Mountain View Mennonite Church (Salisbury, Pennsylvania, USA)
The Mountain View Mennonite Church of the Casselman River region near Salisbury, Pennsylvania, is the oldest congregation of the Beachy Amish group. On 26 June 1927, the Old Order Amish Mennonite brotherhood in the Casselman River region of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, suffered a division, resulting in what were locally known as the Yoder (Old Order) and Beachy congregations. These were named after the respective ministers of that date. For more than 26 years each group maintained a one half interest in both the Flag Run (Elk Lick Township) and the Summit Mills (Summit Township) meetinghouses, each alternately holding regular services at each meetinghouse. But in 1953 the Beachy congregation, having sold their one half interest in the above-named meetinghouses to the Old Order group, built a new meetinghouse named Mountain View, 0.25 mile northwest of Salisbury, Pennsylvania.
The Mountain View congregation has carried influence in Beachy Amish circles beyond its size. The leadership of its bishops, Moses Beachy, Eli Tice and Lewis Tice during the formation and consolidation of the Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship was significant. The influence of deacon Ervin N. Hershberger as editor of the Herold der Wahrheit for 15 years and Calvary Messenger after 1970, as well as his leadership in the Calvary Bible School has been great.
In 1953 the Beachy congregation had 140 members. Bishop Eli D. Tice, Grantsville, Maryland, and ministers Norman D. Beachy and Noah E. Yoder, Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, composed the ministerial body.
The congregation is also the locus of the Mountain Anthems choral group.
In 2013 the church was a member of the Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship and had 200 members. The church was led by Bishop Merlin Beachy and Ministers Junior Beachy, Derrick Bender, and David Kauffman.
Bibliography
Anderson, Cory. The Amish-Mennonites of North America: a portrait of our people. Medina, New York: Ridgeway Publishing, 2012: 32.
Beachy, Alvin J. The Amish of Somerset County, Pennsylvania: A Study of the Rise and Development of the Beachy Amish-Mennonite Churches. MST degree. 1952. Available in full electronic text at: http://www.beachyam.org/librarybooks/Beachy(1952)_Amish.pdf.
Beachy, Alvin J. "The Amish settlement in Somerset County, Pennsylvania." Mennonite Quarterly Review 28, no. 4 (1954): 263-292. Available in full electronic text at: http://www.beachyam.org/librarybooks/Beachy(1954)_Amish.pdf.
The Beachy Amish-Mennonites. "Amish-Mennonite Churches in Pennsylvania." Web. 6 December 2013. http://www.beachyam.org/churches/pa.htm.
Mennonite Church Directory (2013): 43; (2017): 45.
Yoder, Elmer S. The Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship Churches. Hartville, Ohio: Diakonia Ministries, 1987: 112-121, 346-347.
Additional Information
Address: 1154 St. Paul Road, Salisbury, PA (coordinates: 39.76451, -79.09621 [N 39 45' 52" W 79 5' 46"])
Phone: 814-662-4008
Website: http://www.mountainanthems.com/
Denominational Affiliation:
Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship
Maps
Map:Mountain View Mennonite Church, Salisbury, Pennsylvania
| Author(s) | Erwin N. Hershberger |
|---|---|
| Samuel J. Steiner | |
| Date Published | February 2018 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Hershberger, Erwin N. and Samuel J. Steiner. "Mountain View Mennonite Church (Salisbury, Pennsylvania, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2018. Web. 18 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mountain_View_Mennonite_Church_(Salisbury,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=165893.
APA style
Hershberger, Erwin N. and Samuel J. Steiner. (February 2018). Mountain View Mennonite Church (Salisbury, Pennsylvania, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mountain_View_Mennonite_Church_(Salisbury,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=165893.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 254. All rights reserved.
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