. To the south of Sawyer
are many coal mines furnishing the people cheap fuel and giv-
ing many employment.

The Sawyer Mennonite Brethren Church is a rural church
with its building located about ten miles south and a little west
of Sawyer. The church was organized in 1909 with eight
members. Rev. George Beck was the first pastor.

The church today has 98 members. It has a Sunday
school of eight classes. One young couple will be leaving for
the foreign mission field within a year. Rev. Frank Wiens is
the present pastor. Rev. Wiens is scheduled to leave for an-
other church in April of 1954.

South Dakota

South Dakota belongs to the Central District Conference
There is one Mennonite Brethren Church in South Dakota.

Marion

Mennonites settled in South Dakota upon invitation of
railroad companies to settle their lands as they did in the states
of Kansas, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Among the Mennonites

104

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

of South Dakota are found Hutterites, Krimmer Mennonite
Brethren, and General Conference Mennonites. The Mennonite
Brethren group settled on the level farming land near the beau-
tiful Silver Lake east of Highway 81 about 10 miles west ot
Marion.

Rev. and Mrs. G. S. Warkentin of the Silver Lake Mennonite
Brethren Church with Mrs. Wiens

Silver Lake Mennonite Brethren Church

The early settlers of the Mennonite Brethren faith were
shepherded by the late Elder Heinrich Adrian, who was the first
leader of the group. The church at Marion was organized in
1878 with about 40 charter members.

The church at present has a membership of 140. The
Sunday school has 13 classes. Two missionaries on the for-
eign mission field come from this church. The church main-
tains one extension station. The pastor is Rev. M. A. Kroeker.

Chapter 6

THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCHES OF THE
ALBERTA PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE

Alberta belongs to the Canadian Mennonite Brethren Con-
ference. It has ten Mennonite Brethren churches. These
churches are organized as the Alberta Provincial Conference.

An excerpt from an article in the Alberta Historical Re-
view written by Peter F. Bargen has the following in regard to
the settlement of Mennonites in Canada: Mennonite immigra-
tion to Canada falls into four definite periods: (1) the move-
ment into upper Canada from the United States in 1786 after
the American Revolution, (2) the movement in the 1870s from
Russia into Canada and the United States, (3) the coming of
the Russian Mennonites in 1923 to 1930, and (4) the move-
ment of displaced persons after World War II and until the
present.

The Mennonite settlers in 1873 had advanced to them
$100,000 as help in getting established. This amount had
been paid back in 1892. The promptness and honesty of these
early settlers in meeting their obligation was an important fac-
tor in securing a $2,000,000 credit from the Canadian Pacific
Railroad that helped settle the Mennonite immigrants in 1923-
1930.

The first Mennonite settlers in Alberta were Old Menno-
nites who came in 1902.

Coaldale

The first Mennonite Brethren settlement in Alberta began
in 1926 when Klass Enns, who had come to Canada from Rus-
sia in 1925, stopped in Manitoba, and then continued west to
Alberta, with his three brothers, purchased a large farm from
a Mr. Lathrop, agent for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. In
the spring of 1926 the four brothers and their families settled
here. By the end of the year forty families had come. Ten
years later there were 208 Mennonite families with 1144 per-
sons in the Coaldale area owning and farming 20,700 acres of
land. Coaldale has remained the center of the Mennonite
Brethren settlements in this province.

106 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Surrounding Coaldale is a tract of 100,000 acres of good
irrigated farm land. Old Man River supplies the water for
irrigation in this district. Coaldale is located on Highway 3
and is the first station east of Lethbridge.

The Coaldale Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
with twelve brothers and nine sisters on May 23, 1926. Rev.
Klaas Enns was the first leader.

Besides having a large house of worship, the church
maintains a Bible School and a High School on the church
grounds, about one-half mile north of the town.

Coaldale Mennonite Brethren Church

In 1928 the churches of Alberta united and organized the
Alberta Provincial Conference. This Conference in 1951 in-
cluded the following churches: Coaldale, Gem, Grassy Lake,
La Glace, Lindbrook, Linden, Namaka, Pincher Creek, and
Vauxhall. These churches at that time had a combined mem-
bership of 1 163.

Today the Coaldale church has 605 members. There are
30 Sunday school classes. One extension station is taken care
of by the church. Three brothers and four sisters from the
church are in foreign mission service. Rev. Jacob Siemens is
the pastor.

Alberta Provincial Conference 107

Crowfoot

Crowfoot Mennonite Brethren Church

A little church was started at Crowfoot about 75 miles
east of Calgary. After the organization, the building of the
church house was begun, but only the basement was completed.
The people moved to British Columbia and other places leaving
the beginning of the church building a landmark of a work once
begun.

Gem

Gem is about 80 miles east of Calgary and about 80 miles
north of Taber on Highway 3. It is a gem where irrigation
has made a wonderful spot in an otherwise wild-looking desert
country. The water for irrigation comes from the Bow River
which originates in the Rocky Mountains west and north of
Calgary. A large dam across the river at Bassano holds the
water which is then brought in canals into the Gem district.
Wheat and stock raising are the principal occupations of the
farmers in this area.

108

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Gem Mennonite Brethren Church

On June 2, 1929, about 30 members organized the Men-
nonite Brethren Church. Rev. H. K. Siemens was the first pas-
tor.

The church today has 12 Sunday school classes. One
member is a missionary in the foreign mission field. The mem-
bership is 134. Rev. P. P. Doerksen is the pastor.

Grassy Lake

In 1926 when so many Mennonite Brethren settlers came
to Coaldale there were some who stopped and settled in the
Grassy Lake district on Highway 1 about 60 miles east of Coal-
dale. Here are large tracts of dry-farming grain-growing
lands. Aggressive persons who worked as farm hands later
bought out large land-owners. Irrigation was being intro-
duced in 1951 with Old Man River furnishing the water.

More people came into this settlement so that in 1928 a
Mennonite Brethren Church of 12 members was organized.
Rev. P. Neufeld was the first pastor.

Today the church has four Sunday school classes and 40
members. Rev. David Penner is the pastor.

19

Grassy Lake Mennonite Brethren Church

La Glace

The Peace River district in which La Glace is located is
in the extreme northwest corner of the province. The Men-
nonites coming to this part of Alberta were looking for lower-
priced farm lands and homes. There are opportunities in
farming in the far Northwest, but there are also the dangers
of early frosts doing damage to the crops.

A group of seven members was organized as the Menno-
nite Brethren Church here in 1926. Rev. N. N. Siebert was the
first pastor.

The church today has six Sunday school classes. The
membership is 68. Rev. E. C. Martens is the pastor. The La
Glace Church is the Mennonite Brethren Church nearest the
North Pole.

There are three ways of getting to the Peace River dis-
trict. It is possible to travel a distance of 400 miles by train
and get there in a little more than a day. Highway 2, which is
paved up to Edmonton but beyond Edmonton is not paved,
goes through this section. It follows the Lesser Slave River
and the Peace River to La Glace, which is 40 miles northwest

La Glace Mennonite Brethren Church

of Grand Prairie, the largest city in the Peace River area. La
Glace is 60 miles from Dawson Creek to the west where the
Alaska Highway, built by the United States government during
the Second World War, begins. The most direct and most
pleasant mode of travel is a two-hour trip by air, flying over
much level a farm land for about 100 miles and then over the
mountains and the wastelands farther north.

Lindbrook

Peter F. Bargen, M. A., writing in the Alberta Historical
Review states that an old Mennonite settlement in this region
can be traced to the activities of two brothers, O. C. and T. A.
Blackburn from Nebraska. Homeseekers excursions took place
in 1907 and in 1910 the first group of Mennonite settlers moved
into the Tofield district.

Lindbrook is located in the Tofield area on Highway 14
about 40 miles southeast of Edmonton, the largest city of Al-
berta. Much brush has been cleared away providing fine farms
in this area, but there remains very much more to be removed.
On most of the land south of Lindbrook are found deposits of
coal lying close to the surface, which can be mined by the

Alberta Provincial Conference

111

land brook Mennonite Brethren Church

process of strip mining. The Canadian government, however,
owns the mineral rights, so that land owners are not especially
benefitted, except that they can buy fuel at reasonable prices.

The church at Lindbrook, which is located about eight
miles west of Tofield, was organized with 14 members. Rev.
Abraham Froese was the first pastor.

At present the church has five Sunday school classes.
There are 49 members. Rev. Peter J. Warkentin is the pastor.

Linden

About 40 miles west of Drumheller and 60 miles north-
east of Calgary is the German settlement of Linden. This is
a dry-farming section where wheat, barley and oats are grown.
Dairy farming has become important here. Three Hills, known
for the Three Hills Bible Institute, is about 30 miles east ot
Linden.

In 1930 a group of believers organized the Mennonite
Brethren Church at Linden. Rev. N. A. Rempel was the first
pastor.

At present there are 94 members in the church. The Sun-
day school consists of seven classes. One extension station is

112

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Linden Mennonite Brethren Church

.supplied by the church. One missionary from the church is on
the foreign mission field. Rev. Sam Ratzlaff is the leader.

Namaka

Namaka is located about 30 miles east and a few miles
south of Calgary near Highway 1, running from Vancouver,
British Columbia, through British Columbia, Alberta, Saskat-
chewan, Manitoba, Ontario and to Montreal. This trans-Can-
adian highway is an all-year hard-surface highway connecting
the stategic places of Canada. Namaka is also near the most
noted Canadian National Parks, the Banff National Park and
the Jasper National Park, and other smaller parks in the Can-
adian Rockies. This part of Alberta is known for its summer
resorts and its winter sports.

