Sunnyslope Mennonite Church (Phoenix, Arizona, USA)
Scan courtesy Mennonite Church USA Archives-Goshen X-31.1, Box 17/49
Sunnyslope Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), located 10 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona, a member of the South Pacific Mennonite Conference, began on 20 February 1944, when a meeting was called in the home of Harold A. Brooks. In February 1946 an organization was made, with Joe H. Yoder as pastor. He was succeeded in 1948 by Melvin L. Ruth, who was ordained bishop in 1950. The first meetinghouse was built on a donated lot on N. 7th Place in 1946. In 1949 a new church built of pumice block was erected beside it. The older building was then used as a Christian day school and Sunday school. This small group holds a weekly service at a rescue mission in Phoenix. In 1957 the membership was 136, with Melvin L. Ruth as pastor.
In the spring of 1952 the Sunnyslope congregation assumed responsibility of two mission Sunday schools among the colored migrants in the Buckeye community—some 45 miles southwest of Sunnyslope. Later the Sunday schools were combined and a church was erected at Hodge Camp No. 29, 2 miles north of Buckeye. In 1955 Johnwilliam Boyer, a deacon at Sunnyslope since 1950, was ordained to be pastor at Buckeye. In the 1950s African Americans comprised the largest part of attendants, but Spanish and Cocopah people were usually also present. Attendance sometimes reached 90.
| Author(s) | Melvin L Ruth |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Ruth, Melvin L. "Sunnyslope Mennonite Church (Phoenix, Arizona, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Sunnyslope_Mennonite_Church_(Phoenix,_Arizona,_USA)&oldid=174635.
APA style
Ruth, Melvin L. (1959). Sunnyslope Mennonite Church (Phoenix, Arizona, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Sunnyslope_Mennonite_Church_(Phoenix,_Arizona,_USA)&oldid=174635.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 663. All rights reserved.
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