Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church (Goessel, Kansas, USA)
The Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church, Goessel, Kansas, USA has its spiritual roots in the Przechowka village, West Prussia. In 1820, the congregation was part of a movement of Mennonites to South Russia, where they established a village by the name of Alexanderwohl. A Church was constructed in 1860.
In the 1870s a new conscription law was in preparation in Russia. The Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church became the center for Mennonite conferences and migration activities. Alexanderwohl Elder Jakob Buller served as a scouting delegate to America. Upon his return from the inspection trip in 1873, almost the entire village decided to emigrate. This is the only case in the Old Colony and Molotschna settlements where an entire village left as a unit. Others also joined the Alexanderwohl congregation. Alexanderwohl left on 20 July 1874, crossing the ocean on the S. S. Cimbria and S. S. Teutonia. The Cimbria left Hamburg on 31 July 1874 with 303 adults and 172 children, and with Jakob Buller as their leader. Another minister of the church, Dietrich Gaeddert, led a group of 203 adults and 104 children, arriving in New York on the Teutonia, 3 September 1874.
Buller’s group arrived in New York on 27 August, and from there the group proceeded to Lincoln, Nebraska. From Lincoln, they went to Topeka, Kansas. The leaders purchased 34 sections of land north of Newton in Marion, McPherson, and Harvey counties at an average of $2.50 per acre in cash.
The group led by Dietrich Gaeddert settled 20 miles west of Alexanderwohl northeast of present-day Buhler, Kansas, and organized the Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church. The present Buhler and Inman Mennonite churches are daughter congregations of Hoffnungsau.
Until homes were built, the group lived in two immigrant houses located on section 33 in Menno Township, Marion County. Following the pattern to which they had been accustomed in Russia, they established the villages of Grünfeld, Emmethal, Gnadenthal, Gnadenfeld, Blumenfeld, Blumenort, Springfield, and Hochfeld. Gradually the village pattern was abandoned and each family moved onto its own land. Remnants of some villages could still be recognized in 2020. Emerging from the Gnadenfeld village was the town of Goessel, with a post office established in 1895 by Dr. Peter Richert.
Jakob Buller's group organized the Neu-Alexanderwohl Church in 1874 with 265 members (the "Neu" was soon dropped). By 1880, the membership had increased to 467 partly through the reception of young members, but also through the addition of new immigrants. During the first years, the congregation worshiped in the immigrant house or in one-room schools in the villages. In 1877 Alexanderwohl hosted the first Kansas (later Western District) Conference in the South Bloomfield schoolhouse. In 1878, the congregation joined the newly formed General Conference Mennonite Church. In 1886, the Alexanderwohl congregation erected a large church one mile north of present-day Goessel, in the Dutch Mennonite architectural style. It has been enlarged and remodeled several times. The congregation hosted the General Conference on the Kansas prairie in 1896. In 1908, when the congregation had grown to a membership of 884, the Tabor Mennonite Church, located five miles southeast of the mother church, was organized with some 150 members. P. H. Richert was its first elder. Again in 1920, when the Alexanderwohl membership had reached 958, the Goessel Mennonite Church, located in Goessel, was organized with about 180 members, Peter P. Buller serving as the first elder. The spread of the community to the north caused the organization of the Lehigh Mennonite Church; the spread to the east, the Walton and Burns Mennonite congregations. Families from the Alexanderwohl community moving to western Kansas organized the Meadow Mennonite Church in Mingo, Kansas. In the 1890s several members moved to Oklahoma. Today, members come from several surrounding communities to worship including Newton, Hesston, Hillsboro, in addition to the Goessel community.
Aside from public schools, the Alexanderwohl community had a number of parochial schools. The Emmethal Secondary School was established in 1882-83 and was the first Conference school west of the Mississippi River. It was the first such attempt at education higher than elementary school, and the movement eventually led to the formation of Bethel College. Also noteworthy was the private school of Peter Balzer as early as 1877 held in his home in the southwest part of the community. Gradually the parochial schools disappeared. In 1906 the Goessel Preparatory School was started with Peter P. Buller, who taught the school for 18 years, as its first principal. In 1925-26, the present Goessel High School, a public school, replaced this school.
In 1899, the Mennonite Bethesda Hospital Society was formed, establishing the Bethesda Hospital and the Bethesda Home for the Aged organized at Goessel as the first Mennonite Hospital and Home in the Western Hemisphere. There have been several building revisions over the years. The hospital part discontinued in 1984. Several levels of senior care continued in 2020.
As late as the mid-20th century, most of the Alexanderwohl members were farmers raising wheat and other small grain. However, as the economy evolved into the 21st century, there are few families with 100% farm income, and more with dual incomes, with one or both spouses working in other jobs off the farm, some professional. The culture of the congregation remained overwhelmingly rural. Farms and businesses connected to modern technology.
Until after World War I all services of the congregation were conducted in the German language. The pulpit Bible was changed from German to English in 1940. By the end of World War II only an occasional German service was held. Feetwashing in connection with the observance of the Lord's Supper was practiced until 1950. The silent kneeling prayer of the congregation at the close of the worship service, traditional in Alexanderwohl, was discontinued early in the 20th century. The organ was introduced, causing the discontinuation of the Vorsänger system.
