Johann Remkes, the last lay preacher of the Krefeld Mennonite congregation, was born 16 March 1714, and was ordained to the min­istry on 17 October 1754, by Winand Wynands (b. 1702, preacher 1727-77). On 13 June 1769, Remkes as preacher and Heinrich van der Leyen as deacon, both aged men, wrote an illuminating let­ter to the Lam en Toren congregation of Amster­dam asking for ministerial help. The letter gives much interesting information on the Krefeld congregation (see a long excerpt, Mennonitisches Lexikon III, 647). Remkes died 3 January 1770. The first educated minister was then called in 1770; it was not de Vries, but Wopko Molenaar and Zino van Abbema.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 295. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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