Mennonite Congregation of Boston (Boston, Massachusetts, USA)
The Mennonite Congregation of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, began formally on 20 April 1962 by Mennonites of the greater Boston area who had been meeting informally for three years. There were 19 charters members. The group selected J. Lawrence Burkholder, a faculty member at the Harvard Divinity School, as the initial leader. Other early leaders included Robert Jungas, J. R. Burkholder, and Owen Gingerich. Leaders listed a few years later included Gordon D. Kaufman and Marvin Dirks.
In 1966 the Mennonite Congregation of Boston joined both the Eastern District Conference of the General Conference Mennonite Church and the Ohio and Eastern Conference of the Mennonite Church (MC). It was an early "dual-conference" congregation because members came from diverse backgrounds.
For many years the congregation had a tradition of volunteer pastors or co-pastors, often lay members. Pastors served for one year and worked with the church council, a group of regular participants headed by a chair or co-chairpersons who volunteered to provide leadership and plan weekly meetings throughout the year.
After initially meeting in homes, in 1963, the congregation began to meet in the chapel of the First Congregational Church of Cambridge, though it's unclear how long it met there. Then, in December 1985, the congregation moved permanently to the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church in Somerville, Massachusetts. Finally, beginning in September 2003, it moved to the Harvard Epworth United Methodist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it was still located in 2022.
In 2021 the congregation was part of the Atlantic Coast Conference of Mennonite Church USA. That conference was formerly the eastern part of the Ohio and Eastern Conference before it became a separate conference in 1978.
Bibliography
"A brief introduction." Mennonite Congregation of Boston. 2021. Web. 22 December 2021. https://mennonitecongregationofboston.org/history/.
"New church organized." Gospel Herald 56, no. 6 (5 February 1963): 120.
"A new congregation...." Gospel Herald 55, no. 19 (8 May 1962): 434.
Additional Information
Meeting Address: 1555 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-2903
Phone: 617-868-7784
Website: https://mennonitecongregationofboston.org/
Denominational Affiliations: Atlantic Coast Conference
Pastoral Leaders at Mennonite Congregation of Boston
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Volunteer leadership | 1962-2009 |
| Earl Sears (Interim) | 2003-2006 |
| Nancy Frey | 2009-2012 |
| Bruce Bradshaw | 2012-present |
Membership at Mennonite Congregation of Boston
| year | Membership |
|---|---|
| 1962 | 19 |
| 1970 | 28 |
| 1980 | 43 |
| 1990 | 33 |
| 2000 | 52 |
| 2007 | 49 |
| 2020 | 49 |
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | December 2021 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Mennonite Congregation of Boston (Boston, Massachusetts, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. December 2021. Web. 27 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mennonite_Congregation_of_Boston_(Boston,_Massachusetts,_USA)&oldid=172738.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (December 2021). Mennonite Congregation of Boston (Boston, Massachusetts, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 27 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mennonite_Congregation_of_Boston_(Boston,_Massachusetts,_USA)&oldid=172738.
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