College Mennonite Church (Goshen, Indiana, USA)

College Mennonite Church was founded 8 December 1903 to serve constituents of Goshen College, the successor to the Elkhart Institute and first Mennonite college. Originally named Goshen College Mennonite Church, the church was a union congregation, affiliated with both Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference and Indiana-Michigan Amish Conference until the two conferences merged in 1917.

In January 1904, congregants first met at the Goshen College Assembly Hall, after previously meeting at a variety of locations. Jonas S. Hartzler was the first lead pastor, and other early pastors included Goshen College faculty members Paul E. Whitmer, I. W. Royer, and I. R. Detweiler. Early mission activities included the support beginning in 1904 of two female missionaries in India, Sunday evening meetings for Goshen students called Young People’s Meetings, and missions in Chicago and Fort Wayne. Women’s groups included the Working Girls Missionary Society and a women’s sewing circle.

The 1920s marked a crisis at College Mennonite Church. Bishop Daniel D. Miller disapproved of the church’s relatively lax standards on dress and church authority. In June 1923, Goshen College was shut down and Miller, with other officials from the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference, asked College Mennonite Church congregation members individually if they were willing to remain members of the Conference and abide by all conference rules. Amos E. Kreider agreed to temporarily lead the now significantly smaller church, but Kreider was dismissed in 1924 by Bishop Miller, who assumed a preaching role. Also in 1924, many members left with pastor I. R. Detweiler for Eighth Street Mennonite Church, which was part of the Central District Conference.

Mission activities in the 1930s and 1940s included funding local ministries, such as the Young People’s Christian Association (YPCA) organized by Goshen College students, and funding international ministries. In 1936, Goshen College students in the YPCA helped start a church plant that later became North Goshen Mennonite Church. YPCA students also helped start East Goshen Mennonite Church. During World War II, at least eleven members of College Mennonite Church joined the Civilian Public Service and were supported in part by the church.

In 1950, John H. Mosemann became pastor, and served until 1975. In 1950, the congregation also began meeting at the Goshen College Union Auditorium, which was larger than the Assembly Hall. In the 1950s, the congregation planned for a more permanent worship space, and a new Church-Chapel building was dedicated on 3 April 1960. In the 1950s and 1960s, student attendance dropped, but membership levels grew steadily. Koinonia groups were formed at College Mennonite Church in the 1950s, and became an important part of worship and social gathering outside of Sunday morning worship. In 1967, Mosemann led the adoption of a new constitution, which emphasized shifting decision making from only pastors to a larger group of leaders and elders. In the 1970s, the church began a Jubilee Fund, which was distributed by small groups to community members in need.

College Mennonite members participated in many discussions as worship and church standards evolved. The decision to install a pipe organ was a controversial and decades long process. An organ was an expensive instrument, and using a pipe organ broke with older Mennonite Church traditions of a-cappella singing. After discussion and planning in the 1950s and 1960s, a pipe organ was eventually dedicated in 1970. Questions of divorce and remarriage were another controversial topic, and in the early 1970s several couples who had previously divorced were allowed to remarry and become members. In 1973, a Koinonia group comprised partly of College Mennonite Church members called itself Metanoia, and separated in 1974 to form Assembly Mennonite Church. In 1975, Rachel Fisher became the church’s first female minister, although Fisher was not formally ordained until 1986, when she and Nancy Kauffman became ordained ministers.

College Mennonite Church had many international connections. An important part of these connections was continued support of Mennonite Central Committee and other service organizations. In the 1980s the church supported several Southeast Asian and Central American refugee families. In 1991, College Mennonite Church became a partner with the Los Calles community in El Salvador.

In the 1980s, the congregation’s demographics shifted toward older adults. The church began a long connection with the Greencroft Retirement home, with many Greencroft residents attending College Mennonite Church services, and services recorded and streamed at Greencroft. In the late 1980s, the church made a decision to put ministry with the elderly at the same level as ministry with college students, including pastoral and community ministry at Greencroft and among church members, and transportation between the two facilities. The College Mennonite Church building was expanded in 1993 to support a growing membership.

