Bart Mennonite Church (Christiana, Pennsylvania, USA)
Bart Mennonite Church, Christiana, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was organized in 1950 and its church completed in 1956. It had 49 members in 1959. The ministers were Shem Peachey, M. S. Stoltzfus, and Urbane Peachey.
The congregation began with the assistance of the Conservative Mennonite Conference, and was a member of that conference until 1984. Since there were no other Conservative Conference churches in Lancaster County at the time, the church decided to join the Atlantic Coast Conference of the Mennonite Church.
Although informal Bible studies were always a part of church life, a structured system of home groups was established in 1986. In 1991 a second Sunday morning service was added. A second building addition was completed in 1995. In the winter of 1996 a church was planted in nearby Quarryville, and in 1999 a second church was planted at Andrews Bridge. A new entity was then developed, called Bart Ministries, which became the governing body, administratively and financially for Bart Mennonite, Quarryville Community Fellowship, and Andrews Bridge. In 2001 these all became independent congregations, and Bart Ministries ceased.
In the spring of 2002 after much discussion and prayer, Bart Mennonite approved the decision to withdraw from the newly formed Mennonite Church USA and from the Atlantic Coast Conference. As a result of unrest from that decision as well as the 2001 program and structural decisions, the leadership (all of the Elders and Pastors) resigned from Bart Mennonite and planted a new church known at the The Church at Timberline (later changed its name to Timberline Church). Those members remaining at Bart Mennonite Church became charter members of the Alliance of Mennonite Evangelical Congregations, a group of like-minded congregations who chose not to join Mennonite Church USA.
In 2016 Bart Mennonite Church no longer existed. On 11 September 2016, Chestnut Street Chapel, an independent church that was formerly located at 866 Chestnut Street in Gap, Pennsylvania, began worshiping in the former Bart Mennonite Church building.
Bibliography
"History." The Church at Timberline. Accessed 9 July 2007. <http://www.churchattimberline.com/history.htm>
Additional Information
Address: 742 Vintage Road, Christiana, Pennsylvania 17509
Phone: 717-471-9025
Website: Bart Mennonite Church
Denominational Affiliation: Alliance of Mennonite Evangelical Congregations [AMEC]
Maps
Map:Bart Mennonite Church (Christiana, Pennsylvania)
| Author(s) | Melvin Gingerich |
|---|---|
| Sam Steiner | |
| Date Published | 2007 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Gingerich, Melvin and Sam Steiner. "Bart Mennonite Church (Christiana, Pennsylvania, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 2007. Web. 23 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bart_Mennonite_Church_(Christiana,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=161082.
APA style
Gingerich, Melvin and Sam Steiner. (2007). Bart Mennonite Church (Christiana, Pennsylvania, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bart_Mennonite_Church_(Christiana,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=161082.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 1063. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.