A church with 37 members was organized in Namaka in
February of 1927. Rev. A. A. Toews, at present of Clearbrook,
British Columbia, was the first pastor.

The church today has 36 members and a Sunday school
of three classes. One missionary from the church is active on
the foreign mission field. Many of the former members of this

Alberta Provincial Conference

113

114

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Pincher Creek is a station close to the Canadian Rockies,
lying just off Highway 3 and at the end of Highway 6 coming
up from Glacier National Park in Montana. This lovely place
with a little creek running through town and many trees along
the river also provides a most beautiful view of the Rocky
Mountains.

At Pincher Creek a group of 22 members were organized
as a Mennonite Brethren Church in 1948. Rev. D. Duerksen,
who has given much in time and means in building the church
and community, was the first pastor. Pincher Creek is located
about 75 miles west of Coaldale.

The church today has 19 members. The Sunday school
program consists of three classes.

Vauxhall

Vauxhall Mennonite Brethren Church

About 80 miles north of Taber on Highway 3 and a short
distance south of the Bow River is the Vauxhall Mennonite
Brethren Church, a rural church. The crops in this community
consist of grain and other staple foods grown with irrigation
using water from the Bow River. Livestock is an important
source of income in the community.

Alberta Provincial Conference 115

The Yearbook of the Canadian Conference lists the mem-
bership of this church as being 111. Rev. David Baerg is the
leader. The brethren Fr. Friesen, B. P. Epp, and H. Unruh are
ministers.

Chapter 7

THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCHES OF THE
BRITISH COLUMBIA PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE

British Columbia belongs to the Canadian Mennonite
Brethren Conference. Fifteen Mennonite Brethren Churches
are located here. These churches are organized as the British
Columbia Provincial Conference.

Abbotsford

Abbotsford is located on the west end of the Sumas Prai-
rie. During the great flood in 1948 the Fraser River water

came within a few blocks of its city limits. Many acres of
cutover timberland south and west of the city were sold to
immigrants coming into this area from Russia and the prairie
provinces. After clearing the tree stumps and underbrush this
highly productive ground was laid out in farms of smaller and
larger acreages and planted to berries. Prevailing good prices

Abbotsford Mennonite Brethren Church

British Columbia Provincial Conference 117

and much hard work have made some of the finest farms here.
The boom in the late thirties, when the price of berries soared
sky high, brought great wealth to many farmers.

Much help in the improvement of roads, the building of
schools, and in providing a very fine hospital has come from
the local government.

The Abbotsford Church was founded when the South Ab-
botsford congregation grew to be too large for its building and
more room for worship and the Sunday school needed to be
provided. The possibilities at the time were either to enlarge
the present house of worship or to divide the congregation and
build a second one. The plan of providing another building
was adopted and the congregation proceded in erecting the
building. The group was then divided with one part remaining
in the old building and the other making its home in the new
building. The procedure followed by the South Abbotsford
Church may well be a model for dealing with the situation
where a congregation outgrows its building facilities. The
new church was known as the Abbotsford Church and is lo-
cated on the McCallum Road about one mile south of Abbots-
ford.

In January of 1950, even before the new building was en-
tirely completed, the group of 197 members organized itself
as the Abbotsford Mennonite Brethren Church. Rev. Henry
H. Nickel was the first pastor and is the pastor at the present
time.

The church today has 287 members. The Sunday school
consists of 18 classes. Two extension stations are served by
the church. Eight members have gone out as missionaries on
the foreign mission field.

Abbotsford South

The South Abbotsford Church is located two miles south
and one mile west of Abbotsford. It was organized in May of
1932 with 31 members present. Rev. Abram Rempel was the
first pastor. In 1950, because the church had grown beyond
the capacity of its church building, the congregation was di-
vided to form two groups. One continued as the South Ab-
botsford Church, the other became the Abbotsford Church.

South Abbotsford Mennonite Brethren Church

Snow in British Columbia on January 6, 1950, as seen from the
South Abbotsford Church after a snowstorm

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

British Columbia Provincial Conference 119

The church today has a Sunday school of 22 classes.
There are 355 members. Two extension stations are main-
tained by the church. Four missionaries from the church are
active on foreign mission fields. Rev. J. J. Stobbe is the pastor.

The scenery in British Columbia with the mountain range
north of Fraser River is beautiful in the summer, and it is
equally beautful in winter, when covered with ice and snow
in the wake of a real snowstorm. Winter conditions may cause
toads to be impassable and produce shortages of provisions
and feed in entire communities and clearing the roads of snow
must be seriously undertaken before traffic can be resumed.

South Abbotsford Church

The mild weather of British Columbia, summers not too
hot and winters not too cold, has attracted many people. Us-
ually there is enough rain during the growing season to allow
the crops to mature and much more rain in the winter time.

January of 1950 furnished exceptional weather for the
winter in British Columbia. There was wind and snow block-
ing the roads and causing great damage and many hardships.
As usual, however, as soon as the warm ocean air comes in,
the snow quickly disappears.

120

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Morning after a Heavy Snowfall with Isaac Toews from
South Abbotsford on Car

On a quiet morning after a heavy snowfall, the wet snow
is seen piled high everywhere. Every branch, post, or wire
carries its load of snow.

Aldersgrove East

Aldersgrove is located a short distance north of Highway
1 and about six miles west of Clearbrook. Travelers coming
from the United States enter at the Aldergrove Customs Station,
north of Bellingham, Washington.

The ground in this community consists of the cutover and
burned over forest land which loggers leave. This has been
cleared of the old tree stumps and proves to be highly produc-
tive in growing crops. The larger the stumps, the better the
soil, for soil that will grow large trees will grow good crops.
Here can be seen very fine farms and farm homes.

The East Aldersgrove Mennonite Brethren Church was
organized in 1947 with 100 members. Rev. Gerhard P. War-
kentin was the first pastor.

The church today has 207 members worshipping in a new
church building. There are eleven Sunday school classes. Two

British Columbia Provincial Conference 121

missionaries from the church are on the foreign mission field.
Rev. Warkentin is the leader.

East Aldersgrove Mennonite Brethren Church

Arnold

122

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Arnold is a little hamlet in the Fraser River Valley close to
the Yarrow Mountain, which rises to a height of 3000 feet and
is covered with evergreen forests. It is on the south side of the
British Electric Railroad.

Immigrants of the Mennonite Brethren faith settled in the
Fraser Valley because of its mild climate and wonderful farm-
ing opportunities. A group of 72 organized the Arnold Menno-
nite Brethren Church on November 7, 1943. Rev. J. P. Braun
was the first pastor.

The church today has 217 members. It has a Sunday
school of 15 classes. Rev. Isaac P. Goertzen is the pastor.

Black Creek

Black Creek Mennonite Brethren Church

Black Creek is located on Vancouver Island. Vancouver
Island is about 200 miles long and 50 to 60 miles wide and
separated from the mainland of British Columbia by Georgia
Strait and Johnstone Strait. A ferry makes daily connections
between Vancouver on the mainland and Nanaimo on the island
a distance of about 36 miles. Highway 1 runs along the east
coast of the island from Victoria to Campbell, a distance of 100
miles.

British Columbia Pnovincial Conference 123

Victoria, the capital of British Columbia with its beautiful
Parliament Buildings, is located on Vancouver Island. The Is-
land is a scenic wonderland with its own lakes, rivers, and wa-
terfalls.

The Mennonite Brethren Church on Vancouver Island is
located at Black Creek about 80 miles north of Nanaimo. This
church was organized January 6, 1935, with 17 members. Rev
Frank Friesen was the first pastor.

Today the church has 68 members. Its program includes
a Sunday school of four classes and one extension station.
One member of the church serves as missionary. Rev. John
Goertz is the pastor and Deacon J. B. Falk the leader of the
church.

Chilliwack

Chilliwack Mennonite Brethren Church

Chilliwack is the largest city in the Fraser Valley. Can-
ada’s Highway 1, upon leaving Chilliwack toward the east,
soon winds its way up the Cascade Mountains and by way of
Hope and Princeton and Penticton enters the beautiful Okan
agan Valley.

124

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The Fraser River enters Fraser Valley at Hope about 35
miles northeast of Chilliwack. As it flows down the valley, il
passes Harrison Hot Springs and Agassiz on its north banks
and Chilliwack to the south. In the Agassiz area in earliei
years the settlers moved on to higher ground to escape the
danger of floods. A ferry is used in crossing the river at this
point.

Chilliwack was not affected by the great flood in 1948 be-
cause the dikes protecting that part of the valley held. Since
then the dikes have been reinforced guaranteeing the valley
greater safety. On the south side of the river are some of the
nicest farms while toward the north are the snow-covered
mountains.

The Chilliwack Church was organized on May 15, 1947,
with a group of 112 members. Rev. J. Bergen was the first
pastor.

There are 253 members in the church at present. It has
13 Sunday school classes and maintains one extension station.
The church building is in the east part of the town.

Chilliwack East

East Chilliwack Mennonite Brethren Church

British Columbia Provincial Conference 125

The mountains surrounding the Fraser valley covered with
trees and with snow most of the year make it a place of ex-
ceptional beauty. More and more Mennonites came and set-
tled in this area, where fruit-growing and dairy farming are
the main occupations of the farmer.

