Previous | Next 

Hillsboro, Kan.
Reflections on a century of Mennonite Brethren mission in China


Over 100 family members of Henry and Nellie Bartel commemorated the 100th anniversary of their mission to China June 15-17 in Hillsboro, Kan. The Bartels, members of the Mennonite Brethren Church, began the first Mennonite mission outreach in China a century ago, independent of the official MB mission agency.

At the height of the Bartels’ work in the Shandong province, over 30 missionaries and 30 Chinese evangelists worked to establish churches, schools, clinics, orphanages and Bible schools in a large rural area with more than three million people. When Japanese occupation and World War II forced North American missionaries to leave in 1941, there were 56 congregations and 1649 church members.

In 1999, Harold Ens, general director of MBMS International, visited one of the churches that was born through the Bartel family’s ministry. According to Mr. Su, one of the church leaders, church membership in the Caoxian region has grown from a few thousand to over 18,000 in the past decade. The church baptized over 1000 people in 1998 alone.

“When I asked Mr. Su what I should tell our churches back home,” says Ens, “he asked me to thank our churches for sending the Bartels, who brought them the gospel, and that the Chinese want to maintain contact with the Mennonites, since that is where they have their roots.”

Today there is a continuing ministry taking place in China. China Educational Exchange (CEE), an alliance of Anabaptist agencies, currently supplies 40 English teachers for many universities and teacher’s colleges across China. These teachers have an opportunity to build relationships outside the classroom.

A Bartel family legacy

In the 1940s, when the Bartels were in their 60s, they left Shandong for western China. For the next 10 years they worked in the mountainous regions of northern Sichuan and southern Gansu provinces. Some missionaries and Chinese evangelists from Shandong followed the Bartels and assisted them in evangelizing in this new area. Among those assisting them in their work were two daughters and son-in-laws. Nellie Bartel died in 1946 while living in Sichaun, and Henry returned to Kansas in 1952, where he lived until his death.

The Bartels’ oldest son, Loyal, remained in Caoxian, Shandong, where he lived until his death in 1971. His wife Susan and their children returned to Minnesota in 1950. Although Susan is still living (more than 100 years old), she was not able to attend the family celebration in Kansas this past summer.

The Bartels’ second son, Paul, was born in China in 1904. Paul came to the US in 1925 and attended Tabor College, and then Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1930, he returned to China where he married Ina Birkey. The couple spent 18 years establishing churches in the mountain villages of southern Sichuan and northern Guise provinces.

During World War II, Paul Bartel returned to China for several years without his family. The whole family returned to China where he supervised the work of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in both central and southwest China. After evacuating to Hong Kong in 1949, the Bartels served in leadership and planning for the local Hong Kong work. One of the major accomplishments was the relocating of the publications division for Shanghai to Hong Kong where it continued to expand and serve Chinese all over the world.

After returning to North America, Paul taught at Canadian Bible College in Regina and helped to found several Chinese churches. The Bartels retired from active service with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in 1969 but remained active in speaking and writing. Bartel wrote a commentary on the Psalms and several books on prayer in Chinese.

Paul Bartel made his last trip to Asia in 1996 when he was more than 90 years old. He was able to visit Lungtan, Sichuan, where he and his family had served for many years. He died June 25, 2001, only days after attending the 100th anniversary celebration in Kansas.

 – Myrrl Byler, with reports from MBMS International

Previous | Next 

Last modified April 15, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.