Jansen Bible Church (Jansen, Nebraska, USA)

The Jansen Bible Church is the oldest organized church in the conference that became known as the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren (EMB) denomination and now known as the Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches (FEBC). It was organized formally as the Ebenezer Church, though it was popularly called "Peter's Kirche" with thirteen families on 12 January 1879 who lived in the area surrounding the town Jansen, Nebraska. It was later known as the Jansen Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church. For the first eleven years this group worshiped in private homes or in the rural school house. Isaac Peters from York County, Nebraska was ordained Elder (Ältester) for this congregation and also for the ones in Henderson and Litchfield, Nebraska. He served for several years though the Ebenezer Church had its own pastors as did the other two. Services were in German. In 1890 on a plot of land on the east-west road a few kilometres west of Jansen the congregation constructed its first church building, 6.1 x 9.1m. (20 x 30 feet). Then with church growth in 1892 a 4.9 m. (16 feet) addition was built. On 19 June 1928 the church building was badly damaged by a violent tornado resulting in the construction of a new building seating about 200 persons that was dedicated on 5 January 1930 on a new location on the northern edge of the village of Jansen.

Over the years the membership fluctuated with families moving away and also returning. The Great Depression of the 1930s with its severe drought caused membership to declined to 38 in 1935, as many moved to California. However, the last several decades of the twentieth century saw an increase in membership requiring in 1980 the building and dedication of a new church building. The 100th anniversary of the church was also celebrated at that time and the church name was changed to Jansen Bible Church. In 2006 the building dedicated in 1930 was demolished and a large fellowship hall was constructed.

The switch from preaching in German to English gradually occurred and finally about 1952 was discontinued in the last Sunday School class for older adults. In the early years when roads were poor and travel was by horses, Sunday Worship services were held in the afternoons so that the evenings might be devoted to family and social gatherings. Vacation Bible School was begun in 1934. With improvements in transportation worship switched to a Sunday morning. In mid-20th century church events were Sunday worship service and an evening Young People's meeting followed by an evangelistic service, a midweek prayer meeting and a weekly choir practice. The church also supported the Jansen Christian Academy School.

From the beginning there was significant interest in community evangelism and mission work and in the sending out mission workers. In 1902 at the 14th EMB conference, which was held at Jansen, the couple, Abram F. and Katherine Wiens, from Texas, became the conference's first missionary candidate and in 1906 they established the Chicago Home missions program. Then in 1912 Sarah (Kroeker) Anderson became the first member to do mission work in Africa as a nurse. The congregation continued to hold an annual three-day mission Festivals. For children in 1995 the congregation adopted the Awana program and found the new fellowship hall very functional.

Additional Information

Address: 57309 715th Road, Jansen, Nebraska 68377

Phone: 402-424-2645

Website: Jansen Bible Church

Denominational Affiliation: Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches

Jansen Bible Church Pastors

Minister	Years
Isaac Peters (Elder)	1879-?
Wilhelm Thiessen	1879-?
Johan W. Fast	1879-?
Jacob Thiessen	1888-?
Heinrich H. Ratzlaff	1889-1909
B.O. Kroeker	1908-1948
H.P. Fast	1934-1938
Herbert Peters	1937-?
H.P. Wiens	1940-1943
Ferdinand Tiesen	1943-1946
Elmer I. Reimer	1949-1951
H.P. Wiebe	? - ?
C.Wilbert Loewen	1952-1955
Paul Goossen	1955-1961
Robert Peterson (interim)	1961-1963
Robert Pollack	1964=1965
J.J. Regier	1968-
Elson Busenitz	1968-1983
Jesse Henserling	1985-1988
Paul Carpenter	1988-

Jansen Bible Church Membership

Year	Membership
1879	13 families
1922	106
1925	117
1930	144
1935	38
1950	61
1955	70
1960	56
1965	54
1970	56
1975	72
1979	89

Author(s)	Elmer Reimer
	Victor G Wiebe
Date Published	April 2020

Cite This Article

MLA style

Reimer, Elmer and Victor G Wiebe. "Jansen Bible Church (Jansen, Nebraska, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. April 2020. Web. 22 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Jansen_Bible_Church_(Jansen,_Nebraska,_USA)&oldid=167324.

APA style

Reimer, Elmer and Victor G Wiebe. (April 2020). Jansen Bible Church (Jansen, Nebraska, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 22 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Jansen_Bible_Church_(Jansen,_Nebraska,_USA)&oldid=167324.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p.91. All rights reserved.

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