Wartime brought difficult decisions for young men. In World War I, there were a variety of responses to the draft. Most took some form of a stand as conscientious objectors. Three refused all cooperation with the military and were taken to Leavenworth Military prison and mistreated. Even local Mennonite civilians endured harassment and pressure. Before World War II, congregational leaders pushed hard for establishing alternative service. About half chose Civilian Public Service and half non-combatant service.
Through the Korean War and Vietnam War eras, the large majority of young men who were drafted sought to be conscientious objectors through I-W in the Selective Service System. Even some who were not drafted went into I-W service as well. When the military draft ended in 1973, both male and female Alexanderwohl members continued to go into short and long-term voluntary service to the present day. Others worked with Mennonite Disaster Service and Mennonite Central Committee as well.
In church practice, women finally gained the right to vote in all church meetings in 1963, and through the 1970s and beyond took leadership roles in the congregation. In 1982, Anne Neufeld Rupp was called to be the first woman to serve in a lead pastoral role. Carol L. Duerksen served as the first woman Church Chair in 1990 and the first woman Deacon Chair was Judith Unruh in 1995. In 1995, the church transitioned from an election process to a Gifts Discernment process for choosing leaders.
The church has weathered several discussions of difficult issues and has tried to remain faithful to Christ and the Anabaptist-Mennonite theology.
The congregation is a member of the Western District Conference which was part of the General Conference Mennonite Church and now part of Mennonite Church USA.
Cornelius H. Wedel, the first president of Bethel College, and David C. Wedel, the ninth president of Bethel College came from Alexanderwohl. H. R. Voth, was an early minister, missionary, ethnologist, and home mission worker in Oklahoma and Arizona among the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Hopi people. Margaretha (Martha) Richert Penner in 1908 served as one of the first ordained Mennonite Deaconesses.
In 2020 the church had strong programs in education, youth, music, and had strong lay leadership. Located on a state highway, it was a frequent tour stop. As one of the older Mennonite congregations in the world, it attracts national and international connections. As such, it has been the subject of several scholarly studies. The congregation has a climate-controlled vault for its archives and works cooperatively with the Mennonite Library and Archives at Bethel College.
On 1 January 2021, the church had a total of 500 members, including associate and loyal non-local members, with an average Sunday attendance of about 200.
Bibliography
Alexanderwohl Church Record.
Amended Constitution of the Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church, Adopted January 31, 2010.
Banman, H. "Geschichte der Alexanderwohler Mennoniten-Gemeinde bei Goessel, Kansas." Bundesbote-Kalendar (1926).
Dyck, A. J. “Hoffnungsau in Kansas.” Mennonite Life (October 1949): 18-19, 46.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 25.
Krahn, Cornelius, ed. From the Steppes to the Prairies.. Newton, KS: Mennonite Publication Office, 1949.
Hiebert, Clarence, ed. Brothers in Deed to Brothers in Need. 1974: 170, 176.
Kirchenbuch der Gemeinde zu Alexanderwohl (Church Book of the Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church in the Molotschna Colony of South Russia) translated 1987 by Velda Richert Duerksen and Jacob A. Duerksen.
Stucky, Brian D. "Alexanderwohl Architecture", Mennonite Life (March 1986): 16-23.
Unruh, Benjamin H. "Die Mennoniten in der Neu-Mark." Gemeinde-Kalendar (1941).
Wedel, David C. "The Alexanderwohl Story" 1974; epilogue Brian Stucky 1999
Wedel, J. P. "The Story of Bethel College", ed. by Edmund G. Kaufman, 1954.
Yearbook of the Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church, Goessel, Kansas (2020).
Additional Information
Address: 1304 K-15 Highway, P.O. Box 8, Goessel, Kansas 67053
Telephone: 620-367-8192
Website: Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church
Denominational Affliliations:
Map
Map:Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church, Goessel, Kansas
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By Cornelius Krahn. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 49-50. All rights reserved.
When in the 1870s a new conscription law was in preparation in Russia, the Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church became the center of conferences and migration activities. Its elder Jakob Buller served as delegate to both St. Petersburg and America. Upon his return from his inspection trip to America in 1873, almost the entire village and congregation emigrated with him. This is the only case in the Old Colony and Molotschna settlements where an entire village left as a unit. The Alexanderwohl congregation had some members outside its own village. These and some others that joined them left Alexanderwohl 20 July 1874, crossing the ocean on the S.S. Cimbria and S.S. Teutonia. The Cimbria left Hamburg on 31 July 1874 with 303 adults and 172 children, and with Jakob Buller as their leader. After arriving in New York on 15 August, the group proceeded to Lincoln, Nebraska, arriving 22 August. From Lincoln they went to Topeka, Kansas. In that state their leaders purchased thirty-four sections of land north of Newton in Marion and McPherson counties at an average of $2.50 per acre in cash.
