North Lima Mennonite Church (North Lima, Ohio, USA)
Source: Mennonite Community Photograph Collection, The Congregation (HM4-134 Box 5 Folder 1 photo 010.4-4).
Mennonite Church USA Archives, Goshen, Indiana.
The first Mennonite settlers in Ohio arrived in 1801 or slightly earlier, with Columbiana County including the first Mennonite settlement in the state. Jacob Oberholtzer arrived in 1806 and was the first Mennonite minister in Ohio. In 1815, he organized the Columbiana-Mahoning Mennonite congregation in a log schoolhouse.
In 1825, Oberholtzer donated land on which the congregation erected a log meetinghouse and schoolhouse with backless benches and a long table from which the ministers spoke. The congregation became known as the Oberholzer congregation. Oberholtzer moved away from the community in the 1830s when Mennonites welcomed the opening of public schools to Oberholtzer's dismay, as he wished to retain private German-language schools.
Bishop Jacob Nold built a meetinghouse known as Nold's in 1828 near his home at present-day Leetonia. In 1835, the congregation erected a third frame meetinghouse near North Lima, Ohio, to serve members in that area. It was known as Metzler's for Jacob Metzler, who provided the land. Worship services alternated between the three meetinghouses into the 1890s. They were among the early members of the Ohio Mennonite Conference that formed in 1843.
The Metzler congregation built its church before the location of what became State Highway 7 was known, but it was thought to be next to the future highway. In fact, the new highway was located 100 yards from the church, necessitating a laneway. This church also had backless benches arranged around a long table behind which the ordained leaders sat and spoke.
The congregation built a second church in 1876 near the original building. Additions to the building took place in 1924 and 1973. The basement was fully excavated in 1937. The North Lima church built a parsonage in 1968.
In 1892, the rotation pattern between the three churches changed. On the first and third Sundays of the month, everyone worshiped at Oberholtzer's, and on the second and fourth Sundays, met at both Metzler's and Nold's. In approximately 1898, the congregations began to be known by geographically related names. Metzler's became North Lima, Nold's became Leetonia, and Oberholtzer became Midway because of its location between the two other congregations.
In 1913, Leetonia began holding services every Sunday, while Midway and North Lima continued to alternate services. Dissatisfaction with this arrangement led them to become separate congregations with their own pastors and, soon, bishops by 1948.
In 2016, North Lima Mennonite Church withdrew from the Ohio Mennonite Conference and Mennonite Church USA, and joined the Lancaster Mennonite Conference.
Bibliography
Beaver Township Bicentennial Committee. Bicentennial History of Beaver Township 1976. North Lima, Ohio: Beaver Township Bicentennial Committee, 1976.
Steiner, James. The North Lima Mennonite Church: some historical gleanings and impressions. North Lima, Ohio: The Church, 1976.
Stoltzfus, Grant M. Mennonites of the Ohio and Eastern Conference: from the colonial period in Pennsylvania to 1968. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1969: 42-49, 218-219, 343-397.
Umble, John Sylvanus. Ohio Mennonite Sunday Schools. Goshen, Ind.: Mennonite Historical Society, Goshen College, 1941: 359-376.
