Mennonite Historian - Volume XXIII, No. 2 (June 1997)

Table of Contents

1. Mennonite General Conferences: Will They all Disappear? by Abe Dueck
2. Genealogy and Family History by Alf Redekopp
3. Winkler Bible School : A Significant Chapter in the History of Mennonites and of Mennonite Brethren Education by Abe Dueck
4. Book Reviews
5. Book Notes

Mennonite General Conferences: Will They all Disappear?

During the last decade of this millenium, Mennonites seem to be in a hurry to get rid of their "General" conferences. After the confusion of the past century or more, we may end up with no General Conference at all among the various Mennonite groups. Right now, the General Conference Mennonite Church (GCMC) and the General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (MB) seem to be in a tight race to see who can drop the label first. Actually, unless the MBs renew their charter in the meantime, they will automatically lose the legal entity of the "General Conference" in 1999! And the GCMCs and the MCs are on a clear course toward merger which may culminate in new structures by 1999 and a new denomination, called the Mennonite Church, by the year 2000. What a coincidence!

The first "general conference" was the General Conference Mennonite Church formed in the United States in 1860, coincidentally, the same year that the Mennonite Brethren Church began in Russia. It resulted from the union of two groups of Swiss/South German Mennonites who met in West Point, Iowa, USA, at Pentecost that year. At that point there were still no Dutch/Prussian/ Russian Mennonites in North America. The first of these arrived in the 1870s and many joined the GCMC in the succeeding years.

The Conference of Mennonites in Canada (CMC--earlier known as the Konferenz der Mennoniten im Mittleren Kanada) was formed in 1902 ­ 1903 and consisted initially of a group of Bergthaler congregations in Manitoba and several Rosenorter congregations in Saskatchewan. Not all the congregations which joined the CMC, however, necessarily also became members of the GCMC. The Bergthaler congregations in particular retained a separate identity for a longer period. Some still retain that adjective in their congregational names today.

The MBs were the first Mennonites in Russia to form a conference (Bundeskonferenz) in 1872. This conference was also referred to as a "General" conference (Allgemeine Bundeskonferenz). The congregations from which they seceded generally came to be referred to as "kirchliche" (lit. churchly) Mennonites. They were very loosely affiliated, relatively autonomous, congregations.

Although the elders of the colonies met occasionally to discuss common concerns (as a Kirchenkonvent),⁽¹⁾

the more formal organization of a "general" conference of the "kirchliche" congregations took place in 1883 at Halbstadt, in the Molotschna settlement. This conference usually met on an annual basis, and at first it was primarily a meeting of elders (Aeltesten) and ministers. Lay leaders were not represented. By 1906 some MBs wondered how this conference could call itself a "general" conference of Mennonites, when MBs, who were determined to be considered Mennonites rather than Baptists, were not represented. The conference therefore decided to extend an invitation to MBs as well. However, aside from taking part in the1910 sessions of the General Conference (Bundeskonferenz), very few MBs attended. They were, however, represented on the Commission for Church Affairs (Kommission fuer Kirchliche Angelegenheiten), which was the chief executive body of the Bundeskonferenz for all the Mennonites (including the Kirchliche, Mennonite Brethren, and Allianz groups). Between 1910 and 1914 serious attempts were made to bring all Mennonites in Russia under a common constitution as an "Evangelical Mennonite Confession." These efforts died with the outbreak of World War I.

The necessity for Mennonites to work cooperatively increased after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. All Russian Mennonites were represented in the conventions of the General Conference of Mennonites (Allgemeine Bundeskonferenz der Mennonitengemeinden in Russland)which met at various times from 1917 to 1926.⁽²⁾ In addition, an All-Mennonite Congress was convened in 1917 and 1918.⁽³⁾

After the mass emigration of Mennonites from Russia to Canada and South America in the 1920s, attempts to join forces were largely forgotten. The MBs joined the already existing General Conference of Mennonite Brethren, which had been formed in the United States in 1879, whereas the Kirchliche immigrants usually joined the CMCs in Canada and the GCMC of North America. In some places (e.g., in British Columbia and Ontario) they were also called the United Mennonites.

