Schoenwiese Mennonite Church group (Manitoba)
This group of congregations was part of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada, and merged into the Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba. When the Mennonite refugees from the Soviet Union came to Canada in 1923, Elder Johann Peter Klassen of Schönwiese in Ukraine gathered 22 new Mennonite settlements in Manitoba into one church, which was first called the Starbuck Mennonite Church, but changed to Schoenwiese in 1929.
The Schoenwiese congregation expanded to Springstein (1939), Schoenfeld (1939), Steinbach (1942, in part from other congregations), Niverville (1944), Glenlea (1945) and North Kildonan (1956).
In 1958 the Schoenwiese congregation consisted of First Mennonite Church (Winnipeg) (1,026 members); Oak Lake (75 members); Petersfield (17 members); Steinbach (24 members) and scattered membership of 135. The elder in 1958 was Johann Hermann Enns.
Bibliography
Ens, Anna. In Search of Unity: Story of the Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba. Winnipeg: CMBC Publications, 1996.
Klassen, Is. Dem Herrn die Ehre: Schoenwieser Mennoniten Gemeinde von Manitoba, 1924-1968. Altona, MB: The Conference, 1969.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 471. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.
©1996-2010 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.
MLA style: Enns, John H. "Schoenwiese Mennonite Church group (Manitoba)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1958. Web. 16 March 2010. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S3647ME.html.
APA style: Enns, John H. (1958). Schoenwiese Mennonite Church group (Manitoba). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 March 2010, from http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S3647ME.html.
