First Mennonite Church (Berne, Indiana, USA)

First Mennonite Church, Berne, IN
Source: Black Bear Inn & Suites website.

First Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church USA), 566 W. Main St., Berne, Adams County, Indiana, was a member of the Middle District Conference (later Central District Conference). It had 1,320 members in 1953; in 2004 in had 1,118 members.

The background of the majority of the membership is Swiss from the Jura Mountains and the Emmental in the canton of Bern. The first settlers who came to this section were of the Preacher David Baumgartner family, who located in French Township in 1838. These started the Baumgartner church which united with the Berne church in 1886. Another group of 80 persons, mostly members of the Sprunger family or their relatives by marriage, left the Jura for America in 1852. They cleared trees and drained land around a spot where the town of Berne is now situated. These organized the Berne congregation with Peter S. Lehman as their leader.

In 1856 the Berne group began erecting the first church building, which was completed in 1860. The second meetinghouse was built in 1879, was remodeled in 1886 and again in 1899. The 1950s brick church was started in 1910 and dedicated in 1912, having a seating capacity of 2,000 in the main auditorium and balconies. The church owned a nine-room parsonage, built of brick matching the church. One third of the membership in the 1950s lived in the country and the remainder lived in town.

The Bernese Swiss dialect was still spoken in many homes in the 1950s. The church services were in English but there were three German Sunday-school classes at that time. The church did not observe feetwashing or separate seating for men and women. Members were disciplined if they did not live according to the Scriptures and rules of the church.

The Sunday school, which was organized in 1874, in 1952 had a membership of 1,483 and an average attendance of 1,152. The Christian Endeavor was organized in 1894. The Women's Missionary Society, organized in 1887, met once a month. The Girls' Junior and Intermediate Mission Bands also met monthly. The Christian Temperance Union had charge of the first Sunday evening service of every month. The church also had a library of almost a thousand books in 1952.

There has been a strong love for music in the Berne community and as early as 1875 singing schools were instituted with practices held in homes. Out of these grew the choir and choral society which began giving oratorios in 1890. In the early 1950s the church had several music groups—an adult choir, a young people's choir, a junior choir, and the Choral Society, which gave "The Creation" each June and "The Messiah" each December; also a Men's Chorus of considerable renown, which was organized in 1898, and a Ladies' Chorus organized in 1912.

There were two outstanding leaders in the church whose influence was still felt in the mid-20th century. Both were products of the local church and community. One was S. F. Sprunger, long-time pastor of the church. He fostered a real heart religion with a progressive outlook and promoted education, missions, and conference endeavors. The other was J. F. Lehman, an active layman, influential leader in the Sunday school, Temperance Society, Choral Society, and Christian Endeavor.

In the summer of 1886 a great revival took place in Berne. It was remarkable because there was no outside evangelist with special meetings, special music or publicity as was usually the case. Through the faithful teaching of S. F. Sprunger and the help of J. F. Lehman, a young woman found peace in Christ and soon the spirit spread from one to another until over a hundred persons were converted in about two months.

Ministers who served the Baumgartner congregation in the early days, prior to the merger, were as follows: David Baumgartner, Christian Baumgartner, Ulrich Kipfer, Matthias Strahm, Christian Augsburger, and S. F. Sprunger. Ministers who served the Berne congregation prior to the merger: Peter Lehman, Christian Sprunger, Peter Habegger, Peter M. Neuenschwander, and S. F. Sprunger. Pastors of both of the united churches follow: S. F. Sprunger, 1871-1903; J. W. Kliewer, 1903-1911; S. F. Sprunger (Interim), 1911-1913; P. R. Schroeder, 1912-1928; C. H. Suckau, 1928-1943; J. P. Suderman (Interim), 1944-1945; and Olin A. Krehbiel, 1945- .

Since the beginning of the church between 60 and 70 members of this congregation have at some time been engaged in various types of Christian service for a shorter or longer period. In 1952 there were 17 members engaged in foreign mission work and 11 in home mission work.

This congregation had entertained the General Conference Mennonite Church four times by 1950, the last time being in 1947, when over 1,400 delegates and visitors were in attendance.

In 1952 the church gave over $113,098.00 for local support, minister's salary, missions, relief, education, conference, and other causes.

In 1959 the church dedicated a new education building and, the following year, renovated its parsonage. Extensive renovations took place in 1985, and an elevator was installed in 1997. A Family Life Center was dedicated in April 2012. Further office renovations took place in 2020.

In 1961 the congregation helped to launch the Maplewood Mennonite Church in Fort Wayne. It also held regular Spanish-language services for migrant workers in its chapel.

In 2009 the congregation withdrew from the Central District Conference and joined the Ohio Conference of Mennonite Church USA. In 2014, the congregation voted to leave the Ohio Conference and on 25 September 2016, the congregation voted to join the Lancaster Mennonite Conference. In 2023 the congregation remained part of LMC: a Fellowship of Anabaptist Churches.

Bibliography

"First Mennonite Church chronology 1838-2021." First Mennonite Church. 2021. Web. 20 January 2023. https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.cloversites.com/78/78d9026f-70eb-4239-b4da-23554841065a/documents/2021_Chronology_FINAL_USE_THIS.pdf

Lehman, Naomi. Pilgrimage of a Congregation: First Mennonite Church, Berne, Indiana. Berne, IN: First Mennonite Church, 1982.

Sprunger, E. The First Hundred Years. Berne, IN: First Mennonite Church, 1938.