In recent years, the two largest Mennonite bodies in North America-- the Mennonite Church, which used to be referred to as the (Old) Mennonite Church, and the General Conference Mennonite Church-- have been moving toward merger. Some of the regional bodies have already merged (e.g., in Ontario). This summer, at the 61st convention of the General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, the delegates will be asked to consider whether their General Conference structure has become obsolete. Perhaps by the year 2000 we will be rid of all general conferences. But there will still be MCs, MBs, EMCs, EMMCs, BCs, etc. And there will still be the Mennonite World Conference (MWC). Or ought it to become the Mennonite General Conference (MGC)?

Endnotes

¹ See Cornelius Krahn, "Kirchenkonvent," in Mennonite Encyclopedia (ME) Vol. III, 180.

² There appear to have been seven conferences during this period. John B. Toews lists four in The Mennonites in Russia from 1917 to 1930: Selected Documents (Winnipeg, MB: Christian Press, 1975), 395-448. Additional conferences took place on 3-4 December 1918, at Landskrone (Friedensstimme, 25 January 1919), in September, 1919 at Rudnerweide, and in October, 1922, at Chortitza (See Cornelius Krahn, "Allgemeine Bundeskonferenz der Mennonitengemeinden in Russland", ME, Vol. I, 57-60.

³ The minutes of the 1917 Congress are in John B. Toews, Selected Documents, 449-480. See also Cornelius Krahn, "Allgemeiner Mennonitischer Kongress", ME, Vol. I, 60-61. The above references assume that the Congress only met once (in 1917), but according to the Friedensstimme (7 September, 16 November, and 19 November, 1918), it also met or was scheduled to meet at Ohrloff on 18 September, 1918. It is possible, however, that the latter never actually convened.

GENEALOGY AND FAMILY HISTORY

Queries

Martens - I am seeking information on the ancestors and siblings of Abram Heinrich Martens (b. May 17, 1892 in Chortitza and d. Sept. 22, 1968 in St. Catharines, Ontario). He was the son of Heinrich Martens and Justina Dyck of Chortitza. He married Sarah Guenther (b Jan 18, 1898 d. Nov. 2, 1960) on Sept. 23, 1917 in Rosental. They emigrated to Canada in 1926 with their daughter Olga and son Abram. He had four brothers: Heinrich, William, Peter, and Jacob; and one sister Anna. Contact: A. Martens, RR 1, 1610 Britannia Rd. W., Milton, Ontario L9T 2X5 or e-mail: amarten@ibm.net.

Dueckmann - This is a request for updated information about the children of Martin Dueckmann (1802-1867) and his wife Katharina Fast (1814-1898). This includes the descendants of Katharina and Johann Dyck (Mountain Lake, MN), Susanna and Johann Franz (Mountain Lake, MN), Heinrich and Aganetha (Neumann) Dueckmann (Alexandertal, Molotschna), Martin and Anna Penner (Alexandertal, Molotschna), Elizabeth Dueckmann, Margaretha and Diedrich Barg (Pordenau, Molotschna), Peter and Margaretha (Gerbrandt) Dueckmann (Grossweide, Molotschna), Maria and Gerhard Wall (Zagradovka), Johann and Aganetha Dueckmann (Orenburg), Helena and Gerhard Derksen (Alexandertal, Molotschna), Anna Dueckmann, Wilhelm and Anna (Warkentin) Dueckmann (Zagradovka), and Anna, Jacob and Cornelius. This genealogy is being put onto computer and will be available on the Family Tree Maker program. Contact: Kathy Peters, RR 2, Didsbury, AB TOM OWO.

Martens - I am looking for information about Maria Martens who married Peter P. Hildebrand (1871-1947) in 1892. Maria died Sept. 6, 1899 leaving three daughters. Peter P. and Maria Hildebrand lived in Steinfeld, Shlakhtin Colony near Krivoy Rog, South Russia. Contact: John Friesen, 104-1850 Henderson Hwy., Winnipeg, MB R2G 1P2.

