Assembly Mennonite Church (Goshen, Indiana, USA)
Assembly Mennonite Church, Goshen, Indiana, USA, began in 1974. Previously, in 1973 a small group of about 20 persons at Goshen College met regularly during the week and attended Mennonite churches, primarily College Mennonite and Waterford Mennonite. The group, which identified itself as "Metanoia," sought new forms of congregational organization and programming. It began to call together a number of house churches in a deliberate fashion, and thus adopted the name "Assembly."
During 1974 the number of attendees grew to over 100, and divided into three "clusters." By 1976 there were only two clusters--one on the Goshen College campus and one more community-based. The campus cluster ended in 1997.
In 1978 the congregation purchased and renovated an empty factory building on South Eleventh Street. The facility was intended to provide for worship, but also included a rental apartment and daycare services for children. Significant expansion and renovation took place in 1992.
In the late 1980s, an evangelism small group explored launching an outreach church. This resulted in 1989 with the launch of the Faith Mennonite Church led by Randy Grossman. That congregation met Sunday afternoons in the Assembly building but aimed its ministry at non-churched people in the local area.
The congregation initially functioned with lay leadership, though a number of its members were ordained ministers from other or previous work assignments. It ordained its first pastoral leader, Mary Lehman Yoder, in 1996.
Response to LGBTQ persons became an issue in the late 1980s and extending into the 1990s. In 1996 the congregation agreed to take a "sabbatical" from focusing on the issue but agreed to extend membership to persons in life-long same-sex unions. In 1997 the Indiana-Michigan Conference withdrew the Assembly Mennonite Church's voting rights. The relationship with the Central District Conference was not affected.
In 2022 the congregation was part of the Central District Conference.
Bibliography
Assembly Mennonite Church: A Collective History, compiled and edited by Anne Myer Byler, Sally Weaver Glick, and Sandy Fribley. Goshen, Ind.: The Church, 2014.
"History." Assembly Mennonite Church. Web. 4 April 2022. https://www.assemblymennonite.org/about/history/.
Rich, Elaine Sommers, ed. Walking Together in Faith: The Central District Conference, 1957-1990. Bluffton, Ohio: The Conference, 2003.
Additional Information
Address: 727 New York Street, Goshen, Indiana 46526
Phone: 574-534-4190
Website: https://www.assemblymennonite.org/
Denominational Affiliations: Central District Conference Conference
Pastoral Leaders at Assembly Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Lay Leadership | 1974-1996 |
| Mary Lehman Yoder | 1996-2011 |
| Lois Johns Kaufmann | 1997-2008 |
| Karl Shelly | 1998-present |
| Heidi Siemens-Rhodes (1974-2012) | 2008-2012 |
| Carmen Horst (Transitional) | 2011-2012 |
| Jennifer Gingerich (Transitional) | 2012-2013 |
| Lora Nafziger | 2013-present |
| Dawn Yoder Harms | 2013-2016 |
| Anna Yoder Schlabach | 2018-present |
| Scott Coulter | 2019-present |
Membership at Assembly Mennonite Church
| Year | Membership |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 141 |
| 1990 | 150 |
| 2000 | 112 |
| 2007 | 150 |
| 2020 | 186 |
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | July 2022 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Assembly Mennonite Church (Goshen, Indiana, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. July 2022. Web. 24 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Assembly_Mennonite_Church_(Goshen,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=173984.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (July 2022). Assembly Mennonite Church (Goshen, Indiana, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Assembly_Mennonite_Church_(Goshen,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=173984.
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