Bethel Mennonite Church (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA)

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The Bethel Mennonite Church four miles north of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA had its beginning when in Spring 1939 three families felt they could no longer be part of the Mummasburg Mennonite congregation. They organized a separate Sunday school, and other families joined the new group.

The new group asked Abraham A. Landis of Ephrata, Pennsylvania to serve as the first pastor. He preached his first sermon on 25 June 1939 to an audience of 27 people. Since Landis still lived in Ephrata, services were held every other Sunday. The group took over the former Union Church that has been used by Lutheran, Reformed, and Brethren churches. It purchased land for its own building in 1950, though groundbreaking did not take place until April 1956. The first services in the new facility took place on 16 December 1956. The congregation added an educational wing in 1981.

In the 1980s, Bethel Mennonite served a rural community. A majority of its members did not have a Mennonite background.

The group took the name Bethel Mennonite Church in mid-1941. It became part of the Ohio and Eastern Conference in 1947. In 1978 the eastern section of the Ohio and Eastern Conference evolved into Atlantic Coast Conference.

Bibliography

Wilkinson, Doris. "Bethel Mennonite Church--Gettysburg, Pa." Atlantic Coast Conference Currents 3, no. 5 (September-October 1982): 1.

Additional Information

Address: 2335 Biglerville Road, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325

Phone: 717-420-5655

Website: https://bmcgettysburg.church/

Denominational Affiliations:

Atlantic Coast Conference

Mennonite Church USA

Pastoral Leaders at Bethel Mennonite Church

Name Years
of Service
Abraham A. Landis (1870-1957) 1939-1955
Paul L. Lantz (1910-2003) 1945-1954
Glenn E. Musselman (1927-2016) 1952-1956
Willis L. Breckbill (1926-2011) 1955-1959
John H. Rudy (1924-2020) 1960-1965
Amos W. Shertzer (1916-1972) 1965-1972
Robert L. Shreiner (1942-2022) 1973-1981
Lay Leadership 1981-1982
Dennis R. Kuhns 1982-1990
Dwight Leatherman 1983?-1987?
James A. Burkholder 1990-1999
Ezra M. Tice 1999-2002
C. Albert Guyer 2003-2004
Robert G. Murr 2004-2018
Nelson Yoder (Interim) 2019-2020
Eric Henderson (Interim) 2020
Jennie Brown (Co-pastor) 2021-present
Dale Brown (Co-pastor) 2021-present

Membership at Bethel Mennonite Church

Year Membership
1940 10
1950 57
1960 37
1970 77
1980 141
1990 100
2000 90
2007 84
2020 60

Map

Map:Bethel Mennonite Church (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)

Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article

By J. Forrest Kanagy. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 311. All rights reserved.

Bethel Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church USA) (formerly called Mummasburg), Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, became a member of the Ohio Mennonite and Eastern Amish Mennonite Conference in May 1947. The total membership in 1953 was 62. It was first organized as a congregation in June 1939, the original six families having previously belonged to the Mummasburg congregation of the Lancaster Mennonite Conference. The ministers in 1953 were A. A. Landis, Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and Glen Musselman, Gettysburg.


Author(s) Samuel J Steiner
Date Published December 2021

Cite This Article

MLA style

Steiner, Samuel J. "Bethel Mennonite Church (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. December 2021. Web. 13 Oct 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bethel_Mennonite_Church_(Gettysburg,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=178800.

APA style

Steiner, Samuel J. (December 2021). Bethel Mennonite Church (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 13 October 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bethel_Mennonite_Church_(Gettysburg,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=178800.




©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.