Niverville Mennonite Church (Niverville, Manitoba, Canada)
When many Mennonites emigrated to Mexico from the Niverville, MB area in the 1920s, they created the opportunity for recent Russian Mennonite immigrants to settle. These families began to meet for worship in 1926 and affiliated themselves with the Schoenwieser Gemeinde. The desire to become independent grew and so in 1944 the Niverville Mennonite Church emerged. They purchased their own meeting house in 1944. The membership in 1958 was 148. In 1958 they built a new larger meeting house which was expanded in 1967 and again in 1976. Dietrich Koop, David Hauseknecht, and Jacob Klassen are considered the founding leaders of the group. The congregation met together with the Mennonite Brethren in the early years.
In 1950 there were 90 members; in 1965, 173; in 1975, 109; in 1985, 188; in 1995, 160; in 2000, 148; in 2006, 160. The congregation has been affiliated with Mennonite Church Manitoba, Mennonite Church Canada (1946-) and General Conference Mennonite Church (1953-2001). The language of worship is English; the transition from German occurred in the 1970s.
The pastoral leaders of the congregation have included Johann Braun (1928-1952), Jacob Klassen (1933-1962), Dietrich Koop (1928-1930), Peter Dirks (1937-1939), John Krahn (1958-1965), Albert Loeppky (1964-1972), Peter Janzen (1969-1970), John Siemens (1971-1981), Del Epp (1982-1986, 1997), Clarence Epp (1987-1991), Erwin Wiebe (1992), John Lenshyn (1993-1996), Paul Adams (1998-2006).
Box 117, 112 3rd Ave. South, Niverville, MB, R0A 1E0. (204) 388-4645.
Bibliography
Canadian Mennonite (12 September 1958): 8.
Mennonite Reporter (15 September 1986): 14.
CMC Nexus (December 1995): 7.
Loeppky, Otto. "Niverville Mennonite Church." Research paper, Canadian Mennonite Bible College, 1965, 17 pp. Mennonite Heritage Centre.
Krahn, Erica. "Niverville Mennonite Church." Research paper, Canadian Mennonite Bible College, 1978, 18 pp. Mennonite Heritage Centre.
Church records at Mennonite Heritage Centre.
Additional Information
©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.
To cite this page:
MLA style: Krahn, Cornelius and Marlene Epp. "Niverville Mennonite Church (Niverville, Manitoba, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 1989. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/N5884ME.html>
APA style: Krahn, Cornelius and Marlene Epp. (February 1989). "Niverville Mennonite Church (Niverville, Manitoba, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/N5884ME.html>
