Holly Grove Mennonite Church (Westover, Maryland, USA)
The Holly Grove Mennonite Church, Westover, Maryland, USA, is located on the eastern shore of Maryland between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. Bishop John S. Mast of Elverson, Pennsylvania, organized the congregation in April 1919 in I. M. Kauffman's home. The first settlers in the area arrived 10 years earlier. Amos Ogden has started a Sunday School in 1917 in a local one-room school.
Bishop Mast from the Conestoga Amish Mennonite Church was part of the Eastern Amish Mennonite Conference, thus this became Holly Grove's first conference affiliation. The congregation erected a wooden meetinghouse in 1920 next to the school site. It enlarged and remodeled that structure in 1951. In time the congregation purchased the former in order to use it as a fellowship hall.
The congregation began the Holly Grove Christian School 1976 with 19 students in grades 2-8. In 1981 it opened a new school building on a lot behind the church. The school began adding grades in 1994 and completed a new high school wing of the school in 2001. At that time it had an enrolment of 550 in 12 grades with a staff of 41. In 2017 it had an enrolment of 565.
In November 2017 Holly Grove withdrew from the Atlantic Coast Conference (a descendant conference of the Eastern Amish conference) and Mennonite Church USA. It subsequently became a member of the Rosedale Network of Churches.
Bibliography
"History." Holly Grove Christian School." 2017. Web. 23 February 2022. https://hgcsweb.com/about#history.
Minnich, Marilyn. "Getting acquainted." Atlantic Coast Conference Currents 7, no. 3 (May-June 1986): 1.
Additional Information
Address: 7333 Mennonite Church Road, Westover, Maryland
Phone: 410-957-3463
Website: http://www.hollygrovemennonitechurch.org/
Denominational Affiliations: CMC (Conservative Mennonite Conference doing business as CMC)
Pastoral Leaders at Holly Grove Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Visiting Ministers | 1919-1922 |
| Aaron Mast (1880-1964) | 1922-1933 |
| George M. Hostetler (1883-1951) (Bishop) |
1922-1933 1933-1951 |
| A. Roy Payne (1895-1962) | 1933-1938? |
| Amos C. King (1910-2007) | 1936-1963 |
| Abram D. Minnich | 1957-1967 1976-1978 1987-1988 |
| Abner G. Miller (1909-2008) | 1967-1974 |
| Kenneth G. Good (Interim) (1910-1997) | 1975-1976 |
| Nelson H. Lehman (1939-2015) | 1978-1982? |
| Linford King | 1982-1987 |
| Kendrick "Jack" Scandrett | 1988-1994 |
| Cleo Koop | 1995-1996 |
| Earl Sheats | 1996-2002 |
| Eric Henderson (Interim) | 2002-2003 |
| Nathan T. Stucky (Youth) | 1999-2005 |
| Verle A. Brubaker | 2003-2010 |
| Colin J. Roynon (Youth) | 2006-2010 |
| A. Willard Shertzer (Interim) | 2011-2013 |
| James Wengerd | 2013-present |
Membership at Holly Grove Mennonite Church
| Year | Membership |
|---|---|
| 1919 | 27 |
| 1930 | 83 |
| 1940 | 72 |
| 1950 | 74 |
| 1960 | 80 |
| 1970 | 66 |
| 1980 | 81 |
| 1990 | 106 |
| 2000 | 152 |
| 2007 | 93 |
| 2020 | 95 |
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By Amos C. King. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 792. All rights reserved.
The Holly Grove Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church USA), located near Westover, Somerset County, Maryland, a member of the Ohio Mennonite Conference, was organized as a congregation of 27 members in April 1919 by Bishop John S. Mast of Elverson, Pennsylvania, in the home of I. M. Kauffman. In 1909 the D. P. Yoder family had settled here with others following from Michigan, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Missouri. The first Sunday school, held in a schoolhouse, was organized by Amos C. Ogburn in 1916. The present structure, enlarged and remodeled in 1951, was erected in 1920.
Those who served the congregation as bishops were John S. Mast and George M. Hostetler; as ministers, Aaron Mast, George M. Hostetler, A. Roy Payne; as deacon, Amos C. Ogburn. Serving in 1954 were Ira A. Kurtz, Amos C. King, and Harold Hostetler.
The membership (1956) was 86.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | February 2022 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Holly Grove Mennonite Church (Westover, Maryland, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2022. Web. 18 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Holly_Grove_Mennonite_Church_(Westover,_Maryland,_USA)&oldid=178422.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (February 2022). Holly Grove Mennonite Church (Westover, Maryland, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Holly_Grove_Mennonite_Church_(Westover,_Maryland,_USA)&oldid=178422.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.