The Chortitz Church is now 102 Years Old

by Jacob Doerksen

Southeastern Manitoba's oldest Mennonite meeting place still in use is located about five and a half miles west of Steinbach and one mile north of Highway 52 in the former village of Chortitz (now the postal district of Randolph). Built in 1897 it has been in continuous use by the original conference which built it.

Starting in 1874 two larger Mennonite church groups immigrated to southeastern Manitoba, the Kleinegemeinde from Borozenko west of the Chortitza Colony, and the congregation from Bergthal Colony, north of Mariupol on the Azov Sea. The Bergthal Ältester, Gerhard Wiebe, settled near the middle of the reserve in the new village of Chortitz. A few years later this became the site of the first church building on the reserve.

By the mid 1890s it was decided that the pioneer building should be replaced. Even though no documented support has been found, according to oral tradition it may have been damaged by fire or lightning. During the winter of 1897 building materials were hauled in with construction starting in spring. Gerhard Schroeder, chief carpenter, organized the work and by June 19 they were ready for the dedication. According to a newspaper article of that time, much enthusiasm was created by this event.

In the years following other church buildings were built in other locations but Chortitz and maybe to a degree also Grünthal remained the main churches for the next fifty or sixty years. During the sixties, seventies and eighties however new and larger more modern buildings were built, and Chortitz slowly lost its status. It now houses one of the smaller congregations of the conference.

Over the years the church in Chortitz played a major role in Manitoba Mennonite history. It was the first Mennonite meeting place constructed in Manitoba by the largest south Russian Mennonite group to immigrate to Canada during the 1870s. It is the" Mother church" for all those who came from Bergthal settlement.

When the Bergthaler people came to Manitoba they all settled on the East Reserve. They built their first meeting hourse in Chortitz in 1877. They referred to themselves as the Mennonite Church (Gemeinde) at Chortitz, and hence the name Chortitz in today's Chortitzer Mennonite Conference.

From this original church body have sprung up the Bergthaler and Sommerfelder congregations on the former West Reserve, as well as their branches in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Mexico, and elsewhere. The Menno and Bergthal churches in Paraguay and their affliates in Bolivia and elsewhere have their roots here also.

The first division of the church occurred in 1882. A new Ältester was ordained on the West Reserve for the Bergthal group which had left the East Reserve to settle west of the river. This group who had been joined by Mennonite from other parts of Russia was not blessed by unity. Within a few years a split occurred over modernization in both schools and church. The majority of the people involved once more came to Chortitz and asked for help to establish yet another church. As a result three distinct churches came into existence out of what once was the Bergthal colony Church in Chortitz. The first and original were the Chortitzer. The second and smallest was one of the the first churches formed on the West Reserve. It used the former Russian name, Bergthal or Bergthaler, and the last one became known as Sommerfelder because its Ältester lived in the village of Sommerfeld near Altona. Both Mennonite migrations from Canada to Paraguay during the 1920s and the late 1940s also originated in Chortitz or one of the churches mentioned above.

Even though the church at Chortitz has seen many changes the building itself has experienced relatively few. It has remained intact, still having almost the same features as it had when it was first built. Most of the original woodwork still exists both inside and out. Only a few rooms have been added inside, the heating system has been replaced and the seating arrangement has been changed.

The building was constructed at a time when weddings and funerals were held in homes, and Sunday schools had not yet started. These facilities were later provided for in separate buildings. At present the building is in its senior years. Originally it was slated for closure in 1975 but a small group of worshippers decided that they would like to keep it open for Sunday morning worship.

Worship services are conducted every Sunday in the German language with singing from the Mennonite Gesangbuch. The congregation also maintains the original cemetery across the street. Today this group is aging together with the building and is not sure what the future has in store for it. For the present the church remains open for those who wish to come and worship here.

Jacob Doerksen is a local historian who resides in the Niverville area.