Oak Grove Mennonite Church

Last updated

Located in Smithville, Ohio, Oak Grove Mennonite Church is an historical church that has made a significant contribution to the larger Mennonite denomination, currently pastored by Seth Miller. Oak Grove started as an Amish church in 1818, as many Amish started settling in Wayne County, Ohio. From humble beginnings the church grew and built a meetinghouse in 1862, one of the earliest of such meetinghouses the Amish have built.

Contents

A notable leader of the Amish church at this time was bishop John K. Yoder, who led the church from 1855–1906. Bishop Yoder's main contribution to Oak Grove was his progressive attitude toward Amish doctrine. In 1862, John K. Yoder moderated the first meeting of the Diener Versammlungen. Diener Versammlungen, from 1862–1878 were denominational meetings in which Amish ministers met to discuss changes in the Ordnung. The very idea of a churchwide meeting for Amish was revolutionary; however, once the meetings started, it became clear that the majority of the leaders there were more change-minded than interested in keeping with tradition. Thus, conservative opposition was given a chance to speak, and the opposition gave the leaders a clear ultimatum. After 1863, many of the conservative ministers removed themselves from the meeting, and as such, John K. Yoder led toward progress, forming an "orphan congregation" which became Amish-Mennonite. With John K. Yoder as Oak Grove's bishop, it was seen as the leading congregation in which as many as 5,000 Ohio Amish became known as Amish Mennonites. After several decades of relative obscurity, Amish-Mennonites later dropped Amish from their name and joined "Old" Mennonites in the Ohio Conference of the Mennonite Church. Theologian John Howard Yoder is from this church.

Lead Pastors:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mennonite Church USA</span> American Anabaptist Christian denomination

The Mennonite Church USA is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the United States. Although the organization is a recent 2002 merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, the body has roots in the Radical Reformation of the 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Howard Yoder</span> American Mennonite theologian and academic

John Howard Yoder was an American Mennonite theologian and ethicist best known for his defense of Christian pacifism. His most influential book was The Politics of Jesus, which was first published in 1972. Yoder was a Mennonite and wrote from an Anabaptist perspective. He spent the latter part of his career teaching at the University of Notre Dame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold S. Bender</span> American theologian

Harold Stauffer Bender was a prominent professor of theology at Goshen College and Goshen Biblical Seminary. His accomplishments include founding both the Mennonite Historical Library and The Mennonite Quarterly Review. He served as president of the American Society of Church History, and was a major scholarly influence on fellow Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder.

Amish Mennonites came into existence through reform movements among North American Amish mainly between 1862 and 1878. These Amish moved away from the old Amish traditions and drew near to the Mennonites, becoming Mennonites of Amish origin. Over the decades, most Amish Mennonites groups removed the word "Amish" from the name of their congregations or merged with Mennonite groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary</span> Protestant seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, US

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) is an Anabaptist Christian seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, affiliated with Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. It was formerly known as Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary until its name was changed in 2012.

Alan Kreider was an American Mennonite historian. He was the American Professor Emeritus of Church History and Mission at the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. His main interests were mission, worship, peace, and ecclesiastical history. Kreider continued to speak, write and publish in these areas of interest until his death in May 2017.

<i>The Mennonite Quarterly Review</i>

The Mennonite Quarterly Review is an American interdisciplinary review journal, devoted to Anabaptist and Mennonite history, theology, and contemporary issues.

John D. Roth was a professor of history at Goshen College (1985-2022), the editor of The Mennonite Quarterly Review (1995-2022), and director of the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism (2011-2022) at Goshen College. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago. Roth has published widely on topics related to the Radical Reformation, ecumenism, global Anabaptism, and contemporary Anabaptist-Mennonite life and thought. His books include Choosing Against War: A Christian View, Beliefs: Mennonite Faith and Practice, Stories: How Mennonites Came to Be, and Practices: Mennonite Worship and Witness. He discussed his book on war in several places including the Netherlands. He has also written for Christianity Today concerning the Anabaptists and Amish.

Steven M. Nolt is an American scholar who serves as Senior Scholar and Professor of History and Anabaptist Studies at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. The author of fifteen books, most of which focus on Amish and Mennonite history and culture, Nolt is a frequent source for journalists and other researching Anabaptist groups. He was often quoted in the aftermath of the 2006 West Nickel Mines School shooting at Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania.

Guy F. Hershberger was an American Mennonite theologian, educator, historian, and prolific author particularly in the field of Mennonite ethics.

Sanford Calvin Yoder was a Mennonite pastor, biblical scholar, moderator of the Mennonite General Conference from 1919 to 1921, and president of Goshen College from 1923 to 1940. He was also a leader in the Mennonite conscientious objector movement surrounding World War I.

The Mennonite Church USA Archives was founded in 2001 under the denominational merger of the (old) Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. Prior to 2001, the two largest Mennonite denominations maintained separate archives: the Archives of the Mennonite Church, located on the Goshen College campus, housed materials pertaining to the (old) Mennonite Church, while the Mennonite Library and Archives on the Bethel College campus held the records of the General Conference Mennonite Church.

College Mennonite Church (CMC) is a Mennonite Church located in Goshen, Indiana, and a member of the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA.

Assembly Mennonite Church is a Mennonite Church located in Goshen, Indiana. It is a member of the Central District Conference of Mennonite Church USA. Beginning as a small group of Members from Surrounding Mennonite Churches, Assembly broke from that congregation in the mid-1970s.

Jerome Monroe Smucker was an American farmer and entrepreneur who founded The J.M. Smucker Company food and beverage firm in 1897, starting out selling apple butter from the back of a horse-drawn wagon. He was of Swiss descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kauffman Amish Mennonite</span> Branch of Amish Mennonites

The Kauffman Amish Mennonites, also called Sleeping Preacher Churches or Tampico Amish Mennonite Churches, are a plain, car-driving branch of the Amish Mennonites whose tradition goes back to John D. Kauffman (1847–1913) and Noah Troyer (1831–1886) who preached while being in a state of trance and who were seen as "sleeping preachers".

Anabaptists and Jews have had interactions for several centuries, since the origins of Anabaptism in the Radical Reformation in early modern Europe. Due to the insularity of many Anabaptist and Jewish communities, Anabaptist–Jewish relations have historically been limited but there are notable examples of interactions between Anabaptists and Jews. Due to some similarities in dress, culture, and language, Amish and Mennonite communities in particular have often been compared and contrasted to Haredi and Hasidic Jewish communities.

References

  1. ↑ Lehman, James O. (1978). Creative Congregationalism: A History of the Oak Grove Mennonite Church in Wayne County, Ohio. Oak Grove Mennonite Church.
  2. ↑ Bender, Harold Stauffer (1956). The Mennonite Quarterly Review. Goshen College, the Mennonite Historical Society, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary.
  3. ↑ Bender, Harold Stauffer (1956). The Mennonite Quarterly Review. Goshen College, the Mennonite Historical Society, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary.
  4. ↑ Lehman, James O.; Nolt, Steven M. (2007-10-28). Mennonites, Amish, and the American Civil War. JHU Press. ISBN   978-1-4214-0390-8.
  5. ↑ Gerlach, Horst (2013-06-01). My Kingdom Is Not of This World: 300 Years of the Amish, 1683-1983. Masthof Press & Bookstore. ISBN   978-1-60126-387-2.

Further reading

Oak Grove Mennonite Church 1818-2018 by Levi Miller

40°51′31″N81°49′55″W / 40.8586°N 81.8320°W / 40.8586; -81.8320

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.