Oak Grove Mennonite Church (Aroda, Virginia, USA)

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The Oak Grove Mennonite Church in Aroda, Virginia, USA was established in 1957.

When the Mount Zion Amish Mennonite Church began, nine families joined from the Old Order Amish. They had contrasting goals for the new church. Bishop Alvin D. Miller and some members desired to maintain a strict standard of practice to demonstrate to the Amish in the community that they could drop certain Old Order practice and still resist complete absorption into the world. Others, including Minister Noah Keim, wanted to have an aggressive evangelization program, which included dropping the German language from services. The two groups attempted to compromise, but the attempts were futile.

The faction looked for a new place to start a church in the Madison County area and decided on Aroda.Three young families were in the initial move: Minister Noah Keim, Sanford Yoder, and Enos Schrock. Perry Nisly from Kansas also joined them. Keim and Yoder had been to a mission-focused colonization meeting in Kansas in 1956, which helped fuel their interest.

In the first few years, Oak Grove was actively involved in local evangelism of both African Americans and Caucasians. Several missions in the area were established, including Faith Mission Home and McKenney Mennonite Church. The church also operated Mountain View Nursing Home, one of the Beachy Amish church’s most well known voluntary service units, and begun in 1962 by Harvey Yoder.

Oak Grove requested a bishop committee investigation of their new church. The committee was initially reluctant to grant Beachy Amish status because of Mt. Zion’s stand against the church and its less strict discipline. Some of the new practices, such as mixed seating in services and acceptance of the frock coat, were given up to meet the bishop committee’s requirements. In the end, Beachy status was granted to the new congregation, the first church to try the Beachy admissions process, a process that did not survive.

In 2019 the church was a member of the Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship and had a membership of 130. The bishop was Lamar Hochstetler, and the ministers were David Hochstetler and Caleb Weirich.

Bibliography

"Amish Mennonite Churches in Virginia." The Beachy Amish Mennonites. 2013. Web. 22 February 2018. http://www.beachyam.org/churches/va.htm.

Anderson, Cory. The Amish-Mennonites of North America: a portrait of our people. Medina, New York: Ridgeway Publishing, 2012: 84

Anderson, Cory Alexander. "The Diffusion of Beachy Amish Mennonite Congregations in the US South: A Regional Chronicle and Spatial Analysis." Unpublished paper, 2006: 20. Web. 22 February 2018. http://www.beachyam.org/librarybooks/Anderson(2006)_Diffusion.pdf.

Mennonite Church directory (2017): 46; (2019): 46.

Yoder, Elmer S. The Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship Churches. Hartville, Ohio: Diakonia Ministries, 1987: 363-364.

Additional Information

Address: 571 Tom Johnston Road, Aroda, Virginia

Phone: 540-948-3116

Website:

Denominational Affiliations:

Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship

Ordained Pastors at Oak Grove Mennonite Church

Name Years
of Service
Noah A. Keim (1912-1994)(Minister)
(Bishop)
(Minister)
1957-1961
1961-1967
1967-1994
Samuel Hochstetler (1931- )(Minister)
(Bishop)
1959-1973
1973-2000?
Sanford Yoder 1960-1968
Harry Yoder 1963-1969
Jacob Miller 1969-1971
Henry Brenneman (1949-2016) 1985-2016
David Hochstetler 1993-present
Timothy Miller (Minister)
(Bishop)
1997-1999
1999-2012
Jay Yoder 2006-2012
Lamar Hochstetler (Minister)
(Bishop)
2009-2012
2012-present
Caleb Weirich 2017-present

Membership at Oak Grove Mennonite Church

Year Membership
1960 18
1965 77
1970 74
1975 60
1980 71
1985 102
1990 106
1995 116
2005 101
2010 101
2015 135

Map

Oak Grove Mennonite Church


Author(s) Samuel J Steiner
Date Published April 2019

Cite This Article

MLA style

Steiner, Samuel J. "Oak Grove Mennonite Church (Aroda, Virginia, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. April 2019. Web. 10 Oct 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Oak_Grove_Mennonite_Church_(Aroda,_Virginia,_USA)&oldid=165195.

APA style

Steiner, Samuel J. (April 2019). Oak Grove Mennonite Church (Aroda, Virginia, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 10 October 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Oak_Grove_Mennonite_Church_(Aroda,_Virginia,_USA)&oldid=165195.




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