The East Chilliwack Mennonite Brethren Church is a rural
church about five miles southeast of the city of Chilliwack.
Most of the church members are farmers. The group was or-
ganized January 6, 1945, with 83 members. Rev. N. A. Rempel
was the first pastor.

The church today has 236 members. It has a Sunday
school of 19 classes. One extension station is taken care of by
the church. Rev. G. Thielman is the pastor.

Clearbrook

Clearbrook Mennonite Brethren Church

Clearbrook is located about three miles off of Highway 1,
four miles from the United States-Canada border and about
40 miles east of Vancouver.

Farmers here have smaller and larger farms and are most-
ly berrygrowers. In season young and old are in the fields
picking berries. It takes a strong back and a lot of will power

126

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

to make money as a berry-picker. The farmers in this area
have prospered and the land prices are high.

In Clearbrook, which was formerly known as North Ab-
botsford, the Mennonite Brethren Church was organized in
1936 with 37 members. Rev. George Rempel was the first
pastor.

The church today has 360 members. The Sunday school
has 18 classes. Three extension projects are sponsored by the
church. Three members are missionaries on the foreign mis-
sion field. Rev. Aaron A. Toews, who was the first pastor of
the Namaka, Alberta, Church, is the present pastor. Rev.
Toews is the author of two volumes of the Mennonitische Maer-
tyrer.

Mennonite Educational Institute

The Mennonite Educational Institute, located just north
of the Clearbrook Church, is an educational program supported
by the Mennonite Brethren Churches at Abbotsford, South Ab-
botsford, Clearbrook, and Aldersgrove. The building of the
school is an up-to-date two-story structure with a large audi-
torium. The program of the Institute requires the study of

British Columbia Provincial Conference 127

religion and the German language. The large meetings of the
Canadian Conference in 1950 were held in the school’s audi-
torium.

Greendale-Sardis

We are still in the midst of the wonders of the Fraser
valley. On a clear day when looking to the south, the everlast-
ing snow-covered Mt. Baker in the state of Washington can be
seen. To the north are more mountains in their grandeur. The

Greendale Mennonite Brethren Church

river enters the valley from the northeast, follows its course
through the valley until it pours its waters into the mighty Pa-
cific. Man has harnessed some of the mighty forces at work
in this place.

The Greendale Mennonite Brethren Church, better known
as the Sardis Church, was organized with 48 members in Jan-
uary of 1931 with Rev. H. G. Dueck as the first pastor.

Today the church has 340 members. The Sunday school
has 27 classes. Three missionaries in the foreign field come
from this church. Rev. H. J. Unger is the pastor.

128

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

In the latter part of June in 1948, the sudden thawing of
the snows on the watershed of the Fraser River due to unusual-
ly warm weather increased the water flow and pressure to a
point where the dikes, ordinarily holding the water in its chan-
nel, gave way. The efforts of officials and farmers to stop the
leakages were fruitless and the water rushed onto the low-lying
land flooding it to the river level, from 10 to !5 feet. Growing
trees and brush through the years had weakened the dike sys-
tem, so that they could not withstand the sudden onrush of the
mighty waters.

Greendale Church in the Flood Waters in June of 1948

When the waters receded, the broken dikes were repaired
and the water pumped over the dam into the river. After about
three months the land was sufficiently dry to enable farmers to
return to the homes and begin the work of cleaning up and re-
pair. The Canadian government helped those who lost and
suffered in the flood with food and shelter and in the rebuilding
of their homes and farms. Very little of the damage done by the
waters can be seen today.

129

, t rtm ft

British Columbia Provincial Conference

Kelowna

The Okanagan Valley, about 200 miles east of the Fraser
Valley and separated from it by the Cascade Mountain Range,
is the California of British Columbia. The valley is known for
its wonderful apples and other fruit, including peaches, cher-
ries, pears, and apricots.

Kelowna, a city of about 10,000 people, is located in this
valley. Beautiful Lake Okanagan extends to the north and to
the south. Highway 97, connecting with Highway 1 to the
north and going south as far as the state of Oregon, passes
through Kelowna.

Kelowna Mennonite Brethren Church

On June 8, 1947, a group of 32 believers organized them-
selves as the Kelowna Mennonite Brethren Church. Rev. J. J.
Unger was the first leader.

Today the church under the leadership of Rev J. J. Unger
has 71 members. The Sunday school has six classes. The
church building is located in the eastern part of the city.

Okanagan Lake is about 80 miles long and from one to
three miles wide surrounded by mountains on both sides. The
climate in the valley is warm in the summer time and mostly

Lake Okanagan from the Ferry Boat Crossing theWaters to Oliver

without rain making irrigation necessary. The winters are cold
and with a heavy snowfall.

Highway 5 crosses the Lake Okanagan at Kelowna by
ferry.

Oliver

The British Columbia Provincial Conference has a mis-
sion station at Oliver, which is located about 25 miles south of
Penticton at the southern tip of Okanagan Lake. This region
is also known for its delicious apples and other fruit.

The Mission Station at Oliver functioned as an independ-
ent church at one time. There remain about 17 members of
the Mennonite Brethren faith at this time. The British Colutn-
ba Conference assists these by supplying workers.

Matsqui

The Matsqui Mennonite Brethren Church is located on the
lowlands on the north side of the Fraser River, about eight
miles north of Abbotsford and five miles southwest of Mission
City. This part of the Fraser Valley was flooded when the
levees gave way in 1948 resulting in much damage to homes

Oliver Mennonite Brethren Church

Matsqui Mennonite Brethren Church

132 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

and farms. The farmers in this area are engaged in diversified
farming, dairying, and some fruit-raising.

The Matsqui Church was organized June 4, 1945, with
60 members. Rev. A. D. Rempel was the first pastor. During
the flood of 1948 the church building of the group stood in
water a long time. It has been repaired and is today a very
fine building.

The church at present has 16 Sunday school classes. The
membership is 185. Two members have been sent out as mis-
sionaries to the foreign mission field. Rev. G. A. Konrad is
the pastor.

Strawberry Hill

Strawberry Hill Mennonite Brethren Church

Strawberry Hill is located a few miles from the city of
Westminster on the northwest banks of the Fraser River which
flows into the Pacific Ocean not far from here. Canadian
Highway 1 and United States Highway 99 meet a few miles
east of the Fraser River and enter Westminister and Vancouver
as a four-lane highway.

Members of the Mennonite Brethren Church at Strawberry
Hill live along the shores of Puget Sound and around Clover-

British Cerium, bia Provincial Conference 133

dale. Dairy farming and mixed farming furnish the means of
livelihood.

The church was organized in 1944 with 40 members. Rev.
G. Wiens was the first pastor.

Today the church has 110 members. The Sunday school
is made up of eight classes. Two extension stations are sup-
ported by the group. Rev. Paul Wiebe is the pastor. The
church building of the congregation is surrounded by lovely
fir trees.

Vancouver

Vancouver, located on a peninsula on the west coast, is
the largest city in British Columbia. Vancouver and the en-

Vancouver Mennonite Brethren Church

tire Pacific Coast from lower Mexico to Alaska owe their mild
climate to the warm ocean currents of the Pacific.

United States Highway 99, known as the Main Street of
California, Oregon, and Washington crosses the International
Boundary at Blaine, Washington, goes to New Westminster,
crosses the steel bridge across the Fraser River and ends in
Vancouver. Canada Highway 1, called the Grand View High-
way, coming from eastern Canada, also ends in Vancouver.

134

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Vancouver is a tourist center with many attractions in
summer and winter. It is a good shopping center for the en-
tire southwest British Columbia area.

In 1937 members of the Mennonite Brethren Church in
Vancouver organized the church. There were then 73 mem-
bers. Rev. John Peters was the first pastor.

Today the church has 654 members. The Sunday school
program consists of 17 classes. The church is in charge of
one extension station. Three members have gone as foreign
missionaries. Rev. H. J. Klassen is the pastor. The church is
located on West 49th Avenue.

Yarrow

Yarrow Mennonite Brethren Church

The Fraser River of the Fraser Valley carries the waters
from the northern mountains fed by heavy winter snows which
melt in the warm spring filling the river to flood stage in late
May and early June. The land which is now the Fraser Valley
was at one time a great inland lake into which the river emptied
its waters. The Canadian government built huge dikes on the
south side of the river and the Vadder Canal to hem in the
Vadder River, thus diverting the mountain waters from the

135

British Columbia Provincial Conference

lowlands in the valley. The lake was then drained and now
furnishes the fertile farming soil of the valley. Old settlers
tel of a great flood occasioned by a break in the dike causing
much property oss. The dikes were, however, repaired and
farm operations resumed.

Yarrow is a village without a railroad. The British Co-
lumbia Electric has a small station about a mile away which
provides an outlet to the market for the fruit and dairy pro-
ducts produced here.

The Mennonite Brethren Church at Yarrow was organized
February 3, 1929, with 96 members present. Rev. P. J. Dick
was the first pastor.

The church today has 40 Sunday school classes and two
Sunday schools as outstations. Seven married couples and
one sister are on the foreign mission field. The membership is
783. Rev. H. Lenzman is the pastor.

Yarrow Bible School

The Yarrow Bible School was built on the church grounds
in the late 1940’s to offer the young people of the church
systematic Bible instruction.

