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

already built failed, however. Later, it was recognized that the Lord had guided in this entire matter, since already in 1893 many members from Tokultschak and vicinity moved further south and established several villages. In spite of these migrations the number of those who joined the church “increased most encouragingly in these very years, 1890 to 1900, and the prayer for more laborers for the harvest again became urgent in the church.” In 1894 the brethren Peter Goerzen, Jakob Hiebert, Jr., and Heinrich Janzen were assigned to the ministry of the Word, and Br. Johann Dick was appointed as deacon. In the year 1895 Br. Abram Kroeker returned from Romania where he had served as preacher in the Baptist Church of Katalui for two years, and in the summer of 1897 Br. Jakob Kroeker returned to Spat after completing his theological studies in Hamburg. Of the above-mentioned brethren, Peter Goerzen and Heinrich Janzen (who had to withdraw from the office later) were ordained in Annovka on May 24, 1898, by Elder David Schellenberg, and the brethren Jakob Hiebert, Jr., and Jakob Kroeker in Spat, on May 25. Shortly upon their return to the Crimea, the brethren Abram and Jakob Kroeker attempted to build the Kingdom of God through the publication of the Christian Family Almanac Calendar, as well as the Christian family periodical, Friedensstimme (beginning in 1903), and The M.B. Church 1885-1910 555 other devotional publications. “The Lord guided the work of Christian literature-distribution by His grace.” [From this modest beginning emerged the large and expanding publishing house and press, “Raduga,” in Halbstadt, Taurida, founded in 1908.] On August 27, 1899, the church in the Crimea had the joy of ordaining Br. Heinrich Unruh upon the completion of his theological studies in Hamburg, and his wife (Anna, daughter of Franz Peters of Friedensfeld) as missionaries, and sending them to India. A few years later, they delegated the brother of the above, Cornelius Unruh (also a graduate of the seminary in Hamburg) and his wife (Martha, nee Wolltmann) for the same work. “To God be the glory for the work-force in the Kingdom of God at home and abroad.” Still, the church does not have surplus workers, for because of the branching out of the churches in Spat, Baschlitscha, Annovka, and Tokultschak, and their respective districts— some twenty-five localities in all (1902)— there is need for more servants. Until 1899, the M.B. Church in the Crimea was an affiliate of the church in Rueckenau. As early as 1890 the need was felt for a brother to replace Br. Hermann Konrad as leader of the group since he was becoming increasingly hard-of-hearing. The church prayed to God about this matter. In the year 1897 Br. David Duerksen (see above, #227) responded to the call of the church in the Crimea and moved from Margenau, Molotschna, to Schoental in the Crimea. The church committed the leadership to him, and on May 23,