North Enid Mennonite Brethren Church (Enid, Oklahoma, USA)
The North Enid Mennonite Brethren Church, also known as the Enid Country Mennonite Brethren Church, was located three miles (five km) north of Enid in Garfield County, Oklahoma. In the 1950s it was one of two Mennonite Brethren congregations in the area, the other being the City Mennonite Brethren Church located in Enid.
Shortly after the opening of the Cherokee Strip in north-central Oklahoma, 1893, Mennonites began to settle in this area. Mennonite Brethren from Hamilton County, Nebraska, some of whom had come to America in the 1874 immigration from Russia, were among the original 30 charter members who organized as a congregation 5 April 1897. Klaas Penner was elected as their first leader in 1895; Peter Regier became the first ordained minister (1897 ff.) to serve this congregation as a pastor. In the years that followed others came from Nebraska as well as Kansas and the Dakotas.
The first meetinghouse was built and dedicated in 1898; this was replaced by a larger building (40 x 60 feet) in 1911, which was still used for worship in the mid-1950s. Two smaller buildings were used for Sunday school classrooms. A parsonage in Enid was purchased in 1954. For several decades after 1921 the church operated a Bible school.
Though most of the early members were farmers, by the mid-1950s about half of the members lived in Enid. In its first 60 years of existence more than 400 were baptized and received into its membership; its 1957 membership was 212.
During its first six decades the following ministers served this congregation: Peter Regier, John Bese, John D. Hiebert, Gerhard Voth, P. P. Regier, Cornelius Grunau, G. A. Wiens, D. J. Dick, J. K. Siemens, A. A. Smith, P. C. Grunau, R. C. Seibel, and Clarence Hiebert.
Bibliography
Grunau, P. C. ''North Enid Mennonite Brethren Church." Mennonite Life 9 (October 1954).
Additional Information
©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.
To cite this page:
MLA style: Hiebert, Clarence. "North Enid Mennonite Brethren Church (Enid, Oklahoma, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 12 May 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/N67722.html>
APA style: Hiebert, Clarence. (1957). "North Enid Mennonite Brethren Church (Enid, Oklahoma, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 12 May 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/N67722.html>
