Olive Mennonite Church (Elkhart, Indiana, USA)
The Shaum Mennonite Church, located in Olive Township, Elkhart County, Indiana, five miles (eight km) north of Wakarusa, one mile (1.5 km) south of Jamestown, and eight (13 km) miles southwest of Elkhart, was an outpost of the Yellow Creek Mennonite Church. Before 1862, the Mennonites in this area worshipped in a log building almost a mile north of the later meetinghouses, and Yellow Creek ministers served this community.
In 1861 or 1862, the local Mennonites constructed a meetinghouse on the farm of Jacob and Mary Shaum, thus giving the church its name. The Shaums did not deed the one-and-a-half acres of land to the church until 1872, at the cost of $1.00.
In 1867, the congregation established a Sunday school under the encouragement of John F. Funk. The first local preacher was Daniel Moyer, who died in a train wreck in Michigan in 1864. The second local was Daniel Brenneman, who became a prominent evangelist in the Mennonite Church and later in the Mennonite Brethren in Christ after his excommunication in 1874.
The congregation built a new brick meetinghouse in 1888 that it dedicated on Christmas Day. An addition at the west end of the building took place in 1920. The meetinghouse was extensively rebuilt and enlarged in 1949.
After the building of the brick meetinghouse in 1888, the Herald of Truth began to refer to the congregation as "Olive" after the name of the township in which it was located.
The Olive congregation experienced a crisis in the late 1940s when its authoritarian bishop, D. A. Yoder, came into conflict with the deacons and minister Clarence Shank. Ultimately, the Indiana-Michigan Conference intervened at the congregation's request and relieved both Yoder and Shank of their positions at Olive, though they were not silenced from all service. Paul Mininger served short-term as the bishop, and J. C. Wenger provided some pastoral leadership.
In 2019, Olive Mennonite Church withdrew from the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA and joined the Evana Network.
Bibliography
Preheim, Rich. In Pursuit of Faithfulness: Conviction, Conflict, and Compromise in Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. Harrisonburg, Va.: Herald Press, 2016: 30, 212-214, 311.
Wenger, John Christian. The Mennonites in Indiana and Michigan. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1961: 74-78.
Additional Information
Address: 61081 County Road 3, Elkhart, Indiana 46517
Telephone: 574-293-2320
Website: https://www.olivemc.org/
Denominational Affiliations:
Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference (Until 2019)
Mennonite Church USA (Until 2019)
Evana Network (2019- )
Pastoral Leaders at Olive Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Daniel Moyer (1812-1864) | 1848-1864 |
| Daniel Brenneman (1834-1919) | 1864-1874 |
| Henry Shaum (1826-1892) (Bishop) |
1871-1886 1886-1892 |
| Noah Metzler (1854-1907) | 1880-1885 |
| Jacob Shank (1856-1905 | 1896-1905 |
| William H. Hartman (1875-1939) | 1906 |
| David A. "D. A." Yoder (1883-1980) | 1908-1910 1910-1949 |
| Clarence A. Shank (1885-1963) | 1917-1949 |
| Elno W. Steiner (1924-2009) | 1951-1966 |
| John C. Wenger (1910-1995) (Bishop) |
1950 1951-1960 |
| David Brunner (Assistant) | 1962 |
| Ivan K. Weaver (1915-2004)(Bishop) | 1964-1975 |
| Richard Hostetler | 1966-1973 |
| Jason S. Martin (1927-2007) | 1973-1982 |
| Stanley C. Shenk (1919-2010)(Interim) | 1983 |
| Philip N. Helmuth | 1984-1986 |
| Dale Shenk | 1986-1993 |
| Peter Buller | 1993-1994 |
| William D. Hooley (1928-2019) | 1995-2002? |
| Sampson Woelk (Associate) | 1999-2003 |
| Daniel Z. Miller (Interim) | 2002?-2003 |
| Robert Martz | 2004-2006 |
| Todd Gusler (Associate) | 2005-2010 |
| Theodore M. Eash (Interim) | 2006-2007 |
| Kevin Yoder (Co-pastor) | 2007-2019 |
| Sharon Yoder (Co-pastor) | 2007-2019 |
| Veva Mumaw (Children, Youth, Young Adults) | 2011?-2016 |
| Philip Leichty (Interim) | 2019-2020 |
| Jason Ramer | 2020- |
Olive Mennonite Church Membership
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1880 | 50 |
| 1905 | 51 |
| 1915 | 110 |
| 1920 | 143 |
| 1930 | 195 |
| 1940 | 250 |
| 1950 | 261 |
| 1960 | 253 |
| 1970 | 255 |
| 1980 | 171 |
| 1990 | 167 |
| 2000 | 133 |
| 2009 | 141 |
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By John C. Wenger. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 55. All rights reserved.
Olive Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), formerly called the Shaum congregation, a member of the Indiana-Michigan Conference, is located in Olive Township, Elkhart County, Indiana, 5 miles (8 km) north of Wakarusa, 1 mile (1.5 km) south of Jamestown, and 8 (13 km) miles southwest of Elkhart. Before 1861-1862, the date of the erection of their first Mennonite meetinghouse in this area, the congregation worshiped in a log building along Baugo Creek about one-half mile north of the present meetinghouse. The first preachers were in the Elkhart County Circuit, the center of which was Yellow Creek. Daniel Moyer (1812-1864), originally of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, moved from Ashland County, Ohio, to a farm west of Jamestown in 1848. He was killed in a train wreck near Hillsdale, Michigan on a preaching trip to Canada on 21 December 1864. Daniel Brenneman served in the Yellow Creek Circuit for ten years, until his expulsion in 1874. In 1871 Henry Shaum (1826-1892) was ordained preacher at Olive, and Henry Christophel deacon. In 1888 a new brick meetinghouse was built, which was rebuilt in 1948. In 1896 Jacob Shank (d. 1905), a son of Michael Shank, a preacher living at Lakeville, St. Joseph County, Indiana and the father of Clarence Shank (ord. 1917), a retired preacher of the congregation, was ordained preacher at Olive. In 1908 the congregation imported D. A. Yoder, a young preacher, from the nearby Holdeman congregation to serve as pastor. In 1910 he was ordained bishop. In 1951 J. C. Wenger, in the North Goshen congregation, was called as pastor and ordained bishop here in place of D. A. Yoder, who was retired at that point, and Elno Steiner, the pastor in 1957, was ordained to the ministry. The membership in 1957 was 260. In 1933 the Olive Mennonite Church established a mission outpost at Crumstown, which later became independent, and in 1950 at Hudson Lake near New Carlisle, Indiana. The deed for the land on which the church stands was granted by Jacob and Mary Shaum to "The Old Menonite Church" in 1872, ten or more years after the erection of the meeting house. Olive is said to have had the first Mennonite Sunday school in Indiana, the organizer being John F. Funk.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | July 2024 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Olive Mennonite Church (Elkhart, Indiana, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. July 2024. Web. 23 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Olive_Mennonite_Church_(Elkhart,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=179554.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (July 2024). Olive Mennonite Church (Elkhart, Indiana, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Olive_Mennonite_Church_(Elkhart,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=179554.
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