Speaker Jake Wipf---Oak Lane Colony- Alexandria, SD

Oak Lane Colony is home to 22 families and a population of 112 people. It is a well-organized farm with some livestock operations, small industrial businesses, and a wind turbine farm. We are very grateful to live in the Midwest, where we have good rainfall and crops. We are privileged to live in a free country like America— a place to grow and prosper for God and to praise Him for it. This is our goal. In addition, we have been blessed with a good neighborhood and excellent community of friends.

OverviewNestled on the Prairies of the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana, Washington, Oregon, and the

Canadian Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia live the plain people of the prairies. These people are the Hutterian Brethren or the Hutterites as they are more commonly called. The Hutterites are Anabaptists like their more numerous brethrens, the Amish and the Mennonites.

The Hutterian way of life and belief grew out of the Swiss Brethren movement of the 16th century. These brethrens were the first group to cast aside infant baptism and to practice baptism of believers only. They, along with other groups who had this one principle in common, became known as Anabaptists (rebaptizers).

It should probably be emphasized here that the followers of the Hutterian faith are not to be confused with the Mennonites who, although they believe many of the same religious ways of life in colonies that the Hutterites do, they do not believe in the communal way of life the Hutterites are known for. The early development of the Hutterian brethren, even as an Anabaptist movement, took place in Moravia. The Hutterites were, and still are, a German-speaking people, but they speak the Tyrolian dialect.

History The founders of the Hutterite brotherhood were Swiss brethren refugees who came from various parts of southern Germany and the Tyrol and settled in Moravia. Jacob Wiedeman became their leader in 1528, at about the same time that Martin Luther and Menno Simons founded the Lutheran and Mennonite faiths, respectively.

Wiedeman had all the members place their worldly goods together and then divided them according to need. This was the beginning of the communal way of life.

In 1529, Jacob Hutter, from whom the Brethren derived their name, along with a small group, visited the colonies in Moravia where Jacob Wiedeman was the current leader. The two groups were united by Hutter in 1533 and he was chosen as their collective leader the same year. Jacob Hutter, a strong organizer, forged the emergence of the distinct and separate group known ever since as Hutterites. The tenets of the beliefs of the Hutterites became firmly established at that time and have remained relatively unchanged through the years. They include adult believer baptism, community of goods, non-resistance, and the separation of church and state.

Jacob Hutter was burned at the stake in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria in 1536 for refusing to denounce his faith.

Another prominent leader of the times was Peter Riedeman who became well known for his Confession of Faith, published in 1540. This statement has since become the accepted authority for all Hutterite colonies in Moravia. Numbers have increased steadily until around the turn of the century 15,000 members had settled in Moravia and Hungary.

The history of the Hutterites has been a history of continued persecution for their faith. It began with their flight from Moravia to Hungary, Transylvania, Romania, and finally to Russia in 1756. In 1874-77 the first migrants from Europe came to America. The first Hutterite colonies were started in Canada in 1918.

Religion The Hutterites believe themselves to be a community of believers gathered by the Holy

Spirit, separated from the world by the pure doctrine of Christ and united by divine love.In common with other churches they believe in a personal God who sent his son into the

world to save humanity by shedding his blood on the cross. A belief of the Hutterite brethren, which is not common to other faiths, is their belief in the community of goods, in which all material possessions are held in common. They believe that the community of goods is the highest command of love. Their daily labor is a labor of mercy and the fruit of their labor is consecrated to God for the support of the hungry, the needy, and the nourishment of the aged. All members of the colonies are provided for equally and nothing is kept for personal gain. Temporal possessions are completely foreign to Hutterites.

Hutterites believe that all descendants from Adam have inherited a sinful nature and that there is daily need for prayer to keep the law of faith and to perform God’s appointed duties and obligations. Good works, they claim, must be inspired by God and to accomplish this, the believer must work at his salvation with trembling and humility.

The Hutterites do not believe that all their members are true Christians, nor do they believe that all people of other faiths are not Christians.

Roles of the PeopleIn every Hutterite colony the head minister or spiritual leader is also the chief executive in

the colony and he, along with the advisory board, make all the major decisions.The advisory board consists of the colony manager, farm manager, and 2 or 3 witness

brothers, known outside of the colony circle as deacons. The colony manager is in charge of work distribution, and it is he who receives and pays all

colony bills. All monetary ventures, such as banking, are under his jurisdiction. The farm manager supervises all fieldwork, such as seeding, cultivating, and harvesting.

Under his jurisdiction are all workers over 15 years who have not been appointed to specific jobs by the community.

The witness brothers, besides acting as advisory board members are generally employed, like all other members, managing one of the colonies numerous agricultural activities.

The livelihood of a colony is derived from a very diversified farming operation. Besides farming approximately 5,000 acres of land, a colony usually raises cows, pigs, geese, turkeys, and chickens. Brothers appointed by a majority vote by all members manage each enterprise.

The woman’s role in the community, besides housekeeping and caring for her family, is sewing, cooking, baking, gardening, and fruit, vegetable, and meat preserving. A colony always has one woman head-cook, while two women, married or single, will help her on a rotating weekly basis. While baking is usually done by one woman on a rotating basis, all other activities are generally a community venture where everybody joins in to help.

EducationContrary to common belief, Hutterites are strong advocates of education. Centuries before

governments took steps to introduce kindergarten, Hutterite parents sent their 2 ½ to 5 year old children to a colony maintained kindergarten. Here these young children learn prayers, songs, and the art of living, working, playing, and eating together peacefully. At the age of 5 years, children start to learn reading and writing of the High-German language. At 6 years of age, all Hutterite children start attending a public school, which is always located on the colony property. Before and after regular school hours, children continue to study German and religion. Religion is also taught in Sunday school, every afternoon of every Sunday and common holiday, attended by all children over 5 years old until baptism at around the age of 21.

Although formal academic studies end for the Hutterite child at age 15, his or her practical training just begins. Young boys over 15 are considered men and are alternately enrolled with the different agricultural enterprises in an apprenticeship like manner until they have a well-rounded agricultural training.

Young women, girls over 15, start taking lessons in knitting, sewing, cooking, and baking, and canning, until every member finds its place of most usefulness in the colony.

No colony member has ever been denied a training that is deemed beneficial for the community.

ChurchHutterites attend a 30 – 40 minute church service almost every day besides a 1-1 ½ hour

service every Sunday and common religious holidays. Church service consists of singing, praying, and preaching of Scripture and Hutterite teachings. It is our interpretation of the Scripture that is the basic for our communal way of life. Christ taught that the greatest commandment to love God above everything else and your neighbor as yourself. In order to fulfill this highest command of love, we pattern our life according to the first apostolic church of Acts 2:44-45, “All who believe were together and had all things in common, and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all as any has need.”

Thus assured in our hearts of a true way of salvation, we boldly declare with Paul in Romans 8:38, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our LORD.”

Acts 2:44-47, “And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the LORD added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

For tours and visits of Oak Lane Colony please call ahead and ask for

Jake Wipf ~ Phone: 605-825-4296Location: From Bridgewater, SD: 12 miles west on Highway 42 to 423rd Ave, and 2 ½ miles south.