West Point Mennonite Church (Lee County, Iowa, USA)
Scan courtesy Mennonite Church USA Archives-Goshen Photograph Collection binders. Photo #1675
West Point Mennonite Church (General Conference Mennonite Church), now extinct, in Lee County, was organized in December 1849, by immigrants from the Palatinate and other points in Germany, when John C. Krehbiel and Jacob Ellenberger were chosen preachers. Their first building, a log structure, was located 1.5 miles east of the present village of Franklin and four miles from West Point. The first service in the new church was held on Pentecost of 1850 and on the next Pentecost they observed their first communion service. In 1855 services were alternated between the log structure and buildings in West Point. Finally on 26 July 1863, the new Mennonite church in West Point was dedicated. In 1879 its membership was 59, whereas it had been as high as 79. John C. Krehbiel, who died in 1886, was the last preacher, but one of the deacons, Henry Weber, conducted services by reading sermons for perhaps 10 years after Krehbiel's death. In a meeting of the West Point church and the near-by Zion Mennonite Church on 21 March 1859, the two congregations decided to work for a union of all Mennonites in America and agreed to invite other Mennonite churches to join their union and meet with them at West Point on the second day of Pentecost 1860. The meeting, which marks the beginning of the General Conference of Mennonites, was largely the result of the leadership of Daniel Krehbiel, a member of the West Point church.
Bibliography
Gingerich, Melvin. The Mennonites in Iowa. Iowa City, 1939: 67-92.
Krehbiel, H. P. The History of the General Conference of the Mennonites of North America. Canton, Ohio, 1898-: I, 30-77.
| Author(s) | Melvin Gingerich |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Gingerich, Melvin. "West Point Mennonite Church (Lee County, Iowa, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 22 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=West_Point_Mennonite_Church_(Lee_County,_Iowa,_USA)&oldid=104887.
APA style
Gingerich, Melvin. (1959). West Point Mennonite Church (Lee County, Iowa, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 22 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=West_Point_Mennonite_Church_(Lee_County,_Iowa,_USA)&oldid=104887.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 92. All rights reserved.
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