Michigan Avenue Mennonite Church (Pigeon, Michigan, USA)
In 1890, a Ramseyer family from Zurich, Ontario, Canada lived in Elkton, a few miles east of Pigeon, Michigan. A member of the family, Joseph, experienced the "gift of the Holy Spirit" in 1891 and later became a founder of the Missionary Church Association.
In February 1894, ministers J. J. Weaver of Indiana, Daniel Lehman of Tuscola County, Michigan, Samuel S. Bowman of Berlin, Ontario, visited the eleven families of Mennonites in Huron County, Michigan, most of them very new to the area. The congregation that formed became the responsibility of the Mennonite Church of Canada (in 1909 called the Mennonite Conference of Ontario). Bishops from Ontario came periodically to conduct communion services.
In 1896, the Canada Conference appointed Samuel Bowman to spend a year at Berne, in Huron County, with the infant congregation. He agreed to do so if the Huron County group would ordain a minister and deacon from their membership and build a meetinghouse. Bowman moved to Berne on 3 May 1897. Construction of the Berne Mennonite meetinghouse began five days later. Peter Ropp organized a Sunday school on 9 May 1897 in the home of Joel Reist. The meetinghouse opened on 20 June 1897. On 5 July 1897, the congregation ordained Peter Ropp as a minister and Menno Wideman as a deacon.
The Berne congregation transferred to the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference in 1916 after the Mennonite and Amish Mennonite congregations in those states had merged into one conference.
In 1934, the congregation built a new meetinghouse in the town of Pigeon, a mile south of its previous location. It was dedicated on 2 December 1934. The congregation then became the Pigeon Mennonite Church. Over the years the original building was used as a place to extract honey, a rabbitry and later bought back by the Pigeon Mennonite Church for use as a fellowship hall.
In January 1964, the congregation changed its name to the Michigan Avenue Mennonite Church after the street on which it was located. In 1993 the congregation completed a major addition to its facility.
In 2017 Michigan Avenue withdrew from the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA. It became a member of LMC: a Fellowship of Anabaptist Churches
Bibliography
"Our Mennonite churches: Michigan Avenue." Gospel Herald 57, no. 16 (28 April 1964): 358.
Preheim, Rich. In Pursuit of Faithfulness: Conviction, Conflict, and Compromise in Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. Harrisonburg, Va.: Herald Press, 2016: 99, 206, 310.
Ruby, Marie. "Michigan Ave. Mennonite Church." Pigeon Historical Society Recorder. (Spring 2019): 3. Web. http://pigeonhistoricalsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/21-The-Recorder-Spring-2019-220190510.pdf.
Wenger, John Christian. The Mennonites in Indiana and Michigan. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1961: 144-147.
Additional Information
Address: 7004 East Michigan Avenue, Pigeon, Michigan 48755
Telephone: 989-453-2451
Website: https://www.michiganmennonite.com/
Denominational Affiliations:
Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference (Until 2017)
Mennonite Church USA (Until 2017)
LMC: a Fellowship of Anabaptist Churches
Pastoral Leaders at Michigan Avenue Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Peter Ropp (1864-1944) | 1897-1917 |
| Alfred R. Weidman (1894-1974) | 1917-1924 |
| Visiting Ministers | 1924-1926 |
| Samuel J. Miller (1893-1965) | 1926-1944 |
| Sherman J. Maust (1902-1972) | 1933-1945 |
| Visiting Ministers | 1945-1946 |
| Donald E. King (1917-1976) (Bishop) |
1946-1957 1957-1961 |
| Don D. Reber (Interim) | 1958-1959 |
| Herbert L. Yoder (1929-2021) | 1962-1970 |
| Charles C. Haarer (1916-2004) | 1970-1981 |
| Donald Patterson | 1981-1985 |
| Herbert Troyer | 1985-1990 |
| Jay Miller | 1991-1996 |
| Luke D. Yoder (1929-2009)(Bishop) | 1996?-1998 |
| Scot T. Wilson | 1998- |
Michigan Avenue Mennonite Church Membership
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1905 | 58 |
| 1920 | 79 |
| 1930 | 84 |
| 1940 | 132 |
| 1950 | 87 |
| 1960 | 96 |
| 1970 | 134 |
| 1980 | 142 |
| 1990 | 128 |
| 2000 | 105 |
| 2009 | 107 |
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By Donald E. King. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 179. All rights reserved.
Pigeon Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church) was organized in 1894 by Bishop Daniel Wismer of Berlin, Ontario. Samuel S. Bowman was sent by the Ontario Mennonite Conference in 1897 as the first minister of the congregation. The first meetinghouse was built in 1897 in Berne, one mile north of Pigeon. Berne was then the largest settlement. In 1897 Peter Ropp was ordained minister. Other ministers who were ordained and served here were Alfred Weidman 1917-24, S. J. Miller 1926-43, and Sherman Maust 1934-44. In 1916 the Berne congregation was transferred from the Ontario Conference to the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference and Menno Esch, of Fairview, Michigan, was appointed bishop. The present meetinghouse was built in 1934 on a new site in Pigeon. In 1957 the membership was 101, with Donald King as minister and bishop.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | July 2024 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Michigan Avenue Mennonite Church (Pigeon, Michigan, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. July 2024. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Michigan_Avenue_Mennonite_Church_(Pigeon,_Michigan,_USA)&oldid=179242.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (July 2024). Michigan Avenue Mennonite Church (Pigeon, Michigan, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Michigan_Avenue_Mennonite_Church_(Pigeon,_Michigan,_USA)&oldid=179242.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.