Vasilovka - I have a map that my grandfather (Jacob A. Nickel, 1895-1990) drew of the village he emigrated from in 1903. It is near the villages of Petrovka, Barvenkovo, Bazebutevka and Shavrovye. I would like information about the village of Vasilovka or the families who emigrated with my grandfather. Please contact: Wesley Nickel, 2402 Wiltse Dr., Penticton, BC V2A 7Y9.

Recent Books

This book traces the ancestors and descendants of Isaak Derksen (1864-1926) and Helene Bergen (1865-1945) who lived in Neuendorf, Chortitza, Russia. Included are the family's stories of life in Russia. Over half of the descendants left Russia during the 1920s. Others came to Germany during the 1940s. The stories are presented in German and English and interspersed with many photographs. Contact: Isaac Bergen, 1675 Gladwin Road, Abbotsford, BC V2S 4N5.

Marvin Bahnman. Our Heritage : 1997 Birthday Calendar and Family Directory : Descendants of Rev. Nicolai and Meta Clara Bahnman. (Fort Worth, Texas: Private publication, 1997) pb., 54 pp.

This item consists of a 1997 monthly calendar, one photograph for each month, and family members' names on the appropriate date signifying their birthdate. Included are additional pages with genealogical charts and addresses of the descendants of Nicolai W. Bahnman (1879-1945) and Meta C. Bahnman (1887-1975). Contact: Marvin Bahnman, 7709 Grassland Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76133.

Isaac Bergen. The Solomon Bergen Family 1831-1995 (Abbotsford, BC: Private publication, 1995) hdc., 447 pp.

The focus of this book is on the descendants of Solomon Bergen (1831-1897) who was married first to Anna Penner (1831-1865) and then married to Susanna Klassen (1849-1920). From these marriages there came 12 children with descendants. This book includes the ancestry of the families traced back to Bernhard von Bergen (1769-1809) who left the Danzig area in 1789 and settled in Chortitza, Russia. The book includes stories printed in German and English, and many photographs of the descendants. Contact: Isaac Bergen, 1675 Gladwin Road, Abbotsford, BC V2S 4N5.

Send inquiries to Alf Redekopp, 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M4 or 169 Riverton Ave., Winnipeg, MB R2L 2E5. E-mail: aredek@mbnet.mb.ca

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Winkler Bible School: A Significant Chapter in the History of Mennonites and Mennonite Brethren Education

On 20 April 1997 Winkler Bible School celebrated its final commencement. This marked the end of 72 years of operation of the school. It may have seemed like a local event, but in many ways the history of this school relates to a much larger context of Mennonite theological education in Russia and in Canada.

The predecessor of the Winkler Bible School was the Tschongrav Bible School, officially registered under the name "Mennonite Theological Seminary." It was also known as the "Crimea" Bible school and the "Pniel" Bible school. This school was established in the village of Tschongrav in Central Crimea by the Mennonite Brethren Conference in Russia in 1918. The man who was appointed the leader was Johann J. Wiens who had been a missionary in India and was not allowed to return. Two other teachers were appointed--Abraham H. Unruh and Gerhard J. Reimer.

The Tschongrav Bible School functioned for six years until 1924 when it was permanently closed by the Soviet authorities. It had the distinction of being the first Bible and theological training school established by the Mennonites in Russia. Two others, the Mayak Bible School at Davlekonowo and the Orenburg Bible School, were established in the 1920s but they functioned for three or four years only before being shut down also.

Shortly after the Tschongrav Bible School was closed, many Mennonites sought refuge in Canada. A. H. Unruh was among the early refugees. Shortly after his arrival in Winkler, Manitoba, he was asked to begin a Bible school which became Pniel Bible School and, eventually, Winkler Bible School. The other colleagues from Tschongrav, Reimer and Wiens, soon joined him on the faculty. Essentially the new school became a transplant of the institution which they had headed in the Crimean peninsula.

