Enns, Anna G. (1918-2009)

Anna G. Enns: mission worker in the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo); born 14 July 1918, to David J. (1888-1966) and Elizabeth (Reddig) (1889-1966) Enns in Chinook, Montana, USA. She was the third of four children born to her parents, and she also had one stepbrother. Anna died in Hillsboro, Kansas, USA on 20 June 2009.

At the age of thirteen, Anna was baptized on 1 November 1931, and joined the Mennonite Brethren Church in Lehigh, Kansas. After she completed high school, she continued her education at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas, and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago,Illinois. While she was at Tabor, she felt a call to go into missions and decided to begin by helping in her local church with Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, summer camps and child evangelism. In July 1944, she applied to work in Africa with the Mennonite Brethren Board of Foreign Missions, and she was ordained for service in Africa on 23 September 1945. She left the United States in November 1945 and went to the Belgian Congo, where she worked in Djongo Sanga, Kafumba and Kipungu. Kafumba was officially established as a mission station in 1943, just two years before Anna arrived in Africa. The Kipungu station, which opened in 1948, had a strong emphasis on evangelism and had a church in addition to an elementary school, student residences and a medical dispensary.

In 1950, Enns returned to the United States for her first furlough and continued her studies at Tabor College. During this time, she continued to help the church with child evangelism and other children’s programs.  She began her second term in early 1952 and continued to work in the Belgian Congo until she and the other mission workers were forced to leave during the civil war in the 1960s. Most of the mission property was destroyed during this time, and most of the mission stations were not rebuilt even after the workers were able to return following the war. Instead, the work moved mainly to the village of Kajiji in the southern part of the country and Kikwit, which was farther north.

After her retirement from mission work in Africa, Anna returned to the United States, settling in Hillsboro, Kansas. She joined the Parkside Mennonite Brethren Church and continued to be active in her home city and elsewhere in the United States. In her later years, she went to live at Salem Home for the Aged in Hillsboro. She died at the home on 20 June 2009.

Anna G. Enns was a dedicated missionary who used her skills to help people in the United States and the Belgian Congo, particularly in the areas of children’s ministries and evangelism. Through her devotion to her work and her enthusiasm, she was an example to the people around her.

Bibliography

"Anna G. Enns." Mennonite Weekly Review. 87 (6 July 2009). Reproduced in MennObits."Mennonite Weekly Review - July 2009." Web. 19 February 2013. http://www.mcusa-archives.org/mennobits/Mennonite%20Weekly%20Review/MWR%202009/07-jul%202009.htm.

Burkholder, Byron, ed. They Saw His Glory: Stories of Conversion and Service. Winnipeg, MB: Kindred Press, 1984: 38.

GRANDMA (The Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry) Database, 7.02 ed. Fresno, CA: California Mennonite Historical Society, 2013: 254115.

Peters, G. W. Foundations of Mennonite Brethren Missions. Winnipeg, MB: Kindred Press, 1984.

Author(s)	Susan Huebert
Date Published	February 2013

Cite This Article

MLA style

Huebert, Susan. "Enns, Anna G. (1918-2009)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2013. Web. 18 Dec 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Enns,_Anna_G._(1918-2009)&oldid=123740.

APA style

Huebert, Susan. (February 2013). Enns, Anna G. (1918-2009). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 December 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Enns,_Anna_G._(1918-2009)&oldid=123740.

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