A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

asons for Mennonite "resettlement" in the Fraser Valley: The bleak economic prospects on the prairies; the mild climate of British Columbia; greater earning opportunities; and above all, the possibility of more compact settlements for the purpose of spiritual fellowship and the unified training of children in the spirit of the Scriptures. 1 ' The Yarrow settlement grew rapidly, for only one year after the arrival of the first families a Mennonite Brethren church was organized with ninety-six members. Through admission of new members from the prairies as well as through baptism the congregation increased so that by 1948 it had become the largest M.B. church in Canada, with over nine hundred members. The Yarrow community went through a difficult pioneer period. The main cash income was derived from earnings in the "hopyards" located some five or six miles away. 44 Here pickers worked for fifteen cents an hour. Later most settlers became prosperous raspberry farmers, so that in non-Mennonite circles Yarrow was described as the community of two "R's" — religion and raspberries. The economic recession that set in after 1948 (which especially affected the berry market) prompted many families to look for 168 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH employment elsewhere — especially in the city of Vancouver. As a result, membership gradually declined so that at present (1971) it stands at four hundred and thirty. Two flourishing private schools, a Bible school founded in 1930, and a high school started in 1945, eventually had to close their doors as a result of the recession. The church and community benefited greatly from the services of dedicated leaders. J. A. Harder, who was leader of the M. B. church here for eighteen years (until 1949) did much to unify and stabilize the diverse membership during this early period. C. C. Peters, P. D. Loewen, Gerhard Sukkau, and others provided leadership in Christian education. Gerhard Derksen, a prominent layman, gave leadership in civic affairs and functioned as a kind of colony administrator (Oberschulz). Other churches were organized in the eastern part of the Fraser Valley shortly after the establishment of Yarrow. The Greendale (Sardis) M. B. Church was founded in 1931. During a disastrous flood in 1948 the members of this church were especially hard hit. J. W. Reimer, the well-known Bible expositor, spent his last years in this congregation. A church established at Agassiz, also in 1931, is now extinct. A congregation organized at Arnold in 1934 with seventy-two members has not experienced any substantial growth through the years — large- ly because of changing economic conditions. In the Chilliwack area two prosperous congregations were established immediately after World War II: the East Chilliwack M. B. Church was organized in 1945, and the Chilliwack (city) M. B. Church in 1947. For a number of years the East Chilliwack congregation maintained