Some of the Sommerfeld members disagreed with this and decided to move to South America where they would be allowed to educate their own children as they saw fit.
Many of them left Canada for Latin America starting in the early 1920s.
[3] In 1985 they had a total population of about 5,400 people in Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada and in 1987 they had 10 colonies in Latin America with a total population of about 7,500 people.
[4] In 2007 they had churches in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
This movement emphasized personal conversion, evangelism and missions, and led to the creation of a new group known as the Rudnerweider Mennonite Church.