Bishop Peter Toews and a time of schism

My prize find within the past year surely must be a copy of a German devotional book Die Wandelede Seele (The Wandering Soul) with the inscription of the owner Peter Toews.

Why am I so excited about this book? Not the book itself—The Wandering Soul seems to have been quite common among German Mennonites in Russia. The historical value of this particular copy lies in that, as I believe and have verified, it has the personal signature of Bishop Peter Toews on the flyleaf, along with the inscription in beautiful Gothic Erhalten vom Vater ano 1862 [received from my father in the year 1862].

This Peter Toews (1841-1922) is significant to us. He left the EMC (then Kleine Gemeinde) with about one-third to a half of our membership in 1882 to join the Church of God in Christ (Mennonite), known as the Holdeman church.

Mr. Toews was the bishop of that larger part of the EMC that came to Manitoba from Russia in 1874-75 (a smaller group went to Nebraska under a different bishop). The church, consisting of about 700 people, settled in six communities: the west reserve, including Rosenort and Rosenhof (Morris); and the East Reserve, including Kleefeld, Steinbach, Blumenort and Blumenhof.

Toews served both West and East Reserves as elder. Within a few years, though, he made a major decision. In 1881-1882 Toews played an influential role during a major schism within our conference.

John Holdeman was a 51-year-old church reformer from Ohio. According to Dr. Royden Loewen, "He had visited Manitoba in November, 1879, on the invitation of Elder Peter Toews, who felt deeply that the Kleine Gemeinde needed to be spiritually renewed in order to be the true church of God.

"During his stay in Manitoba Holdeman preached in the various Kleine Gemeinde churches and made house visitations, always sharing his message of spiritual renewal. During this time he was also in close consultation with the ministerial, who not only gave their blessing to Holdeman’s work but considered uniting the Kleine Gemeinde with Holdeman’s reformed church in the United States, the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite.

"After he returned to the United States, he wrote Elder Toews that the union would not be possible because the Kleine Gemeinde was too schism-ridden, too formal, too quick to baptise anyone and not spiritual enough to constitute the ‘True Church.’ What was needed in the Kleine Gemeinde was a complete new start, with each person being rebaptised and then individually joining The Church of God in Christ, Mennonite" (Blumenort, A Mennonite Community in Transition, 1983, pp. 180-183).

The end result of this was that Peter Toews announced he could no longer serve the Kleine Gemeinde with communion or baptism, and he was rebaptised by Holdeman early in 1882. Many in the Kleine Gemeinde followed, organizing as the Manitoba chapter of Holdeman’s American church.

The division created quite a stir. Historian Peter J. B. Reimer writes, "The result was that in every village of the Kleine Gemeinde, including Steinbach, a group from one-third to one-half of the membership left the Kleine Gemeinde. There was much heartache and bitterness in this division. Families were separated and close relatives and friends estranged to each other." One deacon resigned his post after his wife and children joined the Holdeman church.

The earlier EMC, left with three ministers and two deacons, appealed for help from their Nebraska counterpart; its Elder Abraham Friesen came to reorganize the Manitoba flock.

With time, relationships in general between the two Mennonite groups seem to become quite congenial. In Kleefeld, the Holdeman had their own church building, which the EMC shared until we built our own in 1939. In Steinbach both used the same village schoolhouse on alternate Sundays until churches were built in 1912. I recall being in their church one year, I think at Christmas.

Holdeman churches today are found in the general area where the EMC first established: Gruenfeld, Steinbach, Rosenort/Rosenhof and Blumenort. They are also quite missions minded.

Interestingly, I even come into the Toews genealogy through my grandmother. Bishop Toews was an uncle to Anna Toews Regehr who later married my grandfather Gerhard Schellenberg (1852-1932) and resided in Rosenfeld/Gruenfeld (East Reserve).