As of 2014, Phil Waite was the pastoral team leader, and the pastoral team also included Lee Dengler, Susan Dengler, Willie Kanagy, Marty Lehman, Daniel Yoder, Pamela Yoder, and Talashia Keim Yoder. As of 2014, the church supported many local organizations, providing matching grants to the Center for Healing and Hope, The Window, Maple City Health Care Center, MDC Goldenrod, and other organizations. College Mennonite Church also contains a Spanish-language group called Los Embajadores de Cristo, and the church provides a Spanish interpreter for Sunday morning worship. College Mennonite Church continues to be a thriving, active congregation with over a 1,000 members.

Bibliography

College Mennonite Church website. https://collegemennonite.org/.

"Listing of Ministers 1903-2003." In College Mennonite Church: 1903-2003, ed. Ervin Beck. Goshen, IN: College Mennonite Church, 2003: [303]-307.

Mennonite Yearbook and Directory. Mennonite Church USA.

Preheim, Rich. In Pursuit of Faithfulness: Conviction, Conflict, and Compromise in Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. Harrisonburg, Va.: Herald Press, 2016: See index.

Schlabach, Theron. "History." In College Mennonite Church: 1903-2003, ed. Ervin Beck. Goshen, IN: College Mennonite Church, 2003: 17–130.

Springer, Joe. "College Mennonite Church." Personal e-mail (17 June 2024).

Wenger, John Christian. The Mennonites in Indiana and Michigan. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1961: 100-107.

Archival Records

The Archives of the congregation are located at the Mennonite Church USA Archives in Elkhart, Indiana.

Additional records are located at College Mennonite Church, Goshen, Indiana.

Additional Information

Address: 1900 S Main St, Goshen, IN 46526

Phone: 574-535-7262

Website: College Mennonite Church

Denominational Affiliations:

Mennonite Church (MC) (1903-2002)

Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference (1903-present)

Mennonite Church USA (2002-present)

Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference (1903-1917)

Pastoral Leaders at College Mennonite Church

Name	Years of Service
David Burkholder (1835-1923)(Bishop)	1903-1915
Jonas S. Hartzler (1857-1953)	1903-1923
Daniel J. Johns (1850-1942)(Bishop)	1904-1916
Paul E. Whitmer (1876-1966)	1905-1906 1910-1913 1916-1917
Isaiah W. Royer (1873-1968)	1906-1909
Amos S. Landis (1851-1926)(Deacon)	1906-1924
Irvin R. Detweiler (1873-1946)	1908 1913-1923
Jacob K. Bixler (1877-1939)(Bishop)	1913-1916
David A. Yoder (1883-1980)(Bishop)	1913-1916
John E. Hartzler (1879-1963)	1916-1918
Daniel D. Miller (1864-1955)(Bishop)	1916-1942
George J. Lapp (1879-1951)	1918-1919
William B. Weaver (1887-1963)	1921-1922
Amos E. Kreider (1889-1976)	1924
Noah Oyer (1891-1931)	1925-1931
Christian L. Graber (1895-1987)	1931-1943
Sanford C. Yoder (1879-1975) (Bishop)	1943-1950 1950-1960
Levi C. Hartzler (1909-2002)(Deacon)	1943-1975
John H. Mosemann (1907-1989) (Bishop)	1950-1956 1956-1975
J. Robert Detweiler (1929-1989)	1960-1974
John E. Adams (1945-2006)(Youth)	1967-1968
Dewayne J. Johns (1915-2007)(Administration)	1967-1974
Ernest B. Martin (Youth)	1968-1969 1971-1972
H. Eugene Herr (1932-2012)(Christian Education)	1971-1975
Rick Stiffney (Youth)	1973-1979
Carolyn Gass Hertzler (Interim Christian Ed)	1975-1976
J. Marvin Nafziger (1924-2008)(Interim Adult Ed)	1975-1977
Arnold C. Roth (Lead)	1975-1985
Rachel Swartzendruber Fisher (1920-2016)(Various)	1975-1986
Arthur E. Smoker (Christian Education)	1976-1980
Thelma Miller Groff (1923-2010)(Christian Education)	1980-1981
Daniel C. Steiner (Christian Education)	1980-1983
Nancy Geiser Kauffmann (Various)	1981-2000
Rosemary Gunden Widmer (Various)	1981-2014
June Alliman Yoder (Interim Christian Ed) (Interim Community Life)	1983-1984 2010-2011
Philip K. Clemens (1941-2009)(Music & Worship)	1985-1987
Merlin Becker-Hoover (Administration)	1986-1987
James H. Waltner (1931-2007)(Lead)	1986-1996
Barbara Slough (1931-2023)(Administration)	1987-1995
William D. Hooley (1928-2019)(Overseer)	1995-2004
Ivan J. Kauffmann (1922-2016)(Interim Administration)	1995-1998
Lee Dengler (Music)	1996-2016
Susan Naus Dengler (Music & Arts)	1996-2016
Ellis B. Croyle (1930-2006)(Interim Preaching & Worship)	1996-1997
June Mears Driedger (Youth & Young Adults)	1996-1999
Firman Gingerich (Lead)	1997-2007
Wilfred Kanagy (Administration)	1998-2015
Klaudia Brady Smucker (Congregational Care)	2000-2010
Rachel Springer Gerber (Interim Youth/Young Adult)	2000-2001
Kristen Hoober (Youth & Young Adults)	2001-2008
Tim Stair (Outreach)	2001-2009
Paul M. Gingrich (1929-2020)(Overseer)	2004-2013
Ann Keener Gingrich (1931-2013)(Overseer)	2004-2013
Gary Martin (Transitional)	2007-2009
Daniel Yoder (Youth & Christian Formation)	2009-2023
Talashia Keim Yoder (Youth) (Family Ministry)	2009-
Pamela Yoder (Community Life & Pastoral Care)	2011-
Phil Waite (Team Leader)	2011-
Ron Guengerich (Overseer/Coach)	2013-
Marty Lehman (Administration)	2014-2018
Gwen Gustafson-Zook (Outreach & Formation)	2014-2017
David Maldonado (Community Outreach)	2018-
Madeline Maldonado (Community Outreach)	2018-

