View source for Coffman, Samuel Frederick (1872-1954)

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[[File:18.jpg|300px|thumb|right|''S. F. Coffman in 1952.<br />
Photo by David Hunsberger. MAO 1992-1-18 '']]
Samuel Frederick Coffman: pastor in [[Vineland (Ontario, Canada)|Vineland]] and a leading bishop in the [[Mennonite Conference of Ontario and Quebec|Mennonite Church in Ontario]]; born on 11 June 1872 near Dale Enterprise, [[Rockingham County (Virginia, USA) |Rockingham County]], [[Virginia (USA)|Virginia]], the son of Preacher [[Coffman, John S. (1848-1899)|John S. and Elizabeth J. (Heatwole) Coffman]]. On 20 November 1901 he married Ella Mann (d. 1935) of [[Elkhart (Indiana, USA)|Elkhart]], [[Indiana (USA)|Indiana]]. They had five children, all born in Vineland: John, Magdalena, David, Barbara, and Ellen.

Samuel spent most of his school years in [[Elkhart County (Indiana, USA)|Elkhart County]], Indiana, where his family had moved in 1879. He graduated from the Elkhart High School in 1890, one of the first Mennonite high school graduates in the Middle West. He attended the Moody Bible Institute 1894-1895 and for six months in 1897-1898. From 1890-1894 he worked for the [[Mennonite Publishing Company (Elkhart, Indiana, USA)|Mennonite Publishing Company]] in Elkhart. He was converted at meetings held in Elkhart by his father and was baptized on 26 May 1888. He was elected superintendent of the Elkhart Mennonite Sunday school on 28 December 1893. In 1894-1895 he served in the [[Mennonite Home Mission (Chicago, Illinois, USA)|Mennonite Home Mission]] in [[Chicago (Illinois, USA)|Chicago]]. Here he was ordained to the ministry on 21 April 1895, by [[Funk, John Fretz (1835-1930)|John F. Funk]] of Elkhart; he was ordained bishop in Vineland, Ontario, on 26 September 1903.

Coffman served widely in his denomination beyond the borders of his own congregation and conference. He was moderator of the [[Mennonite Conference of Ontario and Quebec|Ontario Conference]] in 1931-1934, and moderator of the [[Mennonite Church General Conference|General Conference]] in 1911 and 1933. He also served as secretary of the General Conference for a time. He was a member of the following General Conference committees: Music Committee from its beginning in 1911 until 1947; [[Peace Problems Committee (Mennonite Church)|Peace Problems Committee]] 1925-1949; [[Historical Committee of the Mennonite Church|Historical Committee]] from its inception in 1911 and its chairperson from 1911 until 1947; [[General Sunday School Committee of the Mennonite Church|General Sunday School Committee]] from its beginning in 1915 until it was incorporated into the [[Mennonite Commission for Christian Education (Mennonite Church)|Commission for Christian Education and Young People's Work]] in 1937. He served for a time on the Missions Committee of the [[Mennonite Board of Missions (Mennonite Church)|Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities]]. He served on the [[Mennonite Board of Education (Mennonite Church)|Mennonite Board of Education]] from its inception in 1905 until about 1944, serving as secretary for about 20 years. He also served on the [[Mennonite Publication Board (Mennonite Church)|Publication Board]] and its Publishing Committee. He was the founder and served as principal of the [[Ontario Mennonite Bible School and Institute (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada)|Ontario Mennonite Bible School]] in [[Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario, Canada)|Kitchener]], Ontario, 1907-1947. He was editor of the Bible study department of the <em>[[Christian Monitor (Periodical)|Christian Monitor]] </em>from the beginning of its publication in 1909 until 1953. During his service as hymn editor of the Music Committee the following books appeared at Scottdale, Pa.: <em>Church and Sunday School Hymnal Supplement </em>(1911); <em>Life Songs </em>(1916), of which he was co-editor; <em>Church Hymnal (1927)</em>; <em>Songs of Cheer for Children </em>(1928); and <em>Life Songs No. 2 </em>(1938), of which he was editor.

He served as pastor of the [[First Mennonite Church (Vineland, Ontario, Canada)|Moyer]] congregation in Vineland from 1902 until he died in 1954, and as bishop of the Niagara District from 1903. He was a charter member of the [[Nonresistant Relief Organization (NRRO)|Nonresistant Relief Organization in Ontario]], organized in 1918, and its secretary 1920-1950. In 1918 he was appointed the special correspondent with the Canadian government regarding military service and the immigration of the Russian Mennonites. He was associated with the [[Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization|Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization]] 1922-1944 and actively aided the immigration from [[Russia|Russia]] to [[Ontario (Canada)|Ontario]] 1922-1925. In his earlier ministry he was widely used in Bible conference and evangelistic work. In 1901 on a commission from the Ontario Conference he organized a number of congregations and ordained ministers and deacons in [[Alberta (Canada)|Alberta]]. He died in Vineland on 28 June 1954. He was one of the outstanding figures of the [[Mennonite Church (MC)|Mennonite Church (MC)]] throughout his more than half-century of service in the ministry, and made an extraordinary and lasting contribution to it, always a man of vision, constructive and peace-loving, widely beloved and highly regarded.
= Bibliography =
Bender, Urie. <em>Four Earthen Vessels: Biographical Profiles of Oscar Burkholder, Samuel F. Coffman, Clayton F. Derstine, and Jesse B. Martin</em>. Kitchener, Ontario: Herald Press, 1982.

<h3>Archival Records</h3>
Papers at [https://uwaterloo.ca/mennonite-archives-ontario/ Mennonite Archives of Ontario]
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[[Category:Persons]]