An effort was also made to build a Christian high school.
When it was nearing completion, a financial crisis in the com-

136

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

munity and the entire area made it necessary to halt the project.
The building was sold to the provincial government and was
then completed and a public school educational program in-
troduced.

In later years a second attempt and on a smaller scale has
been made to establish a Christian high school by a Schulver-
ein. This new building was erected in the southwest part of
Yarrow and is in operation at the present time.

Rev. John A. Harder, Yarrow, British Columbia

Rev. John A. Harder, who for many years was the leader
of the Yarrow Church and in the community, deserves much
credit for the successes of the Yarrow settlement. His insight
and love for the people, his achievement as a Bible scholar and
leadership ability, his interest in building the Church and in
religious education assured him the confidence of the people
which enabled him to influence the wholesome development of
the community. Rev. Harder is one of the leading brethren in
the Canadian Conference and in the General Conference of the
Mennonite Brethren Church. He is a member of the Board of
Foreign Missions. He is also the Vice-Chairman of the Can-
adian Conference.

Chapter 8 •

THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCHES OF

THE MANITOBA PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE

Manitoba belongs to the Canadian Conference of the Men-
nonite Brethren Church. There are 23 Mennonite Brethren
Churches in Manitoba. These churches are organized as the
Manitoba Provincial Conference.

Altona

The Altona Mennonite Brethren Church was organized in
1931 with 12 members. Rev. John Andres was the first pastor.
The church was discontinued in the fall of 1951. Members of
the church had affiliate membership in the Winkler and Gnad-
enthal Mennonite Brethren Churches.

Arnaud

Arnaud Mennonite Brethren Church

Arnaud is located on the vast farming lands on the banks
of the Red River about 12 miles from the United States border

138

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

and six miles east of the Red River. This is an area of low
flat land. During the big flood in 1950, when the Red River
overflowed and inundated large stretches of farmlands with
homes, the waters came within a short distance of the Arnaud
district. Here can be seen large fields sown to wheat exclus-
ively, which, in the summer time when ripe for the harvester,
are a delight to see.

When in the latter part of 1920 immigrants from Russia
settled in Canada, a number settled in the Arnaud area. In
1925 a group of 23 believers of the Mennonite Brethren faith
organized as a church. Rev. Abram Peters was the first pastor.

The church at present has 58 members. There are three
Sunday school classes. Rev. and Mrs. W. Baerg from the
church are serving on the foreign field. Rev. I. I. Toews is
the pastor.

Boissevain

Boissevain is located about 60 miles east of the Manitoba-
Saskatchewan border where Highway 3 and Highway 10 in-
tersect. Highway 10 runs parallel to the Saskatchewan boun-
dary from the extreme north to the international boundary in
the Turtle Mountain Forest Reservation, where are located the
International Peace Gardens, commemorating 100 years of
peace between Canada and the United States.

In 1928 the Boissevain Mennonite Brethren Church was
organized with 35 members under the leadership of Rev. D. D.
Derksen.

At present there are 87 members in the church. Five Sun-
day school classes are active. One family from the church is
on the foreign mission field. Rev. Derksen is the pastor today.

Elm Creek

The Elm Creek Mennonite Brethren Church is a rural
church located in a farming area a few miles northwest of the
town by that name. Highway 2 connects Elm Creek with Win-
nipeg to the east and runs west to the Saskatchewan border.

The Mennonite Brethren Church at Elm Creek was organ-
ized in 1929 by a group of 20 members. Rtev. Heinrich J.
Wiebe was the first pastor.

Manitoba Provincial Conference

139

Boissevain Mennonite Brethren Church

Elm Creek Mennonite Brethren Church

140

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Today the church has eight Sunday school classes. It
operates one extension station. There are 189 members. Rev.
J. G. Wiens is the pastor. The church has a new up-to-date
building in which it worships.

Gnadenthal

Gnadenthal is a small farm village built after the pattern
of villages in the old country about seven miles southeast of
Winkler and south of Plum Coulee. The farms are built along
a long street, called Dorfstrasse, with the customary picket

Gnadenthal Mennonite Brethren Church

fences. The houses are of the two-in-one type, house and barn
connected and under one roof.

The church at Gnadenthal was organized in 1925 with 24
members. Rev. Johannes Ratzlaff was the first pastor.

The church today has 34 members. There are two Sun-
day school classes. One missionary from the church is on the
foreign mission field. Rev. H. P. Harder is the pastor.

Manitoba Provincial Conference 141

Holmfield

Holmfield Mennonite Brethren Church

Holmfield is a few miles off of Highway 3 in the south-
west part of Manitoba.

In 1928 settlers of the Mennonite Brethren faith at Holm-
field and at Lena organized as one church with 25 members.
Rev. H. Unger was the first pastor of the group. In 1951 the
two groups separated and became independent churches.

The Holmfield Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
with 26 members. Rev. P. F. Sawatzky was the first pastor.

The church today has 27 members. Rev. Peter P. Schultz
is the pastor. The church building of the group is located 12
miles from the Canada-United States border.

Justice

About 10 miles north and five miles east of Brandon on
the north side of the Assiniboine River is located the town of
Justice. The rivers of Manitoba, especially the Assiniboine River
and the Red River, played an important part in the early days
in providing means of transportation to settlers and for this
reason settlements were often located on the banks of rivers.

142

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Justice Mennonite Brethren Church

The Justice Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
January 13, 1930, with eight members. Rev. Jacob A. Loewen
was the first pastor.

Today the church has five Sunday school classes. The
membership is 51. Rev. Jacob J. Loewen is the pastor and
leader.

Kronsgart

The Kronsgart Church is located about 12 miles north and
east of Winkler. It was organized in 1896 with 13 members
The first pastor was Rev. Jacob Heide.

At the present time the church has ten Sunday school
classes. One extension station is supplied by the church. One
member from the church is a missionary on the foreign mis-
sion field. The present membership is 176. Rev. John J. Neu-
feld is the pastor.

La Salle

When the Mennonites came from Russia in 1923 to 1930
and again after World War II, many came to Winnipeg, which

La Salle Mennonite Brethren Church

144 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

is the largest city and center in Manitoba. Here they were
received by those who were at home in Canada for many years
and given places in their homes until they were able to estab-
lish their own.

La Salle is close to Osborne, about 20 miles southwest of
Winnipeg and ten miles west of the Red River, in a fertile and
level farming district. The flood waters of the Red River dur-
ing the flood of 1950 extended into this area about ten miles
giving it the appearance of a huge inland lake.

The La Salle Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
in 1926 with 35 members. Rev. Jacob Penner was the first
pastor.

The church today has six Sunday school classes and a
membership of 58. Rev. Jacob Pauls is the leader.

Lena Mennonite Brethren Church

As more and more Mennonite immigrants came to Mani-
toba, the search for new homes extended farther and farther
west.

The small village of Lena is located about 40 miles south
and 15 miles east of Brandon, the second largest city in Mani-

Manitoba Provincial Conference 145

toba, and about six miles from the Canada-United States bor-
der.

The settlers at Lena and the settlers at Holmfield, a neigh-
boring community, joined in organizing the church at Lena in
March of 1928 as a group of 25 believers under the leadership
of Rev. H. Unger. The Lena group became a separate con-
gregation when the Holmfield group organized as an independ-
ent church in 1951.

The church at present has 51 members. The Sunday
school is made up of six classes. Rev. J. F. Poetker is the
pastor.

Manitou

w

Manitou Mennonite Brethren Church

On Highway 3 and about 22 miles west of Winkler is
Manitou in an area where the land is a little more rolling and
the trees along the streams add to the beauty of the scenery.

The Mennonite Brethren Church at this place was organ-
ized in 1927 with 50 members. Rev. Anton Berg was the first
pastor.

The present membership of the church is 70. There are
six Sunday school classes. Rev. John Wiebe is the pastor.

146

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The Mennonite Brethren Conference came into possession
of 160 acres of the finest wheat-growing land in this commun-
ity, when Brother and Sister John Dick were killed in an acci-
dent on Highway 2 near Wolf Point, Montana, having left their
home in Clearbrook, British Columbia, to look after their farm
land in Manitoba. The Dicks had no children and had willed
their property in Manitoba to the mission work of the Menno-
nite Brethren Conference. The rent derived from the farm now
goes to the support of foreign missions. The property arrange-
ments of the brother and sister may well be a pattern for oth-
ers without children who have property to leave.

Marquette

Ten members organized as the Mennonite Brethern Church
at Marquette or near Poplar Point on the north side of the As-
siniboine River in 1935. Rev. Frank Falk, who died in 1953,
was the first pastor.

The group at present has 20 members. There are three
Sunday school classes. Rev. I. Penner is the pastor. The
church is connected with the Elmwood Mennonite Brethren
Church in Winnipeg.

Morden

Morden is the oldest settlement of members of the Menno-
nite Brethren people in Manitoba. It is located on Highway 3
about seven miles west of Winkler.

The Mennonite Brethren Church at Morden was organized
with 18 members in 1929. Rev. D. D. Toews and Rev. John
Andres were the pastors and leaders.

Today the church has 180 members. The Sunday school
program is made up of 10 classes. The church is responsible
for one extension station. Three members are active as mis-
sionaries on the foreign mission field and another couple will
leave for the field in 1954. Rev. F. H. Friesen is the pastor.