The story did not end there, however. When the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (at that time known as the "Northern District" of the General Conference of MBs) decided to establish a Bible college in Winnipeg in 1944. Abraham H. Unruh was asked to be its first president. This created significant concern in the Winkler constituency both because they did not want to lose Unruh and because there was a feeling that, in effect, this was a move of part of the Bible school itself to a new location. Many had hoped that the more advanced theological education program would be an extension to the already existing Bible school program. Some advanced classes were indeed conducted for a short period of time.

In the fall of 1944 the Mennonite Brethren Bible College opened. President Unruh was the significant thread of continuity from the first school at Tschongrav, in the Crimea, to Winkler in southern Manitoba, and finally to the city of Winnipeg. MBBC was the first advanced theological educational institution established by Mennonites in Canada and in its first years also attracted a large number of students from the Conference of Mennonites in Canada (particularly from the Russlaender immigrants, frequently referred to as Kirchliche).

The Mennonite Brethren Bible College closed in 1992 to make way for a new institution, Concord College. Then, in March, 1997, a proposal was placed before the Manitoba Mennonite Brethren Conference which would have involved, to a considerable degree, an amalgamation of the Winkler Bible School and Concord College. This was not approved and consequently, with the closing of WBS, Concord College has been left as the only school with some links to the first Mennonite school in Russia. The proposed federation of colleges in Winnipeg in some ways will further strain the threads of continuity of Mennonite Brethren theological education which began in Russia. In other ways though, such a federation may be reminiscent of these early efforts to establish an inter-Mennonite theological school in Russia in the early Soviet period.

Book Reviews

Reviewed by Barb Froese

Reading Profiles of Anabaptist Women is like finding an old diary in the attic that contains page after page of fascinating family history previously undiscovered. This book contains the stories of unsung heroes ­ often the wives of Anabaptist martyrs and church leaders, the "invisible" women who were in the background and frequently ignored by the authorities, but who provided the essential leadership, strength and continuity that enabled the underground movement to survive.

Editors C. Arnold Snyder and Linda A. Huebert Hecht have compiled the writings of nineteen different authors in order to take us on a journey that traces the history of women in the Anabaptist movement throughout the countries of Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Holland. These profiles are developed from information gleaned from sixteenth-century letters, hymns, poems, government records and court transcripts. The letters and trial records provide anecdotal details that add colour and interest to the personalities described.

The stories range from the activities of the "ordinary women" of Augsburg in southern Germany, where a woman like Barbara Schleiffer hosted "sewing circles" for the purpose of gathering women together for Bible reading and commentary, to the activities of noblewomen like Helena von Freyburg, who, after being re-baptized, was forced to leave the comfort of her castle home in Tirol for a life of exile.

The book includes excerpts from letters written by noblewomen Magdalena von Pappenheim and Helena Streicher in the so-called "war of the radical ladies" as they argued or supported the opposing theologies of leaders Marpeck and Schwenkfeld. In another chapter, one learns of the emerging theology of the Hutterite Brethren through the hymns that were written about the characters, lives and deeds of women martyrs.

Snyder and Hecht make the apt observation: "Making visible the lives of women from the past benefits us all by bringing needed balance to the historical memory of humanity" (p. 1). This book has helped to bring that balance to the history of Anabaptism. Profiles of Anabaptist Women could be used for classroom study as well as for personal growth and inspiration.

Barb Froese is co-pastor of the Laird Mennonite Church in Laird, SK.

Born Hutterite (Montreal: National Film Board of Canada, 1997) 48 mins. $30.00 and Migration North: Mennonites in Mexico (Winnipeg: Mennonite Central Committee, 1995) ca. 35 mins. $20.00. Two videos.

Reviewed by Abe Dueck.

