The Sommerfeld Mennonite Church

by Jake E. Peters

In the late 1870s and early 1880s over half of the Bergthal people who had settled in Manitoba moved from the East to the West Reserve. By 1882 they had a functioning Gemeinde led by Ältester Johann Funk. Fairly quickly, it became clear however that Funk's agenda departed from accepted Bergthaler practice and teaching¹.

To the East Reserve Ältester David Stoesz it seemed the division was related to higher education. Also very significant were Funk's emphases on personal conversion and foreign missions². It should be noted that the new school in Gretna functioned under Wilhelm Rempel's leadership in 1889-1890 with greater than expected public support and without precipitating a church split. Internal differences only hardened into a formal division after H.H. Ewert from Kansas was recruited (with Manitoba Government assistance) to come and head the school.

From the fall of 1891 until March 1894 the majority who were no longer willing to put up with Funk were served by Ältester David Stoesz with communion and baptism. Abraham Doerksen (Ältester, 1894-1922) oversaw the rebuilding of the church and its extension into Saskatchewan and Alberta. A variety of educational issues plagued the church. A significant number of Sommerfelder children were affected when the Roblin government passed a law in 1907 requiring all public schools to fly the Union Jack. Many schools returned to the private system. In 1916 the Norris government passed a law requiring all children to attend public schools. This led to a further reversion to private schools, but the government did not permit this and proceeded to set up public schools in the communities and fine parents whose children did not attend.

The result of these difficulties was that about 600 Sommerfelder people emigrated to Mexico and another 357 emigrated to Paraguay in the 1920s. The remaining members adapted as well as they could to the new realities. A new Ältester, Heinrich J. Friesen, was elected since Abraham Doerksen had chosen to emigrate.

The 1930s confronted the church with another round of revivalism. Four ministers were strongly affected by evangelistic meetings held in the Reinfeld-Winkler areas in February 1934 and eventually proceeded to form their own Rudnerweider Gemeinde.

The experience of sending their younger men to CO work under government control during World War II and the sense of the world encroaching on the church led some 564 people to emigrate to Paraguay in 1948.

The late 1950s saw another split where the most conservative element left the church. Ironically the stresses after the war, and the Paraguay emigration, brought the church to its lowest ebb, where it had a bare 2,000 members. However, it also created an environment that was less contentious. It was now possible to build a viable community, committed to a life of discipleship and to embark on a program of gradual reform as the brotherhood saw fit; Ältester Johann A. Friesen oversaw this process from 1955 until his retirement in 1993.

The Sommerfeld Church has been misunderstood by outsiders (and sometimes even by insiders). It was never irrevocably opposed to either public elementary or higher education. They accepted that their members made up a significant element at the Mennonite high schools in Gretna and Altona³. What they did feel was that education "often ... alienates them (youth) from their parents, from our rural communities and from our congregations."⁴ They feared as well that it did not contribute to humility. Finally, they did not accept that education qualified one for the ministry. The calling from the Gemeinde as the instrument of God was what fitted one for the ministry.

The Sommerfeld Church throughout the greater part of its history has, unlike the Old Colony (Reinländer) Gemeinde, left many things to the individual conscience. Participation in municipal politics, blood donations, or Federal pension and family allowance schemes were all explicitly left to the individual's conscience. Perhaps even more significantly, the decisions to emigrate in any of the migrations was left to the individual, without overtones of unfaithfulness if he chose to remain in Manitoba.

Finally, over the past century the Sommerfeld Gemeinde has been blessed with strong capable leadership. Interestingly Ältester Doerksen, H.J. Friesen, P.A. Toews, and P.M. Friesen all had experience in municipal government. Through internal divisions, depressions, wars, emigrations, and prosperity, they have guided the church ably and faithfully.

Endnotes

1. See Johann Funk "Erklärung" Christliche Bundesbote, 5 May 1892, p.5.

2. Dennis Stoesz, "A History of the Chortitzer Mennonite Church of Manitoba, 1874-1914", MA Thesis, U. of Manitoba, 1987, p.67.

3. See "General Decree for the Private Schools of the Sommerfleder Mennonite Congregation" in Gerhard John Ens, The Rural Municipality of Rhineland, 1884-1984 (Altona, MB: RM of Rhineland), p.284, point#6.

4. See Peter Bergen, History of the Sommerfeld Mennonite Church (forthcoming), 1907 Brotherhood minutes, point#2.

Elmer Heinrichs, Martha Martens, Otto Hamm, Henry Ens (MMHS News & Notes, 125^th Manitoba Mennonite Anniversary), Bruce Wiebe, Abe Rempel (West Reserve Gemeinde histories), Conrad Stoesz (Book Reviews & Notes)

Ed Hoeppner (chair), Irene Kroeker, Elmer Heinrichs

The Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society Newsletter, Heritage Posting, welcomes letters and reports pertaining to the historical interests of society members. Correspondence can be mailed to Bert Friesen, 169 Riverton Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2L 2E5, or e-mailed to the editor at editor@mmhs.org