Newton Siding

Mennonite settlers coming to Canada usually came with
few or no means. Their credit, however, was good, for Men-
nonites had a reputation in Canada as an honest, God-fearing,

Manitoba Provincial Conference

147

Morden Mennonite Brethren Church

Newton Siding Mennonite Brethren Church

148

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

and trustworthy people. With the use of credit many settlers
made their beginning in Canada.

Newton Siding is a little village on the level country south
of the Assiniboine River about 15 miles southeast of Portage
La Prairie, which has a population of about 8,000. It is lo-
cated on Highway 1 passing through Portage La Prairie and
Winnipeg to the east and through Brandon to the west.

The Newton Siding Mennonite Brethren Church was or-
ganized in 1928, the year in which many Mennonite Brethren
Churches were organized. The church began with 48 mem-
bers. Rev. J. A. Derksen was the first pastor.

The church today has a membership of 140. It has eleven
Sunday school classes and one extension station. One member
is a missionary on the foreign mission field. Rev. Abraham A.
Loewen is the pastor.

Niverville

Niverville Mennonite Brethren Church

The Niverville area is located east of the Red River. It
is a farming community, having a heavy black soil and ample
rainfall for raising potatoes, sugar beets, and other vegetables.

Manitoba Provincial Conference 149

Wheat is the main grain crop. Chicken-raising has become an
important occupation in this community.

The town of Niverville is located about 20 miles south of
Winnipeg and about 20 miles northwest of Steinbach on High-
way 59 running south of Winnipeg to the Canada-United
States border. The waters of Red River came close to the
town during the flood of 1950.

The Mennonite Brethren Church was organized in 1929
with 30 members. Rev. Abram Janzen was the first pastor.

Today the church has 137 members. There are five Sun-
day school classes. One member is a missionary on the for-
eign mission field. Rev. William W. Dyck is the pastor.

Sperling

About 50 miles southeast of Winnipeg on Highway 3 is a
little church near the town of Sperling. In this church the

Sperling Mennonite Brethren Church

Mennonite Brethren group worshipped together with a group
of General Conference Mennonites. Beginning in May, 1928,
the group met in different homes until the church was organized
in 1932 with 20 members. Rev. John Jacob Martens of the

150

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

General Conference and Rev. Abr. Olfert were the ministers.
Roth of these brethren have gone to their reward.

The church today has 22 members. There are two Sun-
day school classes. Rev. Qerh. Neufeld, a former leader, has
left the community. Rev. Johann Martens is the assistant
leader. The Mennonite Brethren of the Sperling group have
joined the Winkler Mennonite Brethren Church since January,
1954.

Springstein

Springstein Mennonite Brethren Church

The church at Springstein is about 20 miles south and
west of Winnipeg between Oak Bluff and Fannystelle. It is lo-
cated in a fine grain-farming section.

Thirty-eight members were organized as the Springstein
Mennonite Brethren Church in 1933. Rev. John Kliewer was
ihe first pastor.

The church today has five Sunday school classes. One
member is a missionary on the foreign mission field. The
membership is 37. Rev. P. P. Dueck is the pastor.

Manitoba Provincial Conference 151

Steinbach

The Mennonite immigrants from Europe in many instances
worked a year for the benefactors who had made it possible
for them to come to Canada. After that they would go out on
their own. In making a new start many settled in the estab-
lished communities and others went into new territories. They
worked hard to earn money to repay the railroad and steamship
companies who advanced them credit in coming to Canada.

Steinbach, a community of German-speaking people, is
located about 40 miles southeast of Winnipeg on Highway 12.
As a village Steinbach was laid out after the village-pattern

Steinbach Mennonite Brethren Church

in the old country. Today Steinbach is a thriving town with
many busines houses.

The Mennonite Brethren group at Steinbach organized as
a church January 3, 1927, with 45 members. Rev. Gerhard A.
Unruh was the first pastor.

The church at present has 293 members. It has 12 Sun-
day school classes. Two members serve as missionaries on the
foreign mission field. Rev. Heinrich A. Regier is the pastor.

152 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Winnipeg North End

Early in the history of Manitoba, Fort Garry was built
at the junction of the Assiniboine River and the Red River,
known as the Fork. Between 1870 and 1873 the area around
Fort Garry came to be known as Winnipeg, an Indian name
meaning “dirty water.” In 1871 Winnipeg was a village of
19 homes and less than 500 people. The nearest railroad was
400 miles away, although the Canadian Pacific Railroad had
surveyed several routes from Lake Superior and a few years
later built the first railroad to Winnipeg. The population of
Winnipeg in 1873 was 1,869. The estimated population in
1949 was 320,000.

Winnipeg North End Mennonite Brethren Church

Travel from Montreal in Quebec to Winnipeg today is a mat-
ter of a few hours. Two hundred years ago Sieur de la Ver-
endrye, probably the first white man to set foot in this region,
took eleven years to travel this distance.

Winnipeg is the capital of Manitoba with the Parliament
Buildings and a fine university located in it. The transporta-
tion of people and goods is done largely by the Canadian Pa-
cific Railroad and other railroads.

Manitoba Provincial Conference 153

Mennonites who had settled in Manitoba soon found their
way into this fast-growing city and today many have their own
business establishments here.

In 1913 the North End Mennonite Brethren Church was
organized in Winnipeg with 22 members. Rev. William Best-
vater was the first pastor. Rev. C. N. Hiebert served as pas-
tor of this church many years.

Today the church has 15 Sunday school classes and one
extension station. One missionary from the church is on the
mission field in India. The membership is 321. Rev. Henry
Regier is the leader. The church building of the congregation
is located at 255 Midwinter Avenue.

Winnipeg North Kildonan

North Kildonan Mennonite Brethren Church

Immigrants continued to come to Manitoba and to settle
in Winnipeg. Among them were men such as Rev. A. H. Unruh
and others, whose coming and whose work in the churches and
in the conferences meant an upsurge in the growth of the
churches in Manitoba.

154

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

In 1928 a group of 30, who had been members of the
North End Church, officially organized as the North Kildonan
Church under the leadership of Rev. Gerhard Klassen.

Today the church has 402 members. There are 16 Sun-
day school classes. One extension station is maintained. From
the church one member has gone to the foreign mission field.
Rev. W. Falk is the pastor and leader. The address of Rev.
Falk is 163 Irving Place in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg South End

South End Mennonite Brethren Church

In a city of 300,000 the distance from one end to the other
is many miles. Because a number of people had their homes
in the south part of the city and others were constantly moving
in, it became essential to have a church here.

In 1936 the South End Mennonite Church was organized.
The church began with 90 members under the leadership of
Rev. P. Kornelsen.

The church at present has a membership of 420. The
Sunday school program consists of 15 classes. Two mission-
aries from the church are on the foreign mission field. Rev.
J. P. Neufeld is the pastor. The present beautiful church build-

Manitoba Provincial Conference 155

ing with hardwood pews was purchased from a church group,

no longer able to operate it, at a very reasonable price.
Winnipeg Mennonite Brethren Bible College

jtm.

Winnipeg Mennonite Brethren Bible College

The Mennonite Brethren Bible College, located at 77 Kel-
vin Street, is owned and operated by the Canadian Mennonite
Brethren Conference. The program of the school includes a
Christian high school and a dormitory for housing and dining
students. The school has been a real blessing to the Canadian
and the General Conferences.

The main buildings and grounds were purchased in 1947
from the city of Winnipeg, which had used the property for
public school purposes until the public school was moved to
another location.

Dr. H. H. Janzen is the president of the school working
with such men as J. Quiring, Is. Redekop, H. Regier, H. P.
Toews, A. H. Unruh, J. A. Toews, and D. Ewert as faculty
members. Students from all parts of Canada and from other
places come here to study.

The Mennonite Brethren Bible College receives 25 per cent
of the income of the Educational Endowment Fund of the Men-
nonite Brethren Conference.

156

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Dr. A. H. Unruh, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Dr. A. H. Unruh is perhaps the most widely known teach-
er, preacher, Bible expositor, and public speaker in Mennonite
Brethren circles both in Canada and the United Sttaes. He
has spent most of his years as a teacher, teaching in the old
country and in Canada. At present he is a teacher in the Men-
nonite Brethren Bible College. The teaching and preaching
of Brother Unruh is always an inspiration to young and old.
His well-balanced Christian life and his character are tools in
the hand of God in building the church of Jesus Christ.

Winkler

When the Mennonites in the 1870’s came to North Amer-
ica, the province of Manitoba, just as various states of the
United States, invited the immigrants to settle the virgin lands
within its boundaries. In Manitoba was located the vast farm-
ing area on both sides of the Red River with very few settlers.
Agents representing this tract of ground succeeded in moving
some of the early Mennonites into this part of the province.

A group of six believers gathered in 1886 and organized
themselves as the Winkler Mennonite Brethren Church under

mmm m

„

Winkler Mennonito Brethren Church

the leadership of Rev. David Dick, who was well known in the
Conference in the United States. Rev. Heinrich Warkentin was
for many years the leader of the Winkler Church. Rev. H. S.
Voth from Mountain Lake, who married the oldest daughter of
Rev. Warkentin and who was a member of the Board of For-
eign Missions, was the leader of the church many years.

