John F. Funk

John Fretz Funk (April 6, 1835 – January 8, 1930) was a publisher and leader of the Mennonite Church. Funk published the Herald of Truth from 1864 until 1908 when it merged with the Gospel Witness to form the Gospel Herald. Jacob Clemens Kolb, in his preface to Bless the Lord, O My Soul quotes an unnamed commentator who said, "John F. Funk is the most important [Mennonite] man after Menno Simons."

About 1866, Funk and Peter Neff began a small Mennonite congregation in Chicago which lasted until Neff's house, the church's meeting place, was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Funk became a bishop of the Mennonite Church on June 6, 1892, and served in that capacity until 1902 when he was relieved of his duties as bishop.

In 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War, Funk published War: Its Evils, Our Duty, his first printing endeavor. James C. Juhnke argues that many of those factors reflected Funk's unwillingness to yield to a younger generation of Mennonite leaders. In any case, all of the company's periodicals were sold to the Mennonite Publishing Board in 1908.

Aid to Russian Mennonite Immigrants When, in the 1870s, the Russian Empire moved to nationalize the diverse population within its borders and thus void military exemptions given to Mennonite colonies there, Funk invited representatives of those Mennonite communities to visit the United States and consider immigrating there. In 1872, four young men representing the Russian Mennonites toured the United States and Canada, evaluating the potential of immigration. John F. Funk hosted the young men at his house, just as he would later host many of the flood of Russian Mennonites he had helped immigrate, most of whom arrived in 1874.

Legacy John F. Funk is credited with introducing Sunday schools and other church functions into the Mennonite church, which he drew from his time in Chicago, when he had attended churches of other denominations.

Funk collected many volumes of Mennonite history which formed the core of the Mennonite Historical Library.

Funk's personal papers are housed in the Mennonite Church USA Archives.

Works Warfare: Its Evils, Our Duty, 1863. The Mennonite Church and Her Accusers; a vindication of the character of the Mennonite Church of America from her first organization in this country to the present time, 1878 A Biographical Sketch of Bishop Christian Herr, compiled by John F. Funk, 1887 The Peaceful Kingdom of Christ or An Exposition of the 20th Chapter of the Book of Revelations, by Peter J. Twisk Translated by John F. Funk, 1913