Born Hutterite is the story of two former Hutterites, Mary Wipf and Samuel Hofer, who left their colonies under very different circumstances and made very different pilgrimages following their exits from their respective colonies. And yet there is a common thread that ties the two stories together. The narrative moves back and forth between the two individuals and their reflections on their experiences. The account is interwoven by a number of scenes from the Pincher Creek Hutterite colony in Alberta, in which a Hutterite minister and several colony members defend the life and principles of the Hutterites. The ideals of the colony as a closely- knit family where all members are loved and find economic and spiritual security are juxtaposed with the deep disappointment which Mary feels with a system that let her down when she needed help and with the repressive and closed worldview that Sam encountered when he tried to explore the world beyond.

Sam left a colony near Moose Jaw, SK in 1983 and, after wandering for some time, eventually became a one-man book publisher called Hofer Publishers. He has published four Hutterite cookbooks and two works of fiction. He now refers to himself as a universalist, taking the best from all religions. He is especially critical of what he calls "fundamentalism".

Mary, on the other hand, left the colony near Sioux Falls, SD after years of struggling with a large family and an alcoholic husband. Her husband told her, "I have to drink to live here." But treatment outside the colony did not heal him either, and eventually Mary divorced him. She studied to become a practical nurse and struggled to keep her large family together. Three of her boys returned to the colony. Mary now worships in an evangelical (fundamentalist?) church.

Sam and Mary both still retain deep emotional ties with their past and would like to be remembered fondly by their relatives and associates on the colonies. But they know that this is unlikely. In one of her concluding comments Mary states that she would like the Hutterite ministers to hold her up as a mirror, showing how the system failed all of them - her husband, her children and herself. The main thrust of the video, therefore, is very unsympathetic toward the Hutterite community. The Hutterites themselves are defensive and unconvincing as they try to represent the ideals of community life.

The second video, Migration North: Mennonites from Mexico, is much shorter and more descriptive. The story is told primarily by Gladys Terichow, although there are many segments where Mexican Mennonites are allowed to speak for themselves. Their Low German speech, of course, is translated. Again, there are those like the ministers who defend their system and those who find it too repressive and without economic promise. More liberal persons, we are told, leave for Canada, whereas others move to Belize, Bolivia and Argentina. The poorest can not afford to leave Mexico. The situation of the Mexican Mennonites as a whole is desperate, although it is described more sympathetically than the Hutterite situation in the previous video. Bill Janzen, one of the MCC workers in Mexico, states that change is inevitable, but that change need not mean the loss of their value system. This may be too idealistic. Value systems are an integral part of all of life and cannot remain undisturbed when other fundamental changes are made. Part of the problem is with the value system itself.

These videos both give interesting and valuable insights into the nature of the respective communities and are an excellent educational resource.

Abe Dueck is the director of the Centre for MB Studies, Winnipeg, MB.

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Book Notes

New Publications from Steinbach MB: Jerry Hildebrand, assisted by Doreen Klassen, Training Servant Leaders: A History of Steinbach Bible College (Steinbach, MB, 1997), pb, 160 pp., $19.95; Harvey Plett, Seeking to be Faithful: The Story of the Evangelical Mennonite Conference (Steinbach, MB, 1996), pb., 188 pp., $6.95; David Schellenberg, ed., Great is Thy Faithfulness...: 50 Years of Resthaven 1946-1996 (Steinbach, MB, 1997), pb., 102 pp., $9.35.

Genealogists may take note of a newsletter now on the scene, titled The Ratzlaff Report. Contact Patricia Goff, Box 1482, Elgin, Il 60121-1482.

We also want to note two publications from Good Books in Lancaster, PA. They are Mennonite Women of Lancaster County: A Story in Photographs from 1855-1935, written and compiled by Joanne Hess Siegrist (pb., 220 pp., $14.95 US); and Joseph C. Shenk's Silver Thread: The Ups and Downs of a Mennonite Family in Mission 1895-1995 (pb., 250 pp.).

Finally, we note as well a title from LOGOS Verlag in Germany: Johannes Reimer, Auf der Suche Nach Identitaet: Russlanddeutsche zwischen Baptisten und Mennoniten nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg (Lage, Germany, 1996), pb., 166 pp., 16.80 DM (ca. $15.00 CAN).

For more information on these titles contact the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.