Mennonite Church Leer

View from the northwest

The Mennonite Church in Leer in East Frisia was built in 1825 in the classicist style.

history

The Mennonite Congregation Leer was founded around 1540. It goes back to Dutch religious refugees who had settled in the city. The East Frisian counts issued letters of protection to the Mennonites early on , so that the communities founded at that time, such as in Emden or Norden, have survived to this day. The Leeraner Mennonites used to work mainly in weaving and trading . They made Leer a center of linen production in the early modern period. A second Flemish parish, formed around 1644, also had its own church, but it was demolished in 1767 after the two parishes were united. Before the church was built, services were mostly held in rented meeting rooms. The meetings were held by lay preachers ( Vermanern ) until 1728 . Until the beginning of the 20th century, the congregation kept Dutch as the church language . In 2006 the church was extensively restored. The church interior was restored to its condition from 1825.

Today the congregation has almost 100 members. She is strongly ecumenically engaged with other churches in Leer. Since 1970 it has been united with the Mennonites in Oldenburg to form a community. The "Conference of the Northwest German Mennonite Congregations" is the amalgamation of the municipalities of Leer-Oldenburg, Emden, Norden and Gronau.

description

The church, designed as a towerless classicist church, is an example of a simple Mennonite hall church . Three semicircular arched windows on the long sides and two on the west side provide the interior with light. The classicistic portal is located on the west side.

Furnishing

As in other Mennonite and Reformed churches, according to the principle of a sermon church, the pulpit takes the central place in the simply designed interior. The pews form two self-contained white lacquered wooden box chairs.

organ

De Grave winter organ from 1860

The organ was built in 1860 with ten registers by Brond de Grave Winter , who presumably reworked the existing case of the predecessor organ by Wilhelm Eilert Schmid (1825/1826). Eight registers are original. The instrument was restored in 2013/1014 by Winold van der Putten from Finsterwolde in the Netherlands and re-inaugurated in September 2014. The disposition is as follows:

Manual C – f ³
Principal	8th'
Gedakt	8th'
Quintadena	8th'
Octave	4 ′

(Continuation)
flute	4 ′
Fifth	3 ′
Flautino	2 ′
Oboe B / D	8th'

Pedal C – c ¹
Sub-bass	16 ′
Violoncello	8th'

Pairing : I / P

literature

Hans-Bernd Rödiger, Menno Smid : Frisian churches in Emden, Leer, Borkum, Mormerland, Uplengen, Overledingen and Reiderland , volume 3. Verlag CL Mettcker & Söhne, Jever 1980, p. 73.