Fox Valley Mennonite Brethren Church (Fox Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada)

Fox Valley Mennonite Brethren Church, now extinct, was a rural congregation in the Fox Valley Rural Municipality No. 171 in western Saskatchewan between Maple Creek and Leader, on Highway 21. About 1913, Mennonite Brethren families, many from North Dakota, began settling on farms in the general area of Fox Valley and south. Some settled near Golden Prairie about 40 km. to the south west and others at Big Stick Lake about 20 km. east of Golden Prairie. In 1914 Ältester Benjamin Janz of Main Centre, Saskatchewan, organized this scattered group into the Fox Valley congregation and they became part of the Herbert Kreise (Circle) of the Northern District Conference. Johann Schneider was the leader of the Fox Valley congregation and it ordained first Wilhelm Derksen and then Johann Kröker of Golden Prairie.

The Fox Valley area was part of a much larger settlement of German Catholics from Russia known as The Prelate Colonies, which also held some strongly Protestant settlements, and this may have attracted these Mennonite Brethren immigrants for many had a Volga German background with some coming with Lutheran roots. They often lacked knowledge of Mennonite Brethren principles and practices resulting in misunderstandings and tensions. Leaders from the more established congregations of Herbert and Main Centre were called in to assist in resolving tensions. In addition to Benjamin Janz, Heinrich A. Neufeld (1865-1933) and Cornelius N. Hiebert visited Fox Valley as evangelists and Bible expositors. The congregation was never large. Several families moved to the Woodrow area of Saskatchewan and in 1926 or 1927 the congregation closed.

Bibliography

Harms, John F. Die Geschichte der Mennoniten Brüdergemeinde. Hillsboro, KS: Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1924.

Toews, John A. A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church. Hillsboro, KS: Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1975. Available in full electronic text at: https://archive.org/details/AHistoryOfTheMennoniteBrethrenChurch.

Additional Information

Fox Valley Mennonite Brethren Church Membership

Year	Members
1914	13
1921	35
1924: Fox Valley	18
1924: Big Stick Lake	16
1926	34

Author(s)	Victor G Wiebe
Date Published	September 2014

Cite This Article

MLA style

Wiebe, Victor G. "Fox Valley Mennonite Brethren Church (Fox Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. September 2014. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Fox_Valley_Mennonite_Brethren_Church_(Fox_Valley,_Saskatchewan,_Canada)&oldid=163461.

APA style

Wiebe, Victor G. (September 2014). Fox Valley Mennonite Brethren Church (Fox Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Fox_Valley_Mennonite_Brethren_Church_(Fox_Valley,_Saskatchewan,_Canada)&oldid=163461.

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