The church today has a membership of 309. It has a Sun-
day school of 26 classes and two extension stations. Seven
members of the church are serving on foreign mission fields.
Rev. G. D. Pries is the leader. Rev. Pries is also the Treas-
urer of the Canadian Conference on the Board of Foreign Mis-
sions and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Confer-
ence.

The convention of the General Conference of the Men-
nonite Brethren Church was entertained by the Winkler and
surrounding churches in 1951 in’ Winkler. The conference ses-
sions were held in the magnificant church building of the con-

158 The Mennonite Brethren Churches

gregation. The large Sunday meetings were conducted in the
Winkler Skating Arena.

Sunday Services at the Winkler Skating Arena

Chapter 9

THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCHES

OF THE ONTARIO PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE

Ontario belongs to the Canadian Conference of the Men-
nonite Brethren Church. It has seven churches. These are
organized as the Ontario Provincial Conference.

The province of Ontario with its many lakes and water-
ways, its highways and farms, which produce every kind of
grain, fruit, and livestock, is a wonderland. Here are pulp
factories, automobile factories, and many other kind of fac-
tories. Here farmers grow fresh fruits of every variety on the
wide stretch o f farmland on the south shore of Lake Ontario up
to Hamilton. The wonderful Queen Elizabeth Way, a four
lane highway, runs from Toronto to the Niagara Falls and to
Buffalo, New York.

The west boundary of Ontario is the great Lake Huron
and Detroit, the automobile center, to the south is the great
Lake Erie, and to the east is the Niagara River and the great
Lake Ontario.

Hespeler

Hespeler is a station near Kitchener. The Mennonite
Brethren Church does not own its own building here, but rents
a hall in town where services are conducted.

According to the Yearbook of the Canadian Mennonite
Brethren Conference there are 16 members in the church. Rev.
J. Schoenke is the assistant and present leader of the group.

Kitchener

Kitchener is one of the older and larger cities in Ontario,
located about 36 miles northwest of Hamilton on the shores of
Lake Ontario. Waterloo is a suburb of Kitchener.

The city of Kitchener is noted for its fresh fruits in the
Market Place, which is open every day during the summer.
Many factories are located here including the oldest woolen
mills in Canada, rubber factories, and shoe factories. Members
•of the Mennonite Brethren Churches have found employment
in the factories of the city.

160

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Hespeler Mennonite Brethren Church

Former Kitchener Mennonite Brethren Church

Ontario Provincial Conference 161

The Kitchener Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
April 26, 1925, with 18 members present. Rev. Jacob Friesen
was the first pastor and continued in that office until Jan-
uary 10, 1932.

The church today has 12 Sunday school classes. One
couple will leave for Africa in September as teacher mission-
aries. Rev. I. T. Evert is the interim minister until September
1, 1954. Rev. J. J. Toews, at present the pastor of the Buhler
Mennonite Brethren Church in Kansas will be pastor beginning
in September.

Leamington

IS - " \ -tf ' ’ " ' ' ■ ■; •'

Leamington Mennonite Brethren Church

Windsor is located on the east side of the Detroit River,
which is the boundary between Ontario and the state! of Mich-
igan. Travel between Windsor and Detroit of the United
States side of the river, the larger of the two cities, is done by
ferry, tunnel road, or by the bridge road. Leamington is lo-
cated 33 miles southeast of Windsor and on Highway 3, which
follows the north shore of Lake Erie to the Niagara Falls.
Pelee Island, an island about eight miles long and three miles
wide, is in Lake Erie 18 miles due south.

162

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Pelee Island was at one time the home of a number of
Mennonite Brethren Church members, who immigrated in the
1920’s and later. The difficulties in transportation to the main-
land, which was by boat in summer and by cars and trucks over
the ice when the water in the lake was frozen, caused the set-
tler to move. In visiting the one family still living on the is-
land in behalf of the Endowment Fund, the solicitor made the
trip by plane, which made the vist a matter of two hours,
whereas by boat it would have required two days.

The Mennonite Brethren Church at Leamington was or-
ganized with 63 members in 1932. Rev. 1. H. Thiessen was
the first pastor.

The church today has 182 members. There are eight Sun-
day school classes. Rev. David Derksen is the pastor.

r

Harvesting the Potato Crop in the Leamington Community

Leamington is known for its parks and beaches which
are excellent for bathing and fishing. Diversified farming is
practiced on the farmlands of this area. Early cucumbers, to-
matoes, and other vegetables are grown in hothouses. Ber-
ries, cherries, and many other fruits are grown. Potatoes
have come to be an important crop. These are harvested with
a machine, which digs, sorts, and sacks the potatoes in one

Ontario Provincial Conference 163

operation, pulled by a tractor. Grains grown in this area
include wheat, oats, barley, and corn. An important outlet
for the products produced in Leamington are the cities of
Windsor and Detroit.

New Hamburg

New Hamburg Mennonite Brethren Church

A small group of the Mennonite Brethren faith in New
Hamburg rented a hall in the upper room of a building in this
city. Here they gathered for services until 1953 when the
group was dissolved and the members affiliated with the Kitch-
ener Mennonite Brethren Church.

Port Rowan

When members of the Mennonite Brethren Church settled
in eastern Canada a group located at Port Rowan in Ontario
on Long Point Bay of Lake Erie about 100 miles west of the
Niagara Falls and of Buffalo, New York. Four miles north
and west of Port Rowan the Mennonite Brethren Church is
located.

164

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Port Rowan Mennonite Brethren Church

A group of 16 members in 1928 organized the Church in
New Hamburg. Rev. Dietrich Derksen was the first pastor.

Today the church has 1 13 members. There are eight Sun-
day school classes. One missionary from the church is on the
foreign mission field. Rev. Jacob A. Penner is the pastor.

St. Catharines

The city of St. Catharines is about twelve miles west of
the Niagara Falls. It is a lovely place with many shade trees
and green lawns. The Queen Elizabeth Way goes through St.
Catharines. The Welland Canal which is used by large steam-
ers to go from Lake Erie up to Lake Ontario and farther north
passes through the community. Large factories, in which
many Mennonite Brethren people find employment, are found
in this city.

The St. Catharines Mennonite Brethren Church was or-
ganized in September, 1943, with 66 members. Rev. G. J. Epp
was the first pastor.

The church today has a membership of 350. It has a Sun-
day school of 20 classes. The church building, which today

Ontario Provincial Conference

165

166

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The Niagara Falls, the largest waterfalls in the world
when considered on the basis of the volume of water falling,
are considered one of the seven wonders of the world. They
are located in the Niagara River, which is an outlet for the
waters of the Great Lakes by way of Lake Ontario and the
St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. The Niagara River
connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Lake Erie lies consid-
erably higher than Lake Ontario. The fall of the water occurs
over a' rock formation between the two lakes within the dis-
tance between Buffalo and Niagara, New York. The tremen-
dous volume of water rushes down the upper rapids and then
drops to the bottom of the falls, a distance of 165 feet, and
rushes through the Gorge and Whirlpool until it reaches the
peaceful inlet of Lake Ontario. Along the path of the water
are many power stations producing power by channeling the
mighty stream through tunnels to the power producing ma-
chines.

The Welland Canal is a connecting link between Lake Erie
and Lake Ontario likewise. It is the passageway for large
steamers delivering their cargoes to factories and seaports.
By use of a system of locks in the canal, steamers going east
are lifted about 300 feet between the lakes.

Vineland

Vineland is located on a stretch of land four to eight miles
wide along the shore of Lake Ontario high enough only to
keep out the water of the lake. The soil is especially adapted
to fruit raising. The famous Concord grapes, peaches, plums,
cherries, and other fruits and many kinds of vegetables are
grown here and produce wonderful profits to the farmers.
When the immigrants came to Canada, they found that land in
this area could be had at a reasonable price and that the cli-
mate conditions were very agreeable. Some settled on the
upland west of the lake where grain-growing and cattle-
raising are the main occupations.

In 1935 a group of 27 members of the Mennonite Breth-
ren Church organized the Vineland Church. Rev. D. Klassen
was the first pastor.

The church today has 267 members. It has 13 Sunday
school classes. Rev. H. P. Wiebe is the pastor.

Ontario Provincial Conference

167

Bethesda Mental Hospital

168

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Bethesda Mental Hospital

The Bethesda Mental Hospital was begun as a private un-
dertaking by Rev. and Mrs. H. P. Wiebe. Brother and Sister
Wiebe did a noble work in behalf of the mentally ill for many
years.

Today the Mental Hospital is owned and operated by the
Canadian Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church. Rev.
H. G. Bartsch, formerly of Yarrow, British Columbia, is the
Superintendent of the Hospital.

New Bethesda Hospital Under Construction

The new modern hospital building was constructed by the
Canadian Conference. Rev. H. P. Wiebe was the Building
Superintendent. Many days of voluntary labor were contrib-
uted by the members of the churches in this area in building
this new home for mentally ill.

Virgil

Mennonites coming to Canada from Europe and others
coming from the colder parts of Canada were attracted to the
stretch of fertile farmland from 40 to 50 miles in length along

Ontario Provincial Conference

169

Virgil Mennonite Brethren Church

the south and west shores of Lake Ontario and established
homes here.

A number of the members of the Mennonite Brethren
Church settled in the Niagara-on-th e-Lake and the Virgil areas
and soon became wealthy fruit growers. The community of
Virgil is about eight miles from the Niagara Falls.

The Virgil Mennonite Brethren Church was organized in
this area in May of 1927 with 37 members. The first leader of
the group was Rev. John Dick.

