Niedersachsen Source: Wikipedia Commons

In 1949 there were 2,800 Mennonites registered in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), most of them refugees from East and West Prussia. The unity among them was strengthened through their common origin, family relationships, and working together in receiving help from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). In the years following, those who wanted to be members of a congregation for personal faith reasons organized congregational groups as possible. Thus the groups in Luneburg and Celle belong to the Hannover congregation. Oldenburg belongs to the congregation at Leer. There are no Mennonite settlements in Lower Saxony.

The congregations are small: Oldenburg with 110 members, Gottingen with 125 members, Hannover with 115 members. They meet in facilities rented from other denominations. Not all ministers have received theological training. The congregations are members of the Vereinigung der Deutschen Mennonitengemeinden (Union of the German Mennonite Congregations) and work together with them in relief and the International Mennonite Organization. A youth worker, whose activities extend beyond the boundaries of the congregation, was being supported. New congregations were organized as immigrants arrive from Russia, for example, Wolfsburg with 50 members and Hannover with 38 members in 1987.  

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 631. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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