Gulfhaven Mennonite Church has its roots in a dozen Mennonite families from Colorado and Kansas who, through the Mennonite Colonizing Association, in 1921 purchased 5,000 acres of overcut land near Gulfport, Mississippi. Initially, this caused controversy when locals thought they were Old Colony Mennonites from Canada who had been expelled as undesirables. The Association sold tracts of land to interested Mennonites at $25 per acre.

In July 1921 the early arrivals began a Sunday school in a vacant lumber shack. The community had built a combined school and church by mid-November 1921. With the help of Bishop Andrew Shenk, the congregation organized on 5 January 1922 as the Gulfhaven Mennonite Church. J. B. Brunk and J. M. Brunk served as the first ministers. It became a member of the Missouri-Kansas Mennonite Conference (later South Central Mennonite Conference) of the Mennonite Church (MC).

When the Gulf States Mennonite Fellowship formed in 1979, Gulfhaven became part of that regional conference.

The congregation had a substantial building project in 1991, in a time it experienced significant growth. It had another significant expansion in 1996 in its fellowship hall and sanctuary. Some of the growth came through local community members who became part of twelve-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous at the church. The church suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 but was rebuilt.

Sixty percent of delegates in the Gulf States Mennonite Conference voted to withdraw from Mennonite Church USA in November 2014. This percentage fell short of the two-thirds vote that was required. Gulfhaven Mennonite Church was among the congregations that then withdrew from the Gulf States Mennonite Conference in 2015. It subsequently joined the Good News Fellowship, a regional denomination with roots in the Lancaster Mennonite Conference.

Bibliography

Author(s)	Samuel J Steiner
Date Published	November 2023

Brunk, D. S. "As I find things." 13, no. 50 Gospel Herald (10 March 1921): 994.

_____. "Gulfport, Miss." Gospel Herald 14, no. 50 (16 March 1922), 985, 988.

Brunk, J. M. "Gulfport, Miss." Gospel Herald 14, no. 16 (28 July 1921): 329.

Brunk, J. M. "The Mennonite Colonizing Association." 14, no. 3 Gospel Herald (21 April 1921): 59.

Kniss, Esther. "'Sugar Creek Gang' goes to Mississippi." Gospel Herald 84, no. 20 (14 May 1991): 11.

Price, Tom. "'God's finger touched Mississippi church." Gospel Herald 89, no. 16 (16 April 1996): 11.

Weaver, Dave. "Help needed in Mississippi." TheMennonite 8, no. 23 (6 December 2005): 5.

Additional Information

Address: 21497 Mennonite Road, Gulfport, Mississippi 39503

Phone: 228-832-0003

Website: https://www.gulfhavenchurch.com/

Denominational Affiliations: Good News Fellowship

Pastoral Leaders at Gulfhaven Mennonite Church

Name	Years of Service
Jacob B. "J. B." Brunk (1877-1956)	1922-1927
John M. "J. M." Brunk (1879-1930)	1922-1923?
Daniel S. "D. S." Brunk (1857-1943)	1922-1936?
Clarence A. Bontrager (1902-1934)	1927-1929
Levi S. "L. S." Yoder (1882-1960)	1929-1944
Paul B. Hershey (1894-1974) (Bishop)	1936?-1943 1943-1958
Paul L. Yoder	1958-1965
Harry A. Diener (1888-1988)	1965-1971
Lester P. Horst (1928-2011)	1971-1978
Allen E. Zook (1924-2015)	1979-1985
David Gobble	1985-1987?
Lay Leadership	1987-1990
David L. Kniss (1935-2020)	1990-1999
David W. Weaver, Jr.	1993-2007?
Paul G. Conrad	2001?-2003?
Nelson M. Roth	2004?-2011
XXX	?-?
Chris O'Keefe	?-2011?
XXX	?-?

Gulfhaven Mennonite Church Membership

Year	Members
1922	27
1930	31
1940	63
1950	55
1960	46
1970	51
1980	59
1990	81
2000	141
2009	200

Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article

Gulfhaven Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), located 17 miles (27 km.) northwest of Gulfport, Mississippi, a member of the South Central Mennonite Conference, was organized 5 January 1922, by Bishop Andrew Shenk of Oronogo, Missouri, with 28 charter members. J. B. Brunk was the first pastor, followed later by D. S. Brunk. In 1948 the church was remodeled. The members are largely Mennonites from northern states or their descendants. In 1957 the membership was 62, with Paul Hershey as pastor-bishop.

Cite This Article

MLA style

Steiner, Samuel J. "Gulfhaven Mennonite Church (Gulfport, Mississippi, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. November 2023. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gulfhaven_Mennonite_Church_(Gulfport,_Mississippi,_USA)&oldid=177757.

APA style

Steiner, Samuel J. (November 2023). Gulfhaven Mennonite Church (Gulfport, Mississippi, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gulfhaven_Mennonite_Church_(Gulfport,_Mississippi,_USA)&oldid=177757.

Gulfhaven Mennonite Church (Gulfport, Mississippi, USA)

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