A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

Also about the same time, the Fairlawn M.B. Church was organized in Topeka, and Lhe Koerner Heights M.B. Church in Newton." 2. Mennonite Brethren in Nebraska Among the prairie states Nebraska attracted the second largest number (after Kansas) of the incoming settlers in the 1870's. One of the objections to Nebraska often emphasized by those interested in other states was the fact that water could be secured only from deep wells." Most Mennonites, including Mennonite Brethren, who came to Nebraska settled in the fertile agricultural region in the southeastern half of the state. 138 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH The Henderson Mennanite Brethren Church This congregation had its beginning in 1876 when seven M. B. families settled in York and Hamilton counties. Peter Regier, who served as its first minister, was succeeded in 1882 by his brother, Johann J. Regier, the first elder of the church and active conference worker for many years. The congregation experienced a constant growth through conversions and baptisms as well as through new M.B. families arriving from Russia. By 1888 membership had increased to two hundred and twenty-six — a figure only slightly below its present membership (1971). The congregation worshiped in a meetinghouse three miles northwest of Henderson until 1926, when it moved into a new church in town. In the early years, according to H. E. Wiens, "the church endured severe testings through strange teaching on divine healing, sanctification, and Seventh-Day Adventism. but weathered them through the wise counsel and guidance of Elder Regier. " 2J Several "branch-churches" were started by the Henderson congregation: these, however, did not survive. One such daughter congregation was established in Boone County, eighty-five miles north of Henderson, when Elder Regier and other members settled there in 1879. After Elder Regier moved to Henderson in 1882 Isaac Wall succeeded him as leader. When the latter moved to Jansen in 1899, most families left for Henderson or Jansen shortly after. The fear of intermarriage with Roman Catholics, who settled among the Mennonites, is also mentioned as one of the reasons for the dissolution of the church." Another congregation emerged at Sutton, sixteen miles south of Henderson, as the result of extension work among the Volga Germans. During the 1890's it was a flourishing congregation with its own meetinghouse. During the first two decades of the twentieth century its membership decreased and in 1924 the church was dissolved. In 1879 a congregation was also established in the southwestern part of the state, at Culbertson, among the so-called "Volga Brethren." For some time it prospered and increased to a membership of sixty. Later a large part of the congregation joined the Seventh-Day Adventists and by 1960 it had ceased to exist as an independent church." The First Inter-State Meeting The Henderson congregation has the