Bethel Mennonite Church (Garden City, Missouri, USA)
Bethel Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), located near Garden City in Camp Branch Township, Cass County, Missouri, was merged with the Sycamore Grove congregation in August 1947. It was a member of the South Central Mennonite Conference with a membership of 59 at the time of the merger. The congregation was probably organized in 1885 and the church building was built in 1886. It was organized largely through the effort of John S. Coffman who in his evangelistic efforts in the early 1880s gathered up the fragments of the Clearfork congregation in that community and bound them together in the Bethel Mennonite Church. Bishop D. D. Kauffman and Preacher D. F. Driver of the Mt. Zion congregation near Versailles, Missouri, helped minister to the spiritual needs of the congregation in its early history. A. D. Wenger served them in the early nineties as resident minister. About this time Preacher L. J. Heatwole came to Missouri and later was to be their first resident bishop. After he moved back to Virginia, Bishop Daniel Kauffman of Versailles served them until the fall of 1912 when Joseph C. Driver, who was serving them at that time as minister, was ordained bishop. During the 60 years or more of the history of this congregation, the ministers who served it besides the bishops were A. D. Wenger, D. Y. Hooley, Daniel Yoder, J. B. Smith, C. S. Houder, W. E. Helmuth, D. S. King, and James Steiner. Bethel's character as a Mennonite congregation alongside the larger Amish Mennonite congregation of Sycamore Grove was its chief reason for existence.
| Author(s) | Joseph C Driver |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1953 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Driver, Joseph C. "Bethel Mennonite Church (Garden City, Missouri, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bethel_Mennonite_Church_(Garden_City,_Missouri,_USA)&oldid=54613.
APA style
Driver, Joseph C. (1953). Bethel Mennonite Church (Garden City, Missouri, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bethel_Mennonite_Church_(Garden_City,_Missouri,_USA)&oldid=54613.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 311. All rights reserved.
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