RiverTown Community Church (Blountstown, Florida, USA)

The Rivertown Community Church, Blountstown, Florida, USA, began as the Bethel Conservative Mennonite Church. The first Mennonites to settle in the Blountstown, Florida area came from Greenwood, Delaware and Hartville, Ohio in the fall of 1952. This was the result of a visit to the area by the Colonization Committee of the Conservative Mennonite Mission Board; thus Bethel was a church plant through colonization.

The congregation organized as a mission church on 11 April 1954, with Raymond Byler as the minister. Bethel built a meetinghouse in 1957 that was dedicated on 15 September. Bethel Conservative Mennonite Church, Blountstown, Florida, was first listed in the Mennonite Yearbook of 1955 as the Red Oak congregation, with 33 members. In 1958, the Yearbook listed it as Bethel.

Most of the growth of the Bethel Mennonite Church during the decades of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s resulted from biological growth and the influx of ethnic Mennonites from other states.

After Paul Smith became Senior Pastor in 1993, the congregation increased its effort to reach the unchurched in the community.

In 2001, Bethel Mennonite Church joined the Good News Fellowship while retaining its membership in the Conservative Mennonite Conference. In the early 2000s, Bethel Mennonite changed its name to RiverTown Community Church. It believed the "Mennonite" name was a barrier to outreach. It also dropped its affiliation with the Conservative Mennonite Conference at the same time.

After attending a conference on "doing church" in rural/small-town communities in 2008, Rivertown began to expand to other campuses in 2009, beginning with Marianna, followed by Chipley and Crawfordville.

The congregation's website no longer capitalized the "T" in its name on its website by 2023.

Bibliography

Landis, J. D. "Good News Fellowship gathering." The Good News Messenger (Winter 2005): [5].

Miller, Ivan J. History of the Conservative Mennonite Conference, 1910-1985. Grantsville, Md.: Ivan J. & Della Miller, 1985: 86-88.

"Our story." Rivertown Community Church. 2020. Web. 21 December 2023. https://rivertown.cc/our-story/.

"Regional Council meets." The Good News Messenger (March/April 2002): 3.

"Rivertown Community Church (RCC)...." The Good News Messenger (Winter 2009): 7.

Wester, Jarred. "Doing church in 'the sticks'" The Good News Messenger (Winter 2008): 5.

Yoder, Lisa. "A closer look ... at RiverTown Community Church." The Good News Messenger (Spring 2006): 2.

Additional Information

Blountstown Address: 19359 SR 71 North, Blountstown, Florida 32424

Chipley Address: 1317 State Park Road, Chipley, Florida 32428

Marianna Address: 4534 Lafayette Street, Marianna, Florida 32446

Crawfordville Address: 318 Shadeville Road, Crawfordville, Florida 32327

Blountstown Phone: 850-633-4633

Website: https://rivertown.cc/

Denominational Affiliations: Conservative Mennonite Conference

Good News Fellowship

Pastoral Leaders at Rivertown Community Church

Name	Years of Service
Raymond J. Byler (1914-1993)	1954-1973
Harold J. Weldy	1969-1980
Oscar T. Schrock (1926-1989)	1972-1989
Ivan E. Nissley	1976-1991
Paul A. Smith	1990-
Daniel E. Yoder	1993-2007?
Doug Gingerich	1998?-2007?
Darren Tucker (Marianna)	2009-

Rivertown Church Membership

Year	Members
1955	33
1960	64
1970	94
1980	84
1990	88
2000	102

Maps

RiverTown Community Church (Blountstown, Florida)

Author(s)	Samuel J Steiner
Date Published	December 2023

Cite This Article

MLA style

Steiner, Samuel J. "RiverTown Community Church (Blountstown, Florida, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. December 2023. Web. 22 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=RiverTown_Community_Church_(Blountstown,_Florida,_USA)&oldid=177989.

APA style

Steiner, Samuel J. (December 2023). RiverTown Community Church (Blountstown, Florida, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 22 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=RiverTown_Community_Church_(Blountstown,_Florida,_USA)&oldid=177989.

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