Enid Mennonite Brethren Church (Enid, Oklahoma, USA)
Creator: Henry J. Wiens (1885-1975)
Digitized by Hiebert Library. Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies.
Enid Mennonite Brethren (MB) Church, sometimes known as the Enid City Church, was organized in 1925 under the direction of the Home Mission Committee of the Mennonite Brethren Southern District Conference. Services were at first held in a mission building at 300 East Maple. When this proved to be too small, a church building was purchased at Sixth and East Broadway in 1926. Like the North church, the City church suffered during the Depression of the 1930s, but was able to survive those Dust Bowl years with the able leadership of P.C. Grunau, who led the congregation for 18 years. Pastors like Lando Hiebert, Jack Adrian, Arno Wiebe, Clarence E. Fast, and Wesley Gunther who followed also faithfully ministered to the congregation and helped to ensure its continuation in later years. Besides these the following have assisted in the ministry: H. P. Dyck, J. E. Schmidt, H. H. Bartel, and A. P. Koop. Abraham Wiens, A. A. Steinle, A. F. Vogt, and Menno Flaming had served the church as deacons. The 1955 membership was 189.
In 1960, after much prayer and deliberation, the North Enid MB Church and the City churches agreed to merge. The first joint worship service was held in the City church on 5 June 1960. A new building for the combined congregations was constructed at its present site and completed a year later.
Since the merger, the new church, like the North and City churches before it, has seen both years of boom and years of bust. The prosperity of the 1960s gave way to the recession of the early 1970s, followed by affluent years that ended suddenly in the 1980s. Church membership has always fluctuated with swings of the economic pendulum. This fluctuation has encouraged the church to rely on the kind favor of God. For all the differences between life in the early 20th century and the present, reliance on divine providence has been a feature of the Enid MB Church from the very start.
Bibliography
Froese, Vic. "Enid MB Church: History." Web. 22 April 2012. http://www.enidmb.com/contentpages.aspx?parentnavigationid=9742&viewcontentpageguid=badcd37e-0ab4-462f-b9fe-e3e68c36be86.
Additional Information
Address: 2500 North Van Buren, Enid, OK 73703
Telephone: 580-234-1698
Website: Enid MB Church
| Author(s) | Albert F. Vogt |
|---|---|
| Richard D. Thiessen | |
| Date Published | April 2012 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Vogt, Albert F. and Richard D. Thiessen. "Enid Mennonite Brethren Church (Enid, Oklahoma, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. April 2012. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Enid_Mennonite_Brethren_Church_(Enid,_Oklahoma,_USA)&oldid=115502.
APA style
Vogt, Albert F. and Richard D. Thiessen. (April 2012). Enid Mennonite Brethren Church (Enid, Oklahoma, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Enid_Mennonite_Brethren_Church_(Enid,_Oklahoma,_USA)&oldid=115502.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 222. All rights reserved.
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