Until homes were built the group lived in an immigration house located on section 33 in Menno Township. Following the pattern to which they had been accustomed in Russia, they established the villages of Grünfeld, Emmethal, Gnadenthal, Gnadenfeld, Blumenfeld, Blumenort, Springfield, Schoenthal, and Steinbach. Gradually the village pattern was abandoned and each family moved onto its own land. Remnants of some villages can still be recognized.
Dietrich Gaeddert, leader of a group of 203 adults and 104 children, arrived in New York on the Teutonia, 15 August 1874. This group, composed of the remainder of the Alexanderwohl congregation and a few others, settled twenty miles west of Alexanderwohl north of present-day Buhler, Kansas, and organized the Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church. The present Buhler and Inman Mennonite churches are daughter congregations of Hoffnungsau.
Jakob Buller's group organized the Neu-Alexanderwohl Church in 1874 with 265 members (the "Neu" was soon dropped). By 1880 the membership had increased to 467 partly through the reception of young members but also through the addition of new immigrants. During the first years the congregation worshiped in the immigration house and in some of the schools in the various villages. In 1878 the congregation joined the General Conference Mennonite Church and in 1886, it erected a large meetinghouse one-and-a-half miles northeast of present-day Goessel, which has been enlarged and remodeled several times. In 1908, when the congregation had grown to a membership of 884, the Tabor Mennonite Church, located five miles southeast of the mother church, was organized with some 150 members. P. H. Richert was its first elder. Again in 1920 when the Alexanderwohl membership had reached 958, the Goessel Mennonite Church, located in Goessel, was organized with about 180 members, Peter P. Buller serving as the first elder. The spread of the community to the north caused the organization of the Lehigh Mennonite Church; the spread to the east, the Walton and Burns Mennonite congregations. Families from the Alexanderwohl community moving to western Kansas organized the Meadow Mennonite Church. The present Alexanderwohl community extends from Newton thirty miles north to Hillsboro and Lehigh and more than fifteen miles from east to west, making it the largest compact Mennonite settlement in Kansas. In 2006 the membership of the Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church was 600 and the combined membership of the daughter congregations was about 1,400, making a total of about 2,000.
The following ministers in addition to the elders have served the Alexanderwohl congregation: Peter Voth, Peter H. Unruh, Heinrich Richert, Heinrich Goertz, Jakob Richert, Heinrich Banman, Peter Pankratz, C. P. Wedel, C. C. Wedel, T. R. Voth, and A. J. Banman. Cornelius H. Wedel, the first president of Bethel College, came from the Alexanderwohl church.
In addition to public schools, the Alexanderwohl community had a number of parochial schools, outstanding among which were the Emmethal School and the school of Peter Balzer. Gradually the parochial schools disappeared. In 1906 the Goessel Preparatory School was started with Peter P. Buller, who taught the school for eighteen years, as its first principal. Later the present Goessel High School, a state school, replaced this school. Before the end of the nineteenth century the Bethesda Hospital and the Bethesda Home for the Aged were organized at Goessel.
As late as the mid-20th century, most of the Alexanderwohl members were farmers raising wheat and other small grain. A few businesses, shops, stores and a cooperative are located in Goessel. Although High German is seldom heard and English has become predominant, Low German was still common in the homes and in social intercourse well into the twentieth century. Some of the Mennonite qualities of the old country have been better preserved in the Alexanderwohl community than elsewhere.
Until after World War I all services of the congregation were conducted in the German language. By the end of World War II only an occasional German service was held. Feet washing in connection with the observance of the Lord's Supper was practiced until 1950. The silent kneeling prayer of the congregation at the close of the worship service, traditional in Alexanderwohl, was discontinued early in the twentieth century. It was at this time that the organ was introduced into the worship service, causing the gradual discontinuation of the Vorsänger system. The congregation maintains a church library and has the usual organizations, such as young people's, women's mission societies, Sunday school, etc.
Bibliography of Original Article
Alexanderwohl Church Record.
Banman, H. "Geschichte der Alexanderwohler Mennoniten-Gemeinde bei Goessel, Kansas." Bundesbote-Kalendar (1926).
Dyck, A. J. “Hoffnungsau in Kansas.” Mennonite Life (October 1949): 18-19, 46.
From the Steppes to the Prairies, edited by Cornelius Krahn. Newton, KS: Mennonite Publication Office, 1949.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 25.
Unruh, Benjamin H. "Die Mennoniten in der Neu-Mark." Gemeinde-Kalendar (1941).
| Author(s) | Judith Unruh |
|---|---|
| Kris Schmucker | |
| Brian Stucky | |
| Date Published | January 2021 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Unruh, Judith, Kris Schmucker and Brian Stucky. "Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church (Goessel, Kansas, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. January 2021. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Alexanderwohl_Mennonite_Church_(Goessel,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=169723.
APA style
Unruh, Judith, Kris Schmucker and Brian Stucky. (January 2021). Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church (Goessel, Kansas, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Alexanderwohl_Mennonite_Church_(Goessel,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=169723.
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