Additional Information
Address: 90 Mennonite Drive, North Lima, Ohio 44452
Telephone: 330-54902333
Website: https://northlimamennonite.com/
Denominational Affiliations:
LMC: a Fellowship of Anabaptist Churches
Mennonite Church USA (Until 2016)
Pastoral Leaders at North Lima Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Jacob Oberholtzer (1767-1847)(Bishop) | 1806-1834 |
| Jacob Nold (1765-1834)(Bishop) | 1817-1834 |
| Matthias Tintsman (1768?-1832) | 1819-1830 |
| John Shank (1798-1858) | 1827-1858 |
| Jacob Christophel (1783-1868) | 1827-1848 |
| John Blosser (1780-1864) | 1827?-1864 |
| Henry Stauffer (1781-1851) (Bishop) |
1815-1834 1834-1851 |
| Jacob Wisler (1808-1889) | 1833-1848 |
| Samuel Good (1810-1883) | 1848-1872 |
| Rudolph Blosser (1809-1852) | 1848?-1852 |
| John Blosser (1802-1866) | 1852?-1866 |
| Peter Basinger (1812-1901) | 1854-1901 |
| Joseph S. Bixler (1813-1895)(Bishop) | 1864-1895 |
| Jacob Kolb (1808-1880)(Bishop) | 1866-1880 |
| John Burkholder (1838-1909) (Bishop) |
1879-1886 1886-1909 |
| Jacob Stauffer ( 1832-1899) | 1882-1899 |
| Allen Rickert (1848-1933) | 1892-1933 |
| David L. Lehman (1851-1940) | 1894-1940 |
| Paul E. Whitmer (1976-1966) | 1901-1903 |
| Enos M. Detweiler (1868-1936) | 1904-1936 |
| Albert "A. J." Steiner (1876-1965) (Bishop) |
1908-1910 1910-1950s |
| Abraham B. Burkholder (1850-1941) | 1910s-1920s |
| Isaac B. Witmer (1865-1958) | 1915-1948 |
| Paul R. Yoder (1897-1990) | 1925-1948 |
| Stephen A. Yoder (1889-1991) | 1927-1948 |
| David C. Steiner (1905-1986) (Bishop) |
1939-1952 1952-1975 |
| James A. Steiner (1908-1993)(Assistant) | 1950-1956 |
| Victor Stoltzfus | 1959-1966 |
| Archie S. Penner (1917-2007)(Interim) | 1966-1968 |
| Richard Bartholomew, Sr. | 1968-1995? |
| Robert D. Wengerd | 1995?-2024? |
| Richard Carr (Assistant?) | 2010s-2014 |
| Adam Shank | 2020- |
North Lima Mennonite Church Membership
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1905 | 245 In District |
| 1913 | 357 In District |
| 1920 | 335 In District |
| 1930 | 397 In District |
| 1940 | 420 In District |
| 1950 | 134 |
| 1960 | 112 |
| 1970 | 112 |
| 1980 | 137 |
| 1990 | 95 |
| 2000 | 107 |
| 2009 | 94 |
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By James A. Steiner. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 354. All rights reserved.
The North Lima Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church (MC)), formerly known as Metzler's, in North Lima, Mahoning County, Ohio, located one-half mile south of North Lima, is a member of the Ohio and Eastern Mennonite Conference (MC). The Mennonite community in Mahoning and Columbiana counties began in 1806 or earlier, one of the oldest Mennonite settlements in Ohio. Jacob Oberholtzer was living there by that year and was the first preacher, organizing soon after arrival the first congregation at what is now called Midway. In 1817 Jacob Nold, a bishop from Bucks County, arrived and located near Leetonia, where a meetinghouse was erected in 1819. The settlement near North Lima was begun in 1821. The first meetinghouse at the present site (Metzler's Church) is thought to have been built about 1824 by a group of families either related to the Metzlers or bearing the name; David Metzler, a deacon, who had come from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about 1821, donated the land.
Until 1948 the North Lima, Midway, and Leetonia congregations functioned largely as one organization, rotating services (except Leetonia after ca. 1915), the membership being served in a circuit by the total ministry. A. J. Steiner, ordained bishop in 1910, was the last circuit bishop, retiring about 1950, when his son David C. Steiner was ordained (1952) as bishop for North Lima alone. The present (1956) membership is 116. In 1872 a division occurred in the district, the Old Order or Wisler group withdrawing to form the Pleasant View congregation, which used the three meetinghouses jointly with the regular Mennonite congregation until 1898, when it built its own meetinghouse.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | October 2025 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "North Lima Mennonite Church (North Lima, Ohio, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. October 2025. Web. 12 Feb 2026. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=North_Lima_Mennonite_Church_(North_Lima,_Ohio,_USA)&oldid=181261.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (October 2025). North Lima Mennonite Church (North Lima, Ohio, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 12 February 2026, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=North_Lima_Mennonite_Church_(North_Lima,_Ohio,_USA)&oldid=181261.
©1996-2026 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.