The Novopodolsk (Novo-Podolsk) Mennonite Brethren Church, located in Kherson province of South Russia (now Ukraine) in the village of Krivoy, had its beginning about 1895 when the Russian government tried to settle several communities with a mixed population, consisting of one-third Mennonites, one-third Russians, and one-third Jews, in the hope that the Mennonites would teach the others how to be prosperous farmers. These ethnic groups refused, however, to integrate, and the Mennonites organized the Mennonite Brethren Church under the leadership of Franz Peters, who was succeeded by Franz Wieler, assisted by Peter Unger and Gehard Wieler. Most of the first settlers, of whom Peter Unger, Franz Wieler, and Peter Krause are known by name, "came to this plains area from the Old Colony near Chortitza to escape population pressure at home. The membership is not known to have exceeded 75. In 1932 most of the ministers and able-bodied men were banished by the Soviet government, and the congregation disintegrated under the pressure of severe persecution.

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