Rosenort Mennonite Church (General Conference Mennonite), located in the Rosthern district of  Saskatchewan, 50 miles north of Saskatoon, began in 1891, when five families came to the prairies at Rosthern. On July 2, 1894, Elder Peter Regier, who had come from the Rosenort church in West Prussia the year before, helped the Rosenort Mennonite Church to organize. In 1896 the first Rosenort church was dedicated in Eigenheim, six miles west of Rosthern. It was rebuilt in 1902. The next year the church in Rosthern was built. In 1910 three churches were built: in Aberdeen (on the right side of the South Saskatchewan River), about 25 miles south of Rosthern, and in Laird and Tiefengrund, 13 miles and 18 miles west and northwest of Rosthern. In 1911 Hague, about 14 miles south of Rosthern, built a church. All of these belonged to the Rosenort congregation. In 1913 David Toews was elected as elder. In 1929  Johannes Regier, son of Elder Peter Regier, was elected as elder to help David Toews, who was commonly called bishop, especially by the government and the daily papers. Eigenheim became self-sustaining in 1929. Besides Hague, churches were acquired at Hochfeld and Neuanlage. The church in Hague was rebuilt in 1929. In 1945 a church was built at Hochfeld and in 1946 the old Hague church was moved to Neuanlage. The Osler church, about 10 miles south of Hague (built in 1928), joined the Rosenort church in 1931. In 1932 Saskatoon organized a congregation which joined Rosenort until 1938. Capasin, about 100 miles northwest of Rosthern, built a church in 1933. The Garthland and Horse Lake (about 25 miles north of Rosthern) congregations, which have their own meetinghouses, also belong to Rosenort. In September 1946 Johann G. Rempel was ordained as elder.

In 1954 the Rosenort congregation divided into two parts because of its unwieldy size. The congregations are now known as the Rosenort Mennonite Church (Tiefengrund, Garthland, Capasin, Hague, Hochfeld, Neuanlage, and Aberdeen) with Arthur Regier of Tiefengrund as their elder, and the United Mennonite Church of Saskatchewan (Rosthern, Osler, Laird, and Horse Lake) with Jacob C. Schmidt of Rosthern as elder. They were both ordained at Rosthern by Elder Johann G. Rempel on 8 August 1954. The United Mennonite Church has about 700 members, and the Rosenort Mennonite Church has about 650 members. Assistant ministers of the Rosenort Mennonite Church are Henry T. Klassen (Hague), John Janzen (Neuanlage), Frank Koop (Aberdeen), A. E. Regier (Tiefengrund), J. J. Pauls (Garthland), George Heppner (Capasin), and of the United Church they are Art Friesen (Laird), Willie Janzen (Horse Lake), and J. H. Pauls (Osler).

These congregations now form part of Mennonite Church Saskatchewan.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 361. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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