Bethesda Mennonite Church (Henderson, Nebraska, USA)

Bethesda Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church USA) of Henderson, York County, Nebraska, is a member of the Central Plains Conference (formerly Northern District Conference), with a membership of 998 in 1953. Thirty-five families from the Molotschna Colony, South Russia, had arrived at the immigrant house erected by the Burlington Railroad company one mile east of the present site of Henderson on 14 October 1874. By 1880 the group had grown to about 80 families. A large boulder was erected in 1937 on the original site to mark the place of the immigrant house. Names of the family heads arriving in 1874 were Mrs. Johann Abrahams, Gerhard Abrahams, Peter Abrahams, Heinrich C. Epp, Rev. Heinrich Epp, Johann Epp, Mrs. Johann Fast, Jacob Fast, Jacob Friesen, Johann Friesen, Cornelius Funk, Abraham Heinrichs, Jacob Janzen, Johann Janzen, Peter Lender, Absolom Martins, Benjamin Nachtigal, Jacob Nachtigal, Heinrich Pankratz, Sr., Heinrich Pankratz, Jr., Peter Pankratz, Heinrich Penner, Peter Penner, Gerhard Petker, Benjamin Ratzlaff, Franz Spenst, Mrs. Johann Sperling, Gerhard Toews, Johann Voth, Tobias Voth, Cornelius Wall, Jacob Wall, Peter Wall, Cornelius Warkentin, Peter Wolf.

Two ministers, Heinrich Epp and Benjamin Ratzlaff, came with the first group. Ratzlaff died 30 October 1874. In the spring of 1875 two other ministers, Isaac Peters and Gerhard Epp, arrived. Isaac Peters had been elder of the Mennonite congregation at Pordenau, Molotschna settlement, Russia, from 1867 until 1874, when he emigrated to America with the smaller portion of the Pordenau congregation. Insisting upon stricter requirements for a separated life as an evidence of regeneration than the majority of the membership were willing to agree to, he withdrew in 1880 with a considerable number of members to form the Ebenezer Mennonite Church, which (with the Aaron Wall group at Mountain Lake, Minnesota) became one of the two founding congregations of the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Conference.

In 1880 a church was built two miles (three km) northeast of the present site of Henderson. In 1906 this church was sold and dismantled, and a new one built in Henderson, which was enlarged in 1931, but was destroyed by fire before completion. Immediately the building of a new church was undertaken; it had a seating capacity of about 1,350. It was dedicated 6 March 1932. A new church building was dedicated in 1958 and an educational building was dedicated in 1964.

Originally feetwashing was practiced at the communion service, but was discontinued in 1939. The first reed organ was used about 1915; a pipe organ was installed in 1968. Discipline for transgression was still required by confession in the 1950s. The Sunday-school enrollment in 1953 was 1105. Young people's meetings, prayer meetings, mission societies, and choirs were organized in the church. German services were discontinued in the early 1940s. Ministers who have served the church are listed in Additional Information.

In 1893 the first Sunday school was held. In 1902 a parochial school was built, which functioned until 1943. In 1904 John H. Epp was ordained as the first missionary from this church to serve among the Indians in Oklahoma. In 1915 Peter J. Boehr was ordained as missionary to China. In 1949 a parsonage was built.

Bibliography

Bethesda Mennonite Church. "Bethesda Mennonite Church Chronology." August 2008. http://www.telcoweb.net/bethesda/history.html (15 August 2009)

Additional Information

Address: 930 16th Street, Henderson, Nebraska 68371-0130

Phone: 402-723-4562

Website: Bethesda Mennonite Church

Denominational Affiliations:

Central Plains Mennonite Conference

Mennonite Church USA

Bethesda Mennonite Church Pastoral Leaders

Minister	Years of Service
Benjamin Ratzlaff	1874
Heinrich Epp	1874-1882
Isaac Peters	1875-1882
Gerhard Epp	1875-1893
Cornelius Wall	1878-1882
Johann Kliewer	1878-1883
Peter J. Friesen	1883-1909
Cornelius Regier	1883-1885
H. H. Epp	1883-1924
Jacob Friesen	1886-1892
Peter H. Pankratz	1891-1933
Dietrich Peters	1891-1904
F. G. Pankratz	1908-1910
H. D. Epp	1908-d. 1970
Johann F. Epp	1916-1934
A. W. Friesen	1916-1947
Johann F. Epp	1947-1948
Arnold Nickel	1948-1956
John Thiessen, Interim	1950/1963
Arthur Isaak	1952-1955
John Gaeddert	1955-1965
J. R. Duerksen	1956-1958
Bernard Ratzlaff	1959 Summer
Paul Isaak	1959-1965
Walter H. Dyck	1965-1971
Abraham Krause	1965-1976
Benjamin Sawatzky	1972-1979
Mahendra Kumer	1975 Summer
Waldo Kaufman	1975-1978
Russell L. Mast	1977-1979
Ward W. Shelly	1979-1982
Brian Epp	1979-1996
Albert H. Epp	1981-1990
Jason Martin, Interim	1990-1992
Joel Schroeder	1991-2004
John L. Yoder-Schrock	1992-1999
Marcia Yoder-Schrock	1992-1999
Weldon Martens	1995-
George Kaufman	2000-2007
Rachel Friesen, Interim	2007-2008
James Joel Voth	2008-present

Bethesda Mennonite Church Membership

Year	Membership
1953	998
1999	1127
2005	1152

Maps

Map:Bethesda Mennonite Church (Henderson, Nebraska)

Author(s)	Abraham W Friesen
	Sam Steiner
Date Published	August 2009

Cite This Article

MLA style

Friesen, Abraham W and Sam Steiner. "Bethesda Mennonite Church (Henderson, Nebraska, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. August 2009. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bethesda_Mennonite_Church_(Henderson,_Nebraska,_USA)&oldid=103171.

APA style

Friesen, Abraham W and Sam Steiner. (August 2009). Bethesda Mennonite Church (Henderson, Nebraska, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bethesda_Mennonite_Church_(Henderson,_Nebraska,_USA)&oldid=103171.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 316-317. All rights reserved.

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