Today the church has 26 Sunday school classes and one
mission Sunday school. Two missionaries have gone out from
church to the foreign mission field. The membership i is 419.
Rev. Jacob P. Dick is he leader of the congregation.

Virgil Bible School

The Virgil Church operates a fine Bible School and cam-
pus for the young people interested in studying during the win-
ter months. The buildings of the school include a classroom
building and a dormitory.

170

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Virgil Bible School

Eden High School

The churches of Ontario own and operate the Eden High
School on the campus of the Virgil Bible School. The pur-
pose of this program is to give the youth of the churches the
opportunity to get a Christian education based on the doc-
trines of the Mennonite Brethren Church. Rev. D. Neumann
of Rural Route 2, Niagara-on-the-Lake, is the principal of the
school.

Eden High School

Chapter 10

THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCHES OF THE
SASKATCHEWAN PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE

Saskatchewan belongs to the Canadian Conference of the
Mennonite Brethren Church. It has 23 Mennonite Brethren
Churches. These constitute the Saskatchewan Provincial
District Conference. The churches are also divided into the
Northern or Rosthern District (Kreis) and the Southern or
Herbert District (Kreis).

Blaine Lake

Blaine Lake Mennonite Brethren Church
with Peter Janzen of Bruderfeld and a Russian man

About 25 miles north of Hepburn is Blaine Lake where
the Mennonite Brethren Conference has a small church build-
ing which was at one time used as a meeting house for Rus-
sian-speaking people in this area. There are no regular ser-
vices conducted at this place at this time.

172 The Mermonite Brethren Churches

Borden

The town of Borden is located on Highway 5, which
crosses Saskatchewan from the southeast to the northwest
crossing the North Saskatchewan River near Borden by bridge
rather than by ferry as was customary until recently. The
Mennonite Brethren Church is located in the farming section
on the north side of the river about six miles northeast of the
town.

Borden Mennonite Brethren Church with Rev. Jacob Lepp, Dalmeny

The church at Borden was organized April 8, 1906, with
60 members present. Rev. David Klassen was the first pastor.

Today the church has 82 members. It has nine Sunday
school classes. One couple has gone from the church into for-
eign mission service. Rev. Abraham K. Rempel is the pastor.

Bruderfeld

Mennonite Brethren Church members came to northern
Saskatchewan in the early 1900’s to find homes for themselves
and their children. They settled on land that was homesteaded.
To get started here was no get-rich-quick program, it meant
a struggle for existence for many years, however, this part of

Saskatchewan Provincial Conference 173

Saskatchewan furnished homes to hundreds of Mennonite
settlers.

The rich soil in the community is excellent for grain-farm-
ing. The North Saskatchewan River nearby with its beautiful
banks to the east and the wooded banks to the west even to-
day shelters deer and other wild life. Much fishing has been
done and is still being done in the river.

The first Mennonite Brethren building in Saskatchewan
was erected about two miles west and 5 miles north of Hep-

S®

Bruderfeld Mennonite Brethren Church

burn in the Bruderfeld community. A group of believers in
1902 organized as the Bruderfeld Mennonite Brethren Church
under the leadership of Rev. Isaac Neufeld.

The church today has 81 members. There are 13 Sunday
school classes. Hev. H. M. Willems is the pastor.

Dalmeny

Dalmeny is located on Highway 12 about 20 miles north
of Saskatoon.

Into this area came John Baerg, who was a member of
the Mennonite Brethren Church, Henderson, Nebraska, having

174

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

moved there from Boone County after the group in Boone
County left. Brother Baerg sold his property in Nebraska
and with his family settled in the Mennon district, where there
was enough good land for him and his family at reasonable
prices. He bought land for himself and a quarter section for
each of his children so located that later each child could eas-
ily acquire another adjoining quarter. This location was far
from a railroad or market place when the Baergs settled.
Later, however, the railroad and railroad station were built
on his land. Dalmeny was located near the Mennon com-
munity.

Dalmeny Mennonite Brethren Church

The church in this area was known as the Dalmeny Men-
nonite Brethren Church, although it was sometimes also called
the Mennon Church. It was organized in 1901 with 24 mem-
bers. Rev. Abram Buhler was the first pastor. In 1952 the
church building was moved to Dalmeny, where a number of
the retired members were residing.

Today the church has 258 members. There are 15 Sun-
day school classes. Four members serve as missionaries on
the foreign field. Rev. Ernest Lepp is the leader.

Saskatchewan Provincial Conference

175

Dalmeny Bible School

The Dalmeny Bible School, maintained by the church, of-
fers the young people the advantages of a Bible training. A
dormitory on the school grounds furnishes the students living
quarters and dining quarters during the winter months.

Rev. F. J. Wiens, the former missionary to China, served
as teacher of the school two years while on furlough.

Rev. Jacob Lepp, Dalmeny, Saskatchewan

Rev. Jacob Lepp of Dalmeny for many years served as
pastor of the Dalmeny Church. Brother and Sister Lepp are

176

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

now located in Dalmeny near the church and are still very ac-
tive in building the church of Jesus Christ. Rev. Lepp took
time to go with the solicitor for the Endowment Fund to a num-
ber of Saskatchewan churches. In the conversation at the
time he expressed himself saying, “Brother Wiens, it thrills me
to see so many churches of the Mennonite faith being estab-
lished throughout the country. I want to keep on serving God
as well as I know how.” Here is an example of growing old
gracefully and being useful to mankind even with the advanc-
ing of years.

Flowing Well

Flowing Well Mennonite Brethren Church

More and more people were moving to the west and north
from Mennonite Brethren circles. The Herbert District at-
tracted these people with the opportunity to homestead some of
the finest farming land. A drawback in this area is that some
years there has been an insufficient rainfall to assure crops.

Flowing Well is an ideal wheat-producing country located
on Highway 19 about 18 miles south of the Trans-Canada
Highway 1.

Saskatchewan Provincial Conference 177

The Mennonite Brethren Church at Flowing Well was or-
ganized in 1908 with 23 members. Rev. John F. Harms was
the first pastor.

The church today has six Sunday school classes. One
member is a missionary on the foreign mission field. The
membership of the church is 42. Rev. Wm. Buller is the pas-
tor.

Glenbush

Glenbush Mennonite Brethren Church

Glenbush is located 25 miles north and 15 miles east of
North Battleford. Here is the Mennonite Brethren Church far-
thest north in Saskatchewan. Twenty-six years ago this part
of the country was merely a heavy growth of poplar trees and
other brush, which had to be cleared before the land could be
brought under cultivation. Much hard work had to be done
by the settlers before they could establish comfortable homes.

There is a Mennonite Brethren Church and a General
Conference Mennonite Church at Glenbush.

The Mennonite Brethren Church was organized with 17
members July 15, 1928, under the leadership of Rev. N. H.

178

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Pauls. In 1953 the church observed its twenty-fifth annivers-
ary as well as the twenty-fifth anniversary of the leadership
of Rev. Pauls in the church.

Today the church has a membership of 165. It has 12
Sunday school classes. The church is still under the leader-
ship of Rev. Pauls.

Rev. and Mrs. N. H. Pauls, Glenbush, Saskatchewan

Rev. N. H. Pauls (completed a quarter century of service
as pastor of the Glenbush Church. Brother and Sister Pauls
have their comfortable home located a few miles northeast of
the church.

Greenfarm

Greenfarm is located about ten miles south and two miles
east of Herbert in an area with a rich soil well adapted for
wheat-growing. Occasional very dry years cause crop fail-
ures.

The Greenfarm Mennonite Brethren Church was organ-
ized in 1913 with 15 members. Rev. J. J. Thiessen was the
first leader.

f

Saskatchewan Provincial Conference 179

The church today has 67 members Its Sunday school has
ten classes. One member of the church is on the foreign mis-
sion field of another denomination. Rev. J. J. Thiessen is the
pastor at this time and G. Penner the business leader.

Greenfarm Mennonite Brethren Church

Hepburn

A number of families in the early 1900’s left the Hender-
son church in Nebraska, which often suffered losses to emigra-
tions to newer settlements, to go north to Canada and take ad-
vantage of the homesteads offered by the Canadian government
for very little cash. These Henderson emigrants settled in
the Hepburn area.

The North Saskatchewan River flows down from Edmon-
ton, Alberta, dipping to near Saskatoon and then turning sharp-
ly to the north and east leaving Hepburn about 10 miles to
the southeast. This river has on different occasions been the
cause of heartaches by claiming the lives of swimmers caught
in its treacherous holes.

The Hepburn Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
in 1910 with 51 members. Rev. Peter J. Friesen, who came to
Hepburn from Henderson, was the first pastor.

180

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The church today has 17 Sunday school classes. Eight
missionaries have gone from the church to the foreign mission
field. The membership is 263. Rev. P. R. Toews is the pas-
tor.

Hepburn has for many years had its Bible School. In
recent years a new dormitory has been added to the school’s
facilities. Rev. J. H. Epp is one of the teachers in the Bible
School.

A tabernacle to accommodate the North Saskatchewan
District Conference and other large gatherings has been
erected in Hepburn in recent years also.

Hepburn Mennonite Brethren Church

Herbert

Herbert is the center of the Herbert District in Saskat-
chewan. It is located on Highway 1.

