Below is the presentation from Yarrow United Mennonite Church’s 85th Anniversary of our history by Richard Thiessen, curator of the Mennonite Museum in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Click here to see the slides that accompany this article
I’m pleased to participate in your 85th-anniversary celebration here today! Pastor Darnell invited me to tell you a little about your story from our records at the museum. I admit, it is always a little risky when one is asked to tell someone else’s story. What if I say something that isn’t quite accurate, or I say something about someone’s Grandpa or Grandma that I don’t quite get right. I don’t want to risk getting run out of town, and let’s face it, I’ll be easy to catch with a broken ankle today.
So, I will focus most of my words this morning on the early years, the years most of you might not be familiar with. Most of you have lived the more recent years of this church’s history, so I hope this morning that I can tell you a little about the past that will interest you and might even be news.
In the winter of 1927-28, Mennonites from the Canadian Prairie provinces began to move west to the Fraser Valley and settled in a little village called Yarrow, named after wildflowers that grew along the side of the road. This wasn’t an organized movement of families from one part of Canada to another, which was often the case when Mennonites decided to move west. Instead, this was a movement of individual families with a variety of backgrounds, including church backgrounds. Now, while all of them were Mennonites, there was a diversity among these families.
In looking at the families that formed the United Mennonite Church at Yarrow, it appears that most of the families had recently moved to Yarrow from Saskatchewan. Most of these families had experienced the turmoil of the Russian Revolution and had been able to immigrate to Canada earlier in the 1920s. Some came from the older mother settlements of Molotschna and Chortitza in what is now Ukraine, while others came from settlements further east, including Siberia. After a few years in Saskatchewan, many were ready to move on, further west, where the climate was milder and more like what they were used to back in Ukraine, the land was relatively inexpensive, and day work was available while farms were being established.
Some of the families had immigrated to Canada before the 1920s from Russia and had settled in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. They were members of a variety of Mennonite churches with names like Rosenorter, Bergthal, Sommerfelder, and Reinlander. Each of these churches had their own traditions and ways of doing church. These families wanted a change of scenery, a change of climate, or perhaps even a change from their more conservative Mennonite church cultures.
While most of these families had immigrated from Russia and the Soviet Union to Canada, a few had taken different routes. One of the early families had immigrated to the USA and later came to Canada. Another family had settled in Mexico in the 1920s, most likely because they failed the health examinations performed by Canadian immigration doctors and made their way to Canada after a year or two.
Most of the Yarrow settlers were Mennonite Brethren, but initially, all Mennonites gathered together in the local school for Sunday morning services, regardless of their background. Eventually, a second school was built and, you guessed it, the Mennonite Brethren went off on their own and organized their own church. Those who were left united with Mennonites in Greendale to establish the First Mennonite Church in Greendale in 1931, a church with two congregations, in Greendale and Yarrow. After several years, Nicolai Bahnmann (Slide 3), a leader in the Greendale congregation in the earlier years and the provincial travelling minister, helped the congregation in Yarrow in organizing their own church, which formally happened on 25 October 1938 (Slide 2).
(Slide 4)
John Julius Klassen became the first minister of the church and served from 1938 to 1957. He was succeeded by Peter Dyck, who served as minister until 1970, and continued as Elder for another several years. These two men provided stable leadership in those early decades.
The early years of settlement were tough ones. The 1930s saw the hardship of the Depression.
Establishing farms was a challenge because it wasn’t quite clear which crops could be successful.
They tried a variety of vegetables and even sugar beats, but nothing seemed to really work. Many men worked in the local sawmills and younger men worked in the logging camps, while many young women moved to Vancouver to work as domestic servants. All of these activities helped to supplement the family’s farm income, an income that was needed in many cases not only to live and survive, but to pay off their debt to the Canadian Pacific Railway, who had loaned funds to many families fleeing the Soviet Union in the 1920s.
After several years of trying many crops, Mennonites finally discovered that they could successfully grow strawberries and raspberries. By World War Il, every family was growing berries, and the local economy thrived. In 1948, the berry market collapsed, Greendale was flooded, and many Mennonites left the area and moved to Chilliwack, Abbotsford, and the Vancouver area.
While the neighbouring Mennonite Brethren Church’s membership peaked in 1948 and steadily declined after that, that wasn’t the case for this congregation. Families continued to move to Yarrow after World War Il, including several refugee families fleeing post-war Europe who were welcomed into this congregation, and membership grew from 63 in 1945 to 152 just five years later and to 201 in 1956.
(Slides 5-12)
A new sanctuary was built and dedicated on 21 June 1959. The 1960s saw the beginning of the transition from the German language, used in the early years, to English. The transition happened first in Sunday School. In the following years, families continued to move away, but this congregation has continued to serve the needs of Mennonite families and non-Mennonite families searching for a Christian community to worship, serve the needs of those in the Yarrow community and participate in God’s mission. (Slide 13) YUM’s generosity can be seen through faithful service and contributions to Mennonite Church BC, Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite Church Canada Witness, and Mennonite Disaster Service.
This congregation has celebrated its highs and rallied around each other in the lows, but it is clear to me that its theme is seen on the wall behind me. For many years, “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit,” has been steadily lived out within these walls and beyond.
Congratulations to you for 85 years of being the body of Christ here in Yarrow! (Edited lightly for readability).
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