THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

Because Jakob Dirksen, minister, and Johann Kliewer, deacon, soon moved from Muensterberg to Herzenberg, Br. Johann Huebert of Blumstein, Br. Johann Koop of Pordenau, Br. Heinrich Loewen of Alexanderkron and later Br. Peter Boese of Tiegenhagen were elected to serve as deacons or as overseers for the poor. At this time (1879) Br. Johann Wieler, frequently mentioned above, came to Halbstadt to teach in the secondary school. He helped diligently in the preaching of the Word. It was during this period, 1882-1883, that the large church in Rueckenau was built. b) By the year 1881 the work in the church had become so manifold that a strong desire developed to elect an elder from among the leading brethren. The election took place on April 14 in the presence of Br. Johann §226 498 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH Wieler, who was especially concerned that Brother David Schellenberg be elected. The brethren proceeded with the election in an atmosphere of prayer and supplication. David Schellenberg received one hundred and twelve of one hundred and thirty votes. He was ordained Sunday, May 23, 1882, by Elder Aron Lepp of Andreasfeld in conjunction with the large and memorable 296 annual general conference of the M.B. Church. (Compare #96 "The Office of Elder in the Mennonite Brethren Church.”) The work of the church continued in customary fashion, assisted by the faithful support and counsel of fellow Elder Johann Fast and other well-known leading brethren. §227 11. The years 1884 and 1885 were particularly significant for the Mennonite Brethren Church in Rueckenau. At this time revivals occurred in Waldheim and Margenau in the Molotschna, and in Spat in the Crimea. In 1884 eighty-four members joined the church; in the following year, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the M.B. Church in the Molotschna, one hundred and seventy-one joined, the largest number to join since the founding of the church. (This included the members who had joined in the Crimea, who at that time constituted part of the Molotschna body.) Among those received into membership in 1884 were several men widely known for their successful and outstanding evangelistic ministry as ministers in the Mennonite congregations within our South Russian Mennonite brotherhood. They were David Duerksen, at that time school teacher and minister in the Margenau Church, and presently elder of the Spat Church in the Crimea, Jakob Reimer, formerly teacher in Ladekopp and Muntau, and for some time already a “voluntary” evangelist in the Mennonite Church, until called to the preaching ministry in the Ohrloff Church. Both brethren were known and esteemed in the Molotschna as outstanding pedagogues. The third was Br. Peter Bergmann of Ladekopp, who was a gifted and promising preacher in the Halbstadt-Ohrloff Church. All three continued their preaching ministry in the M.B. Church without interruption. "On January 31, 1884, a brotherhood meeting accorded P.M.