The Herbert Church is one of the leading Mennonite
Brethren Churches of the Herbert District. Four brethren rep-
resented the church at the convention of the General Confer-
ence in the Bingham Lake, Minnesota, Church in 1906. Rev.
Benjamin Jantz was the leader of the church at that time. In
the early days of the church the brethren Rev. H. A. Neufeld,

Saskatchewan Provincial Conference lei

Rev. and Mrs. J. H. Epp of the Hepburn Bible School

Herbert Mennonite Brethren Church

182

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

Rev. Abraham Harms, Rev. J. F. Harms, Rev. David Dick, and
others were active in the church.

The church according to the 1951 Conference Yearbook
has a membership of 180, which includes the group at Eye-
brow. Rev. A. H. Kroeker is the leader.

A Bible School is located in Herbert which serves the dis-
trict in offering the young people Bible instruction. Rev. W. J.
Bestvater at one time was the teacher in the school.

Laird

The Laird Mennonite Brethren Church was established in
1899 with 50 members. Rev. Frank Siemens was the first
pastor. The second pastor was Rev. J. B. Wiens.

Today the church has a Sunday school of seven classes.

Laird Mennonite Brethren Church

Three missionaries are 'in the foreign mission field. The church
has no pastor at the present time. Rev. Henry Speiser is the
temporary leader. The membership at present is 45. The
loss in membership since the beginning of the church is due to
the moving away of members.

Saskatchewan Provincial Conference

Lashburn

183

In 1936 a number of families moved to the far northwest
corner of Saskatchewan. Here on Highway 5 and about 20
miles east of the Alberta border is the little town of Lashburn.

Lashburn Mennonite Brethren Church

The Lashburn Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
with five members in 1936. Brother E. Gripp was the first
leader and is the leader of the church today.

The church at present has 14 members. It has three Sun-
day school classes. Two members of the church are mission-
aries on the foreign mission field.

McMahon

Mennonite immigrants from Russia bought some of the
large farms of the Sommerfelder Mennonites at the time when
these moved to and settled in Old Mexico northwest of Dur-
ango because of their religious beliefs. These farms are con-
sidered some of the best wheat-growing lands on the Western
Reserve of Canada.

184

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

McMahon Mennonite Brethren Church

The McMahon Church in which the Mennonite Brethren
members who bought these farms worship is located 25 miles
south and east of Swift Current. Some members of the church
still live in the old-fashioned houses built by the Sommer-
felder.

A church was organized here in the spring of 1927 with
21 members. Rev. Jakob Derksen was the first pastor. The
church building is located in the center of the community with
no town nearby.

Today the church has 27 members. It has five Sunday
school classes. Three members are missionaries on the for-
eign mission field. Rev. H. F. Klassen is the pastor. Rev.
Klassen is also the leader of the Herbert District Conference
for the year 1954.

Maidstone

A group of believers in a community about 12 miles east
of Lashburn organized as the Maidstone Mennonite Brethren
Church. Rev. John Bettcher was the leader. In 1948 the
membership was nine members. Since that time the church
has no longer been listed as an independent church.

Saskatchewan Provincial Conference

185

Maidstone Mennonite Brethren Church

Main Centre

The small country village of Main Centre is located about
20 miles north and a little west of Herbert. About seven miles

Main Centre Mennonite Brethren Church

186

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

farther north is the South Saskatchewan River making a dip
farthest south and then swinging north until it runs through
the city of Saskatoon 100 miles north. This mighty river
played an important role when the early settlers came to
Saskatchewan because of the dangers connected with crossing
the very swift, deep, and wide river by ferry in the summers
or on the ice in winters. Settlers with homes on/the side of the
river opposite their market places were constantly subject to
the river’s threats.

Those who settled these parts of Saskatchewan home-
steaded or bought the fertile farmland in this area.

In the year of 1904 the Main Centre church was organized
with 16 members under the leadership of Rev. Benjamin Jantz.

The church today has 224 members. It has a Sunday
school program of 14 classes. Eleven members have gone from
the church to the foreign mission field. Rev. John D. Goertzen
is the pastor.

Redfield

Redfield is located eleven miles north and about 20 miles
east of North Battleford. In years past there was an organized
church at this location. Today there are only six members liv-
ing in this remote place. The former church is operated as a
mission.

Saskatoon

The fast-growing city of Saskatoon is barely 50 years old.
The University of Saskatchewan is located here on the south
banks of the South Saskatchewan River, which divides the city
into two parts. Many Mennonite people have moved into this
city to retire, others have come here to be close to school and
church, and still others are here for business reasons.

The Mennonite Brethren Church in Saskatoon was organ-
ized with 35 members January 10, 1932. Rev. P. J. Funk was
the first leader.

The church today has 239 members. There are eleven
Sunday school classes and one extension project. Five couples
from the church have gone to the foreign mission field as mis-
sionaries. Rev. Art Martens is the pastor.

Saskatchewan Provincial Conference

187

)f Saskatche-
ay 4. High

wan a

Swift Current Mennonite Brethren Church

188 The Menno nit e Brethren Churches

way 1 furnishes a route for the people of the prairie provinces
to go to the West Coast. Highway 4 runs north and south
from the Canada-United States border north as far as Flatten
Lake. Swift Current is about 20 miles west of Herbert.

The Swift Current Mennonite Brethren Church was or-
ganized in 1924. Rev. G. Warkentin was the first pastor.

The church today has seven Sunday school classes and
a membership of 51. One member of the church is a mission-
ary on the foreign mission field. Rev. P. J. Peters is the pastor.

Waldheim

Waldheim Mennonite Brethren Church

Waldheim is located about 34 miles north of Saskatoon
and about ten miles west of Rosthern. Homeseekers from the
south came to this Rosthern area to build their homes. A num-
ber came from the Henderson Church in Nebraska. Rev. Dav-
id Dick, who had been active in Conference work in the United
States and who at the Mennonite Brethren Conference at Hen-
derson in 1887 was a delegate from the Lehigh Mennonite
Brethren Church in Kansas, was among the settlers of this part
of Saskatchewan.

A group of 78 members of the Mennonite Brethren faith
united and organized as the Waldheim Mennonite Brethren

Saskatchewan Provincial Conference 189

Church in 1918. Rev. David Dick was the leader of the group.

The church today has 87 members. There are eleven Sun-
day school classes. Rev. Jac. S. Adrian is the pastor.

Warman

The Warman Mennonite Brethren Church was organized
in 1953 with 14 members. Rev. Norman Fehr is the pastor.
The church has six Sunday school classes and one extension
station. This place was formerly a mission station operating
with the help of the Saskatoon Church. Three missionaries
are still active at this place.

Wat rous

A group of immigrants and displaced persons coming
from Russia in the middle of the 1920’s found homes in an
area about 20 miles south and east of Watrous. The church
building is located on Highway 14, crossing the plains of eas-
tern Saskatchewan up to the Manitoba border, about 70 miles
south and east of Saskatoon. Between the church building and
Watrous is the Manitou Health Resort where people come for
mineral baths and cures from various ailments.

Watrous Mennonite Brethren Church

190

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

The church at Watrous was organized in February of
1928 with 30 members. Rev. Peter D. Janzen was the first
pastor.

The church today has eight Sunday school classes. One
missionary has gone out to the foreign mission field. The
membership is 88. Rev. Jacob Dick is the pastor.

Woodrow

The increase in Mennonite families, for now the children
of the first settlers were grown and married bringing new fam-
ilies into the group, meant new needs for more and more farms
to furnish the opportunities for a livelihood. Between the years
1900 and 1913 there was a great influx of settlers in the north-
west. In 1915 a group of Mennonite Brethren church mem-
bers established themselves in the neighborhood of Woodrow
as the community of Mennonite Brethren farthest south in
Saskatchewan. Woodrow is on Highway 13 about 40 miles
south and 65 miles east of Swift Current.

The church at Woodrow was organized in 1915 with 15
members. The brethren Ollenburger and Reimche were the
first pastors and leaders.

Today the group has six Sunday school classes. There
are 64 active members. Rev. J. E. Kehler is the pastor.

Woodrow Mennonite Brethren Church

Saskatchewan Provincial Conference

191

SUNSET

We have viewed the churches of the Mennonite Breth-
ren Conference, their locations and surroundings and a brief
history of each with directions telling how to get there.

There may be errors in the mileages given from place to
place, even names and figures in some instances may not be
correct. For these and other errors that may have occurred,

1 apologize.

My wish and prayer is that this book may be an inspira-
tion to our people, inspiring them to work more earnestly and
faithfully ere “the night cometh, when no man can work” (John
9 : 4 ).

The churches, the pastors and members, are united with
the workers on the foreign mission field and with the workers
on the home mission field — “all one body we”- — in the great
task of building the Church of Jesus Christ until He comes to
receive His Church unto Himself.

The Apostle Paul speaks of building the Church. “For
we are labourers together with God: Ye are God’s husbandry,
ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is
given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foun-

192

The Mennonite Brethren Churches

dation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take
heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no
man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any
man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest:
for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire;
and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If
any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall
receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss, but he /himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire”
(I Corinthians 3:9-15).

Work, for the night is coming,

Under the sunset skies;

While their bright tints are glowing
Work for daylight flies;

Work, till the last beam fadeth,

Fadeth to shine no more;

Work, while the night is dark’ning,

When man’s work is o’er.

— Anna L. Coghill.

V

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7 THI

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