College Mennonite Church Membership

Year	Members
1930	149
1935	197
1940	243
1945	297
1950	416
1955	580
1960	646
1965	805
1970	867
1975	904
1980	850
1985	873
1990	966
1995	1063
2000	1085
2009	1084
2020	987

Original Article from Mennonite Encyclopedia

Goshen College Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), Goshen, Indiana, was organized 8 December 1903, to meet the need of a congregation for the staff and students of Goshen College, which opened its doors 29 September 1903, following a transfer of the school from Elkhart, Indiana. Since the members of the congregation came from congregations affiliated with both the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference and the Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference, the congregation belonged to both conferences and was served by bishops from both conferences until the merger in 1917. The first pastor was J. S. Hartzler, who was succeeded by I. W. Royer 1905-1910. Other pastors were P. E. Whitmer, George J. Lapp, I. R. Detweiler, and A. E. Kreider, all serving on the college staff. The charter membership in 1903 was 57; by 1904 it was 129.

Because of the closing of the college in June 1923 and also because of internal friction within the conference, a large part of the congregation withdrew and joined the Eighth Street Mennonite Church (founded 1913, new meetinghouse built 1920) of the Central Conference. I. R. Detweiler joined this church in 1923 and became its pastor. When the college reopened in September 1924, the bishop in charge reorganized the congregation with a new charter membership of 15, which reached 115 by 1925, 201 by 1935, 297 by 1945. Noah Oyer served as pastor 1924-d. 1931, followed by C. L. Graber 1931-1942, S. C. Yoder 1942-1950, and John H. Mosemann 1950- . Bishops have been D. D. Miller 1903-1942, S. C. Yoder 1942-1956, and John H. Mosemann 1956- . The congregation has had only two deacons - Amos Landis 1906-1922 and Levi C. Hartzler 1943- . The membership has grown continuously.

The congregation worshiped in the college chapel from the beginning until 1950, then in the College Union Auditorium until the erection of a joint church-chapel (seats 1,100), dedicated in August 1959, the cost of erection and maintenance being borne equally by the college and the congregation. The church has a circular sanctuary surrounded by rooms for Sunday school and other purposes. -- Harold S. Bender, 1959

Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 1087-1088. All rights reserved.

Author(s)	Nathan Geiser
Date Published	April 2014

Cite This Article

MLA style

Geiser, Nathan. "College Mennonite Church (Goshen, Indiana, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. April 2014. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=College_Mennonite_Church_(Goshen,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=179311.

APA style

Geiser, Nathan. (April 2014). College Mennonite Church (Goshen, Indiana, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=College_Mennonite_Church_(Goshen,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=179311.

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