Der Bote ('The Messenger') was a German-language Mennonite newspaper published in Winnipeg, Manitoba, by Mennonite Church Canada.
Der Bote was first published 16 January 1924 as Der Mennonitische Immigrantenbote by Dietrich H. Epp at Rosthern, Saskatchewan, [1] to serve as a point of contact for German-speaking Russian Mennonites immigrating to Canada after World War I. [2] In 1926 the name was shortened to simply Der Bote. Around this time, the size of the paper was increased to 25 by 19 inches from 9½ by 12½. In 1947, Der Bote merged with Christlicher Bundesbote and became the weekly paper for the General Conference Mennonite Church. [3] By 1950, circulation was 4500, of which 1000 were distributed in Europe and South America as a service to immigrants. [2]
In January 2000 the publication frequency was reduced to 24 times a year and the format reduced to letter size. [2] In 2006, it had approximately 2350 subscribers, down from 9000 in the mid-1970s, [3] with circulation in North America, South America, Russia, Germany and other European countries. [4]
On 30 March 2008 the newspaper closed down and ceased publication due to declining readership. [3] [5]
Mennonites are a group of Anabaptist Christian church communities tracing their roots to the Radical Reformation. The name is derived from that of one of the early prominent leaders of the Anabaptist movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561). Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radical Reformation, Simons articulated and formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss Anabaptist founders as well as early teachings of the Mennonites founded on the belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus. The original Anabaptist followers had held such beliefs with great conviction, despite persecution by various Roman Catholic and Mainline Protestant states. Formal Mennonite beliefs were codified in the Dordrecht Confession of Faith (1632), which affirmed "the baptism of believers only, the washing of the feet as a symbol of servanthood, church discipline, the shunning of the excommunicated, the non-swearing of oaths, marriage within the same church", strict pacifistic physical nonresistance, anti-Catholicism and in general, more emphasis on "true Christianity" involving "being Christian and obeying Christ" as they interpret it from the Holy Bible.
The Evangelical Mennonite Conference is a conference of Canadian evangelical Mennonite Christians headquartered in Steinbach, Manitoba, with 62 churches from British Columbia to southern Ontario. It includes people with a wide range of cultural and denominational backgrounds.
The Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference(EMMC) is an evangelical body of Mennonite Christians, organized on July 1, 1959.
The Mennonite World Conference (MWC) is an international Mennonite Anabaptist Christian denomination. Its headquarters are in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Mennonite Church Canada is a Mennonite denomination in Canada, with head offices in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is a member of the Mennonite World Conference and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
The Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches (FEBC) is a small evangelical Christian denomination with an Anabaptist Mennonite heritage. Most of the denomination's approximately 5000 members are in congregations located in the U.S. and Canada.
The Mennonite Brethren Church is an evangelical Mennonite Anabaptist movement with congregations.
Klaas Reimer (1770–1837) was the founder of the Kleine Gemeinde, a Mennonite denomination that still exists in Latin America, but underwent radical changes in Canada where it is now called the Evangelical Mennonite Conference. Ethnic Mennonite remigrants from Latin America brought the original Kleine Gemeinde back to Canada and the US.
Eigenheim Mennonite Church is a Mennonite church in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan which built the first Mennonite Church building in the province.
Molotschna Colony or Molochna Colony was a Russian Mennonite settlement in what is now Zaporizhzhia Oblast in Ukraine. Today, the central village, known as Molochansk, has a population less than 10,000. The settlement is named after the Molochna River which forms its western boundary. The land falls mostly within the Tokmatskyi and Chernihivskyi Raions. The nearest large city is Melitopol, southwest of Molochansk.
Claas Epp Jr. was a Russian Mennonite minister known for leading his followers into Central Asia where he predicted Christ would return in 1889.
The forestry service was a form of alternative service offered to German speaking Mennonites in lieu of military service in Russia from 1881 to 1918. At its peak during World War I, 7,000 men served in forestry and agricultural pest control in Ukraine and South Russia. The program ended in the turmoil of the Russian Revolution.
Peter Hoover is an author familiar to many conservative Christians of Anabaptist and similar heritage in the United States, Canada, Central America, Australia, and western Europe.
The Oklahoma Bible Academy (OBA) is an interdenominational Christian private school located in Enid, Oklahoma. OBA is the oldest coeducational private school in the state of Oklahoma.
According to a 2022 census, there were 74,122 Mennonites living in Mexico, the vast majority of which are established in the state of Chihuahua, followed by Campeche at around 15,000, with the rest living in smaller colonies in the states of Durango, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and Quintana Roo.
Kleine Gemeinde is a Mennonite denomination founded in 1812 by Klaas Reimer in the Russian Empire. The current group primarily consists of Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites in Belize, Mexico and Bolivia, as well as a small presence in Canada and the United States. In 2015 it had some 5,400 baptized members. Most of its Canadian congregations diverged from the others over the latter half of the 20th century and are now called the Evangelical Mennonite Conference.
Reesor is a ghost town located in Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada, along Highway 11, named after its founder, Thomas Reesor.
The Herald of Truth was a religious newspaper founded by John F. Funk in 1864. It was the first periodical of the "Old" Mennonite Church (MC) and was also published in German as the Herold der Wahrheit. Funk published the Herald through Charles Hess of Chicago, Illinois, until 1867, when Funk's own company, John F. Funk & Brother took over publication in Elkhart, Indiana. The newspaper was sold to the Mennonite Publication Board in 1908.
The name Old Colony Mennonites is used to describe that part of the Russian Mennonite movement that is descended from colonists who migrated from the Chortitza Colony in modern Ukraine near Zaporizhia to settlements in Canada. Theologically, Old Colony Mennonites are largely Conservative Mennonites.