View source for Nikolaipol Mennonite Brethren Church (Bakay-Ata, Talas Region, Kyrgyzstan)

The Nikolaipol Mennonite Brethren Church, located at Nikolaipol, [[Aulie-Ata Mennonite Settlement (Kazakhstan)|Aulie-Ata]] (now part of Taraz, Zhambyl, Kazakhstan), 150 miles (250 km) northeast of [[Tashkent (Toshkent Province, Uzbekistan)|Tashkent]] in [[Soviet Central Asia|Central Asia]], started as an independent [[Mennonite Brethren Church|Mennonite Brethren]] congregation among the followers of Abram Peters, and [[Epp, Claas (1838-1913)|Claas Epp]], who had come from the [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna]] and [[Am Trakt Mennonite Settlement (Samara Oblast, Russia)|Trakt]] settlements looking for a refuge to escape military service and to meet Christ at his second coming. This Mennonite Brethren church was freer in the form of baptism, admitting members who were not immersed. The organization of the church took place in 1887 (Dirks, 1889), with Heinrich Kröker as its first elder. In 1905 Heinrich Kröker was elder, assisted by the ministers Jakob Janzen, Jakob Mantler, Johann Klassen, Aron Dyck, and Franz Braun. The congregation at that time numbered 377, with 173 baptized members. The history of this church is not quite clear. Johannes Janzen gives the information that the Mennonite Brethren (MB) church underwent a reorganization challenged by the work of the more vital Evangelical Mennonite Church. The Nikolaipol Mennonite Brethren Church maintained a special status within the Mennonite Brethren Conference of Russia although fellowship was maintained (Friesen, 482). From all information available, this congregation must have been more or less independent. Little is known about the later development and the mid-20th century status of this congregation, although it could be assumed that it was still in existence.
= Bibliography =
Dirks, Heinrich. <em>Statistik der Mennonitengemeinden in Russland Ende 1905 (Anhang zum Mennonitischen Jahrbuche 1904/05)</em>. Gnadenfeld: Dirks, 1906: 58, 69.

Friesen, Peter M. <em>Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonitische Brüüderschaft in Russland (1789-1910) im Rahmen der mennonitischen Gesamtgeschichte</em>. Halbstadt: Verlagsgesellschaft "Raduga,” 1911

Janzen, J. "The Mennonite Colony in Turkestan." <em>Mennonite Quarterly Review </em>4 (1930): 282-289.

<em>Unser Blatt</em> (Schönsee, Russia : 1925): 10.
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