Background
A small group of Mennonites in the Ukraine met in the village of Elisabeththal, Molotschna on January 6, 1860, and formed the Mennonite Brethren Church. These brethren were influenced somewhat by the Moravian Brethren, and to a greater degree by Lutheran Pietism through the influential preaching of Eduard Wuest. They felt the Mennonites had grown cold and formal, and were seeking greater emphasis on discipline, prayer and Bible study. The immediate catalyst for the new organization was the discipline placed on a body of brethren who met to observe communion in a private home without the elders' sanction.
From 1860 until 1872, the church grew from about 50 members to about 600. Mennonite Brethren were among the migration of nearly 18,000 Mennonites from Russia to North America between 1874 and 1880. The members of the first migrations settled in the United States, mainly in Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The first Mennonite Brethren congregation in Canada was founded in Winkler, Manitoba in 1888 as a result of mission work from the United States.
From 1923 to 1929, almost 4500 Mennonite Brethren migrated from Russia to Canada. More Mennonites came to Canada in the 1940s, mostly as a result of the events of war in Germany and Russia. These migrations greatly increased the number of Mennonite Brethren in Canada, and in 1945 a Canadian Conference was established. In 1954, the desire of the Canadian churches for independence brought about the formation of two area conferences of the Mennonite Brethren of North America — the subject of this article and the US Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.
Read more about this topic: Canadian Conference Of Mennonite Brethren Churches
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