Leo Mennonite Church (Leo, Indiana, USA)
The Leo Amish Mennonite Church was first composed of Alsatian Amish settlers who had lived in Ohio and later moved to Allen County, Indiana. In the mid-1800s, the Allen County Amish began to divide into Old Order Amish and more assimilated groups like the Defenseless Mennonites. A third group formed the Leo Amish Mennonite Church, an independent Amish Mennonite congregation.
The first minister may have been a Christian Ramseyer, but the first certain local minister was Christian Lugbill.
The congregation began to hold Sunday school in 1875 on alternate Sundays when worship services were not scheduled.
In 1887 the congregation built its first meetinghouse on land that was later sold to the "St. Joseph Mennonite Church" (named for the nearby river) in 1889 by Peter and Elizabeth Witmer. This meetinghouse was used until 1917, when the congregation purchased the St. John's Reformed Church in the village of Leo and sold the 1887 building to Henry Sauder of the Apostolic Christian Church.
The independent Leo congregation joined the Indiana-Michigan Amish Mennonite Conference in 1905. After that conference merged with the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference in 1916, Amish Mennonite congregations dropped the "Amish" from their names.
In 1933, the Leo Mennonite Church helped to launch the Anderson Mennonite Church (later Carroll Community Worship Center) in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1944, it sponsored an outreach at Lost Creek, Ohio, and in 1954 the Fair Haven mission in Fort Wayne.
After the North Leo Mennonite Church was built in 1965/66, the vast majority of the Leo congregation moved to the new church. Leo's pastor, Carl Rudy, also moved to the new church, and Leo's membership dropped by more than 75 percent.
The Leo Mennonite Church closed in 1990.
Bibliography
Preheim, Rich. In Pursuit of Faithfulness: Conviction, Conflict, and Compromise in Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. Harrisonburg, Va.: Herald Press, 2016: 310.
Wenger, John Christian. The Mennonites in Indiana and Michigan. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1961: 192-195.
Additional Information
Address: Wayne Street, Leo, Indiana
Telephone:
Website:
Denominational Affiliations:
Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference
Pastoral Leaders at Leo Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Christian Ramseyer (d. 1875) | 1861-1875 |
| Christian Lugbill (1825-1880) | 1875-1880 |
| John C. Lugbill (1857-1926) | 1880-1890s |
| Elias Yoder (1857-1935) (Bishop) |
1880-1880s 1880s-1906? |
| Visiting ministers | 1906-1910 |
| Andrew S. Miller (1876-1945) | 1910-1945 |
| Joseph S. Neuhouser (1896-1962) | 1921-1941 |
| Samuel J. Miller (1893-1965) (Bishop) |
1944-1950 1950-1965 |
| Virgil Vogt (1934-2021) | 1959-1962 |
| Carl J. Rudy (1927-2022) | 1963-1967 |
| Earl W. Hartman (1914-1995) | 1967-1983 |
| Lay Leadership | 1983-1984 |
| Martin L. Brandenberger (1922-2006) | 1984-1989 |
| Lay Leadership | 1989-1990 |
Leo Mennonite Church Membership
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1905 | 75 |
| 1920 | 101 |
| 1930 | 185 |
| 1940 | 230 |
| 1950 | 224 |
| 1960 | 305 |
| 1970 | 58 |
| 1980 | 74 |
| 1990 | 17 |
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By Samuel J. Miller. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 324. All rights reserved.
Leo Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church (MC)), was located in Leo, Indiana, a small rural town 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The first meetinghouse, built on the bank of the St. Joseph River about 1/4 miles southeast of Leo in 1887, was used until 1917, when a church was purchased in the town of Leo. This congregation was without conference affiliation until 1905, when it united with the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference, and Jonathan Kurtz of Topeka, Indiana, was given bishop charge. From 1906 to 1910 this church had no local minister. In 1910 Andrew S. Miller was ordained minister, and John Lugbill was deacon. In 1944 S. J. Miller was appointed pastor, and in 1947 the church was remodeled. The baptized membership in 1954 was 237, with S. J. Miller (ordained 1950) as bishop and Ben Graber as deacon.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | June 2024 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Leo Mennonite Church (Leo, Indiana, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. June 2024. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Leo_Mennonite_Church_(Leo,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=179151.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (June 2024). Leo Mennonite Church (Leo, Indiana, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Leo_Mennonite_Church_(Leo,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=179151.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.