Lima Mennonite Church (Lima, Ohio, USA)
The Mennonite Gospel Chapel in Lima, Ohio, USA, started in January 1933, led by the Gospel Teams of the Ebenezer Church, the young people of the St. John Mennonite. The mission began in a rented Seventh-Day Adventist church. John J. Esau served as the first pastor. It was also called the Lima Mennonite Chapel or Lima Mission.
The Middle District Conference took over the mission in August 1934. On 2 November 1935, the congregation organized formally with 14 members. (Another source says 2 October with 12 members). By early 1936 it called itself First Mennonite Church even though the Lima Mennonite Mission predated it.
In the fall of 1936, the Middle District Conference, after the Seventh Day Adventists refused to continue to rent to the Mennonites, began construction of a church building at Eureka Street and Orena Avenue in Lima. It completed a basement auditorium by the first Sunday of December. The congregation dedicated the completed building on 26 September 1937.
In 1995 First Mennonite Church merged with the Northside Mennonite Church to form the Lima Mennonite Church. This took place after the two congregations established a "Merger Exploration Coordinating Council" in 1993 when Lavon J. Welty was serving as pastor of both congregations. The new congregation continued at the former Northside location.
Although initially, the new congregation remained part of the Ohio and Eastern Mennonite Conference (MC) and the Central District Conference, in 2017, the congregation decided to be a member only of the Central District Conference.
Bibliography
"Congregations explore merger to strengthen witness in their city." Gospel Herald 86, no. 27 (6 July 1993): 28-29.
"Dedication Services, First Mennonite Church, Lima, Ohio." The Mennonite 52, no. 37 (21 September 1937): 7.
Kliewer, P. A. "Bluffton, Ohio..." The Mennonite and the Christian Evangel (16 January 1934): 4-5.
"Our Church in Lima." The Mennonite and the Christian Evangel 2, no. 22 (19 November 1935): 34.
"Release of congregations." Ohio Mennonite Evangel (March-April 2018): 3, 5.
"Tenth Anniversary of the First Mennonite Church, Lima, Ohio." The Mennonite 58, no. 39 (5 October 1943): 4.
Additional Information
Address: 1318 North Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45801
Phone: 419-222-2120
Website: https://www.limamennonite.org/
Denominational Affiliations: Central District Conference Conference
Pastoral Leaders at Lima Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| John J. Esau (1900-1979) | 1933-1938 |
| George G. Dick (1908-1995) | 1938-1943 |
| Sylvan S. Lehman (1903-1993) | 1944-1962 |
| Otto Dirks (1934-2019) | 1963-1968 |
| Paul L. Boyer | 1968-1971 |
| George E. Leppert | 1972-1975 |
| Terry L. Ayers | 1976-1993 |
| Carl Liechty (Assistant) | 1990-1993 |
| Lavon J. Welty | 1993-2002? |
| David Palmer Moser | 2003?-2005? |
| David B. Elkins Jr. | 2005-2015 |
| Emily Hedrick | 2017?-2020 |
| Jeff N. Boehr (Interim) | 2020- |
Membership at Lima Mennonite Church
| Year | Membership |
|---|---|
| 1935 | 14 |
| 1940 | 24 |
| 1950 | 40 |
| 1960 | 87 |
| 1970 | 81 |
| 1980 | 75 |
| 1990 | 102 |
| 1994 | 90 |
| 2000 | 86 |
| 2009 | 68 |
| 2020 | 62 |
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By Sylvan Lehman. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 346. All rights reserved.
First Mennonite Church (General Conference Mennonite), located in Lima, Allen County, Ohio, was organized 1 October 1935 as a mission. It was a member of the Middle District Conference (later Central District Conference). The meetinghouse, erected in 1936, was a brick structure with a seating capacity of 125. The membership in 1955 was 76; the pastor was Sylvan Lehman.
| Author(s) | Sylvan Lehman |
|---|---|
| Samuel J. Steiner | |
| Date Published | October 2022 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Lehman, Sylvan and Samuel J. Steiner. "Lima Mennonite Church (Lima, Ohio, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. October 2022. Web. 1 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Lima_Mennonite_Church_(Lima,_Ohio,_USA)&oldid=178483.
APA style
Lehman, Sylvan and Samuel J. Steiner. (October 2022). Lima Mennonite Church (Lima, Ohio, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 1 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Lima_Mennonite_Church_(Lima,_Ohio,_USA)&oldid=178483.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.
[[Category:Ohio Mennonite Conference Congregations]