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."

John Fretz Funk was born on April 6, 1835 in Hilltown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania to Jacob Funk and Salome Fretz Funk. He was the great-grandson of Bishop Heinrich Funck (Henry Funk), who had immigrated to the Colony of Pennsylvania before 1720 on the ship Friendship.

Attended Freeland Seminary (now Ursinus College) to become a public school teacher but taught for only two years in his home community before accepting the invitation of his brother-in-law Jacob Beidler to go, in 1857, to Chicago, Illinois to join him in his lumber business.

In Chicago, Funk converted, in 1858, to Christianity at a Presbyterian revival and became heavily involved in various church activities and became a close acquaintance of noted American Evangelist Dwight L. Moody.

In 1860, Funk returned home to Bucks County, Pennsylvania to be baptized in the Mennonite Church and returned again in 1864 to marry Salome Kratz. Also in 1864, Funk began publishing the Herald of Truth.

In 1867, John F. Funk moved to Elkhart, Indiana with his wife and young daughter.

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