Schönfeld Mennonite Church (Schönfeld Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)
Schönfeld Mennonite Church was established in the Schönfeld settlement in the district of Alexandrovsk, province of Ekaterinoslav (now Zaporizhia Oblast), Russia, in 1868. Smaller subsidiary churches of the settlement were located at Rosenhof and Blumenfeld. All of these congregations remained subsidiaries of the Lichtenau-Petershagen Mennonite Church of the Molotschna settlement. The elder of this church officiated at baptismal services and the Lord's Supper. The elders were Jakob Töws and Bernhard Epp. During the Revolution, Johann P. Klassen of the Schönwiese Mennonite Church served the congregation as elder.
In 1883 the first church building was erected at Schönfeld. Prior to this the congregation had worshiped in an old home. Rosenhof and Blumenfeld also each had a church building. Some worship services were conducted in private homes. In 1905 the number of souls in the Schönfeld Mennonite Church was 585, of whom 276 were baptized. The other two congregations had a total of 178, of whom 90 were baptized.
The first minister was Peter Neufeld who was elected on 12 January 1873, and died in 1898. Other ministers were Kornelius H. Epp (1845-1916) who was elected by the Rosenhof church, and Jacob Enns who served the Rosenhof church and was an itinerant minister. Enns received training at a Bible school in Berlin. Jakob L. Dyck (Dück) (1852-1922) was elected minister 1 March 1881. When he came to Schönfeld in 1888 he was elected the leading minister of the church, which position he held until the settlement was dissolved. Gerhard Töws (1861-1924) was elected minister in 1892. Johann Driediger (1872-1957), elected minister in 1909, lived in Canada and served the Schoenfelder Mennonite Church near Pigeon Lake, Manitoba almost to the end. Nikolai Thiessen and Johann Hübert, missionaries in Java, were sons of the Schönfeld Mennonite settlement. The Schönfeld church building was destroyed in 1920.
Bibliography
Töws, Gerhard. Schönfeld. Werde- und Opfergang einer deutschen Siedlung in der Ukraine. 1939.
| Author(s) | Cornelius Krahn |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Krahn, Cornelius. "Schönfeld Mennonite Church (Schönfeld Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Sch%C3%B6nfeld_Mennonite_Church_(Sch%C3%B6nfeld_Mennonite_Settlement,_Zaporizhia_Oblast,_Ukraine)&oldid=130756.
APA style
Krahn, Cornelius. (1959). Schönfeld Mennonite Church (Schönfeld Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Sch%C3%B6nfeld_Mennonite_Church_(Sch%C3%B6nfeld_Mennonite_Settlement,_Zaporizhia_Oblast,_Ukraine)&oldid=130756.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 473. All rights reserved.
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