The Reformed Church in the United States was established by German Reformed immigrants. What was their history? What led them to come to United States? As we celebrate our 300 years of existence, I believe it is not only interesting but also important to know where we came from and what the influence was.
Due to great distress caused mainly by wars, there was a large migration of German people who came to Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. Many of these were involved in the Reformed movement in Germany and sought to establish a faithful church with the same commitment.
From 1870 until the early 1900s, there was another migration of German people who came to the United States. However, these immigrants had spent several generations in Russia. By the later 1700s, conditions had not gotten better in Germany. There continued to be a great deal of devastation and destruction of property. This devastation seemed to be most intense in the areas that had been designated Reformed, but Lutherans, Mennonites, and Roman Catholics were also affected. At that time, there arose the possibility of immigrating to Russia.
Catherine the Great, Tsarina of Russia, invited Germans (who were her countrymen) to settle in Russia along the Volga River and in the area north of the Black Sea, which is Ukraine today. The invitation to settle in Russia included many promises, such as free land, the opportunity to maintain their own religion, and the freedom to educate their children as they desired. Their sons were also exempt from having to serve in the military.
From 1770 until 1825, more than 100,000 Germans immigrated to Russia. There they lived in villages and farmed the land around them. At first, conditions were very difficult, but eventually they became adept at farming the land and carved out a good life. For the most part, the different villages were organized according to the specific faiths of the people. There were Roman Catholic colonies, Mennonite colonies, Lutheran colonies, and Reformed colonies. There were also a few colonies where Reformed and Lutherans were together.
By 1860, when Alexander II became Tsar, things changed. Many of the previous promises were broken with new directives. There was pressure to assimilate the Germans into the Russian culture and to require the men to serve in the military. At the same time, the United States had opened a vast amount of land in the Midwest for homesteading. Anyone could claim 160 acres of land at no cost if they lived on the land for 5 years and improved it. This created an opportunity for Germans struggling with the changes in Russia to emigrate once again and come to the United States.
From 1870 to 1920, many of these same people came to Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Those coming from the Volga River area ended up, for the most part, in Nebraska, Kansas, and eastern Colorado. They have come to be known as the Volga Germans.
Those who came from the Black Sea area ended up in the Dakota Territory, often coming by train to Yankton, and then taking homestead claims beginning in the southeastern part of what is today South Dakota and eventually homesteading all the way up into North Dakota. These immigrants in the Dakotas are known as Black Sea Germans.
One can trace the development of the Eureka Classis, the one Classis that continued as the RCUS after the merger of 1934, back to these Black Sea Germans. I will mention one significant individual who was instrumental in establishing German Reformed Churches among these early settlers homesteading in southeastern South Dakota.
Jacob Orth was a schoolteacher in Russia who had then worked with a very influential pastor, the Rev. Bonekemper. As had been the practice in Germany, the schoolteacher functioned in many ways as an assistant pastor. This meant that he had experience and education in ministry. This also meant that while he served as a Sunday School teacher in Russia, he was introduced to a theology that held to a high view of Scripture and stressed the importance of preaching the Gospel of salvation in Christ, as presented in the Heidelberg Catechism.
Orth came to the United States and homesteaded south of Menno, Dakota Territory, in 1874. As had been the case with the founder of the RCUS, John Philip Boehm in Pennsylvania 150 years earlier, Orth was prevailed upon to be the spiritual leader of the settlers in the area, though his intention had been to be a farmer. At this time, a minister of the Mission Board of the RCUS, who had actually known Orth in Russia, arranged for Mr. Orth to go to the Sheboygan Classis meeting in Wisconsin and be examined and ordained.
So, now as an ordained minister, he began leading worship services and establishing churches. He received calls from the Friedens Charge of Tripp and from the Kassel Charge of Menno. Though he chose the Friedens call, he ended up also serving the Menno Charge. During this time, he also organized churches in Delmont and several congregations in the Freeman and Marion areas. These were all located in the southeastern portion of Dakota Territory, near Yankton.
Many of the pastors and members of these congregations, made up of Black Sea Germans, soon realized that though they had been member congregations of the Reformed Church in the US, they did not feel at home in this denomination. Unfortunately, the broader RCUS at that time had predominantly come to hold a low view of Scripture and lacked commitment to the Heidelberg Catechism. Therefore, these Black Sea Germans found themselves in a church that had moved far from the historic Reformed faith to which they held.
In 1910, many of these Black Sea Germans requested to form their own classis. This classis was organized in 1911 in Scotland, SD (a short distance from the aforementioned Tripp, SD). Thus, the stage was set for the continuation of the RCUS when most of the denomination had merged with the Evangelical Synod in 1934 and formed the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
I find it fascinating to trace the movement of these faithful German people who immigrated to Russia and then eventually to the United States. They brought with them a unique culture, and, in the case of those who became part of the Reformed Church in the United States, a strong commitment to the Reformed faith. From the Palatinate in Germany, to colonies north of the Black Sea in Russia, to rural Dakota Territory, these hearty people did not waver in their faith. There are also many who came from the Volga River area in Russia. The reason that the RCUS still exists today is predominantly due to the influence of the Black Sea Germans.
Rev. Maynard Koerner
Heidelberg Theological Seminary
Sioux Falls, SD