Samuel F. Coffman

Samuel F. Coffman
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Short Name: Samuel F. Coffman
Full Name: Coffman, S. F. (Samuel Frederick), 1872-1954
Birth Year: 1872
Death Year: 1954

Born: June 11, 1872, Dale En­ter­prise, Rock­ing­ham Coun­ty, Vir­gin­ia.
Died: June 28, 1954, Vine­land, On­tar­io, Ca­na­da.
Buried: First Men­non­ite Church, Vine­land, On­tar­io, Ca­na­da.

Coffman spent most of his school years in Elk­hart Coun­ty, In­di­a­na, where his fam­i­ly had moved in 1879. He grad­u­at­ed from the Elk­hart High School in 1890, and at­tend­ed the Moo­dy Bi­ble Ins­ti­tute (1894-95 and for six months in 1897-98). From 1890-94, he worked for the Men­non­ite Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny in Elk­hart. He was con­vert­ed at meet­ings held in Elk­hart by his fa­ther, and was bap­tized on May 26, 1888. He was elect­ed su­per­in­tend­ent of the Elk­hart Men­non­ite Sun­day school on De­cem­ber 28, 1893. In 1894-95 he served in the Men­non­ite Home Miss­ion in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois. There he was or­dained to the min­is­try in 1895; he be­came bi­shop in Vine­land, On­tar­io, in 1903.

Coffman served wide­ly in his de­nom­in­a­tion be­yond the bor­ders of his own con­gre­ga­tion and con­fer­ence. He was mod­er­at­or of the On­tar­io Con­fer­ence in 1931-34, and mod­er­at­or of the Gen­er­al Con­fer­ence in 1911 and 1933. He al­so served as sec­re­ta­ry of the Gen­er­al Con­fer­ence for a time. He was a mem­ber of the fol­low­ing Gen­er­al Con­fer­ence com­mit­tees: Mu­sic Com­mit­tee from its be­gin­ning in 1911 un­til 1947; Peace Prob­lems Com­mit­tee 1925-49; His­tor­ic­al Com­mit­tee from its in­cept­ion in 1911, and its chair­per­son from 1911 un­til 1947; Gen­er­al Sun­day School Com­mit­tee from its be­gin­ning in 1915 un­til it was in­cor­por­at­ed in­to the Com­miss­ion for Christ­ian Ed­u­ca­tion and Young Peo­ple’s Work in 1937. He served for a time on the Miss­ions Com­mitt­ee of the Men­non­ite Board of Miss­ions and Char­i­ties. He served on the Men­non­ite Board of Ed­u­ca­tion from its incep­tion in 1905 un­til about 1944, serv­ing as sec­re­ta­ry for about 20 years. He al­so served on the Pub­li­ca­tion Board and its Pub­lish­ing Com­mit­tee. He was the found­er and served as prin­ci­pal of the On­tar­io Men­non­ite Bi­ble School in Kitch­en­er, 1907-47. He was ed­it­or of the Bi­ble stu­dy de­part­ment of the Christ­ian Mon­i­tor from the be­gin­ning of its pub­li­ca­tion in 1909 un­til 1953.

He served as pas­tor of the Moy­er con­gre­ga­tion in Vine­land from 1902 un­til he died in 1954, and as bi­shop of the Ni­a­ga­ra Dis­trict from 1903. He was a char­ter mem­ber of the Non­re­sist­ant Re­lief Or­gan­i­za­tion in On­tar­io, or­gan­ized in 1918, and its se­cre­ta­ry 1920-54. In 1918 he was ap­point­ed the spe­cial cor­res­pond­ent with the Ca­na­di­an gov­ern­ment re­gard­ing mil­i­tary serv­ice and the im­mi­gra­tion of the Russ­ian Men­non­ites. He was as­so­ci­at­ed with the Ca­na­di­an Men­non­ite Board of Col­o­niz­a­tion (1922-44), and ac­tive­ly aid­ed the im­mi­gra­tion from Russ­ia to On­tar­io (1922-25). In his ear­li­er min­is­try, he was wide­ly used in Bi­ble con­fer­ence and evan­gel­is­tic work. In 1901 on a com­miss­ion from the On­tar­io Con­fer­ence, he or­gan­ized a num­ber of con­gre­ga­tions and or­dained min­is­ters and dea­cons in Al­ber­ta.

During Coff­man’s time as hymn ed­it­or of the Mu­sic Com­mit­tee, the fol­low­ing books ap­peared at Scott­dale, Penn­syl­van­ia:

Church and Sun­day School Hymn­al Sup­ple­ment, 1911
Life Songs, 1916 (co-ed­it­or)
Church Hymn­al, 1927
Songs of Cheer for Child­ren, 1928
Life Songs No. 2, 1938 (ed­it­or)

Photo & bi­o­graphy cour­te­sy of the Men­non­ite His­tor­ic­al So­ci­e­ty of Ca­na­da


Texts by Samuel F. Coffman (6)sort descendingAsAuthority LanguagesInstances
En tu santuario al entrarSamuel Coffman (Author)Spanish2
Extol the love of Christ, ye saintsSamuel Frederick Coffman (Author)English9
In Thy holy place we bowSamuel Frederick Coffman (Author)English10
Venid, hermanos, a ensalzarSamuel Coffman (Author)Spanish2
We bless the name of Christ the LordSamuel Frederick Coffman. b. 1872 (Author)English23
When Christ beheld, in sinful [sin's dark] nightS. F. Coffman (Author)English5
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