Mennonite Brethren Herald Collection

Born in Barvenkovo, South Russia, to Abraham H. and Katharina Toews Unruh, Abram A. Unruh (20 October 1903-7 September 1988) was a missionary in India for 32 years (1935-67). Having attended high school and polytechnical school at Simferopol, Crimea, Russia, he migrated to Canada with his parents in 1925, where he attended Winkler Bible School for four years, Ontario Bible College for one year, and Tabor College (BA, ThB). He taught at Dalmeny, SK, Bible School for four years and Winkler Bible School for one year before being ordained in 1935 by Mennonite Brethren and appointed as a missionary to India. He married Annie J. Enns of Winkler (21 October 1926), with whom he had five children: Peggy (m. Walter Regehr), Kathryn (m. Robert Des Roches), Helen (m. Oscar Epp), Louise (m. George Block), and Donald (m. Margie Unruh). In India he served mainly in Gadwal and Wanaparty with shorter terms at Nagarkurnool and Shamshabad. His entire missionary ministry of evangelism and nurture was dominated by an overarching concern for the development of an indigenous church and training its leadership, as seen in his establishing of elders institutes. In 1975, following the death of Annie J. Enns Unruh (1972) he married Mrs. Agatha Friesen (nee Klassen) of Waldheim, Saskatchewan, who died on 31 August 1983.  Abram Unruh died in Manitoba on 7 September 1988.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, pp. 899-900. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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