Stella, Rachel. "Year After Withdrawal, Lancaster Conference Gains, Loses." Mennonite World Review (15 November 2016). Web. 29 November 2016. http://mennoworld.org/2016/11/15/news/year-after-withdrawal-lancaster-conference-gains-loses/.

Thomas, Everett J. "Congregations Switch Membership." The Mennonite (1 September 2013). http://www.themennonite.org/issues/16-9/articles/Congregations_switch_membership.

Additional Information

Address: 566 West Main Street, Berne, Indiana 46711

Phone: 260-589-3108

Website: First Mennonite Church

Denominational Affiliations:

Middle District Conference

Central District Conference (until 2009)

Ohio Mennonite Conference (2009-2014)

Lancaster Mennonite Conference (2016-present)

General Conference Mennonite Church (until 1999)

Pastoral Leaders at Baumgartner Mennonite Church

Name	Years of Service
David Baumgartner (1765-1853)	1839-1853
Christian Baumgartner (1809-1878) (Elder)	1845-1866 1866-1878
Ulrich Kipfer (1805-1866)	1852-1866
Matthias Strahm (1785-1866)	1852-1866
Christian Augsburger (1821-1903)	1865-1869
Samuel F. "S. F." Sprunger (1848-1923)(Elder)	1878?-1886

Pastoral Leaders at Berne Mennonite Church

Name	Years of Service
Peter S. Lehman (1821-1899) (Elder)	1852--1853 1853-1868
Christian Sprunger (1828-1903) (Elder)	1856-1868 1868-?
Peter Habegger (1809-1872)	1865-1872
Peter M. Neuenschwander (1854-1946)	1876-1879
Samuel F. "S. F." Sprunger (1848-1923) (Elder)	1868-1874 1874-1886

Pastoral Leaders at First Mennonite Church

Name	Years of Service
Samuel F. "S. F." Sprunger (1848-1923)(Elder) (Interim)	1886-1903 1911-1913
John W. "J. W." Kliewer (1869-1938)	1903-1911
Peter R. "P. R." Schroeder (1888-1941)	1912-1928
Cornelius H. "C. H." Suckau (1881-1951)	1928-1943
John P. "J. P." Suderman (1901-1979)(Interim)	1944-1945
Olin A. Krehbiel (1904-1982)	1945-1957
Freeman Burkhalter (1908-1999)(Music)	1948-1991?
John F. Sprunger (1925-1996)(Assistant)	1952-1956
Gordon J. Neuenschwander (1925-2003)	1956-1973
Marvin Zehr (Assistant)	1961-1964
Andrew J. "A. J." Neuenschwander (1889-1972)(Seniors)	1964-1969
Gerald Stucky (Associate)	1966-1973
Lyman Hofstetter (Youth)	1968-1972?
John W. Sprunger	1973-1975
Kenneth G. Bauman (1926-1986)	1973-1986
Vernon J. & Irena Sprunger (Visitation)	1973-1975
Curt A. Claassen (1918-2017)(Assistant)	1975-1995
Tim Sprunger (Christian Education)	1977-1978?
Jerry Flueckiger (Youth) (Care & Adult Ministries)	1978-1982? 2008-
Jerry Holsopple (Youth & Christian Education)	1982-1985?
J. Andrew Stoner (Family Life)	1982-1989
Dennis Stutzman (Youth)	1986?-1989
Peter Voran (Interim)	1987-1989
Robert J. "Bob" Sprunger (Youth)	1989-1999 2005-2009?
Tim Epp	1989-1992
Robin K. LaRue (Congregational Care)	1989-1994
Jason S. Martin (1927-2007)(Interim)	1992-1994
Mary Beth Huser (Music)	1991-?
Harold Nussbaum (1924-2014)(Visitation)	1993-2004?
Marie Nussbaum (Visitation)	1993-2008?
G. Craig Maven	1994-2007
John L. Freed (Associate)	1996-1999?
Ray Keim (Congregational Care)	2000-2004
Nathen Tatman (Youth)	2000-2007
Dennis G. Schmidt (Christian Education)	2000-2011?
Carole Neuenschwander (Children)	2006-2010
Brent Hyman (Music & Worship)	2006-present
Don Blosser (Interim)	2007
Darren Kloepper (Youth) (Christian Education)	2009-2013 2013-2016?
Jeff Linthicum	2009-present
Lara Collett (Interim Children's)	2010-2011
Chris Hyman (Children's)	2012-present
Hazel Lautzenheiser (Children's)	2012-2015
Josh Gaskill (Youth)	2013-2016
Debra Neuenschwander (Children's)	2016-present
Bill Helmlinger (Youth)	2016-present
James Schwartz (Care & Adult)	2018-present
Seth Ringger (Interim Youth)	2020-2021

Membership at First Mennonite Church

Year	Membership
1920	299
1930	443
1940	1239
1950	1338
1960	1320
1970	1263
1980	1216
1990	1119
2000	1119
2009	1107

Author(s)	Olin A. Krehbiel
	Samuel J. Steiner
Date Published	January 2023

Cite This Article

MLA style

Krehbiel, Olin A. and Samuel J. Steiner. "First Mennonite Church (Berne, Indiana, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. January 2023. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=First_Mennonite_Church_(Berne,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=179535.

APA style

Krehbiel, Olin A. and Samuel J. Steiner. (January 2023). First Mennonite Church (Berne, Indiana, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=First_Mennonite_Church_(Berne,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=179535.

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