USA > Ohio > A history of the church of the Brethren, Northeastern Ohio > Part 19
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A very interesting wave of enthusiasm was stirred at the close of the meeting to raise the necessary money to build the Akron City churchhouse. In a very few moments $1,335 was pledged.
G. A. Cassel was chosen to raise $6,000 more to complete the amount needed. Brother Cassel took hold of the proposition with an invincible determin- ation and soon had the churches wakened up to the amount needed.
A District Temperance Committee was appoint- ed to bring the churches to front-line efficiency in that all-important question.
Committee: Dr. H. H. Lehman, D. R. McFad- den and W. D. Fisher.
James Murray was elected to Standing Commit- tee.
1911.
Held in the East Nimishillen Church, Oct. 5, at 8 A. M.
Moderator, A. S. Workman; Assistant, James Murray ; Clerks, D. R. McFadden and H. H. Hel- man.
Thirty-three delegates were present ; four churches not present.
The committee on ministerial help to the churches
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were directed to the Annual Meeting decision on ministerial distribution.
Program committees of Ministerial and Sunday- school Meetings of the District should be more careful as to whom they assign duties on said pro- grams.
The Canton City Church asked District Meeting to assist them in building a house of worship. The request was referred to the Home Mission Board.
Home Mission Board receipts, $8,096.72.
This amount was raised for the most part by spe- cial solicitor G. A. Cassel.
Total expenses, $4,400.15.
District Meeting decided to raise another $4,500 to complete the Akron City Church, and G. A. Cas- sel was unanimously chosen to complete the work.
District treasurer's report shows a deficit of $63.66.
The first temperance report in the history of the District was given at this District Meeting. Organi- zation of temperance work in each church was urged, and temperance literature to be freely cir- culated. Collections for the work should be taken at frequent intervals.
A temperance offering was taken, amounting to $17.82.
James Murray was appointed member of Annual Meeting committee of arrangements.
Noah Longanecker was elected to Standing Com- mittee.
The Sunday-school report shows a total enroll- ment of 3,601, and total offerings, $1,954.71. Schol- ars added to the church, 112.
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1912.
In the Chippewa Church, Oct. 3, at 8 A. M.
Moderator, Noah Longanecker; Assistant, G. S. Strausbaugh ; Clerks, W. D. Keller and S. S. Shoe- maker.
Thirty delegates answered to roll call and six churches were absent.
The ministerial committee seemed to have a great deal of difficulty in getting results from its work.
The Sunday-school Secretary was authorized to secure the total membership of the churches of Northeastern Ohio.
A caution was urged as to the fitness of repre- sentatives who appear on the District Sunday-school programs. Only those who are in full sympathy with the order of the church should appear on programs.
The Ashland Church petitioned District Meeting to elect all officers and delegates by a majority vote of all delegates present. Request granted.
The rebaptism question was again sent to Annual Meeting for consideration.
Home Mission Board receipts, $5,337.88; ex- penses, $7,474.92. District treasury receipts, $118.50; expenses, $111.56.
The Temperance Committee gave an excellent report. Seven churches to date have organized tem- perance committees.
A. F. Shriver was appointed as missionary solici- tor for the ensuing year.
The Home Mission Board was reduced from five
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members to three. Note: the remodeling of the Home Mission Board has taken place a number of times in its history.
Sister Cora Keller was appointed Sunday-school Secretary.
R. R. Shroyer was elected to Standing Commit- tee.
A petition was sent to the State Legislature, ask- ing for the privilege of reading the Bible in the public schools.
This closes the description of the District Meet- ings. The 1913 District Meeting is not recorded as yet.
What are the inferences to be drawn from the proceedings of these annual gatherings where the paramount issues of the churches were formulated into queries, motions and decisions? By tracing the tendencies that run through the series of years we notice development along some lines, a letting loose on others, and a wavering in some that would prove beneficial. In the list of names that appear, we infer that certain ones have been leaders, though many others have done constructive work in the rank and file of the membership. Considerable busi- ness of the meetings was done through committees.
The first years of the District Conferences the business took on the nature of better government in the churches, and a strict adherence to the usages of the church fathers.
When Sunday-schools and mission work came, interest tended to shift from quibbling over queries of only local importance to the development of the more important matters of the kingdom.
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The "order of the church " issue was a closely- scrutinized and guarded question all through the years.
The churches whose habit was not to represent at District Meeting tended to remain weak, and in most cases ceased to exist.
Peace and harmony was a striking characteristic through all the years.
The Home Mission Board was a peculiar phe- nomenon. Many attempts were made to reconstruct it in order that better results might obtain. When the Board took to locating a minister and supporting him, and began to advocate the building of houses of worship, and to actually spend money freely for the extension of the Gospel, the churches wakened up and poured freely into the District treasury.
The Sunday-schools soon outdistanced the churches in the amount of money raised each year.
The amount of money handled by the District treasurer shows a slow increase. This money went to paying the expenses of printing the minutes, sending of delegates to Annual Meeting, and in some cases the.expenses of committees to churches.
A notable evidence of the good spirit prevailing in the District is seen in the very few committees that were sent to the churches.
The business of the last years' District Meetings was mostly taken up with mission and Sunday- school work, and occasional queries asking Annual Meeting to adopt more constructive methods in church work.
The greatest growth in the District was had through the medium of the Sunday-schools.
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The 1882 division in the Brotherhood fell quite heavily upon Northeastern Ohio. Some of the churches were a long time recovering.
The delegate sent to Annual Meeting in connec- tion with the one elected to the Standing Commit- tee seems to be in accordance with the rule which obtained before the more modern delegate system was adopted. His seems to have been a role of as- sociated service with the one chosen on the Stand- ing Committee. This no doubt grew out of the Gospel idea of sending the Brethren forth two and two; which custom prevailed universally in the earlier days of the Brotherhood, when testimony needed to be corroborated, since no minutes were kept of the councils.
Three clerks were always elected to do the clerical work of the District Meetings. The one called the assistant reading clerk is omitted in this writeup, because the office seems to have been more orna- mental than useful.
Future District Meetings will make history as truly as the past ones have, and it behooves them to study well the mistakes and successes of the past, and ever seek to carry the interests of the Kingdom of God along lines of fundamental principle, that the greatest possible growth may come to the Citadel of God. "Peace " and " harmony " are the two greatest factors in associated church work, and when these obtain in every forward move, who can meas- tre the results ?
P. S .- John V. Ebersole, Henry Davy and Jacob Garver were appointed as first committee to de- termine the Northeastern Ohio boundary lines.
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CALENDAR DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH- EASTERN OHIO.
(Organizations.)
1775 to 1800-Earliest immigrations of Brethren to Northeastern Ohio.
1804-Or near this date the Nimishillen Church, Stark County, was organized, the first church of the Brethren in Northeastern Ohio.
1808-Or soon after, the Mill Creek Church, in Ma- honing County. Reorganized into the Ma- honing congregation in 1842.
1817-Jonathan Creek Church, Perry County.
1805-20-Somewhere between these dates the Sugar Creek Church was organized.
1822-Danville Church, Knox County. Fourteen charter members. 1820-25-Reading Church.
1822-First Annual Meeting held west of the Ohio River. Held within the bounds of the Nimishillen Church. (Note: There were perhaps only five organized churches with- in the District at that time.)
1823-Owl Creek Church, Knox County.
1825-Canton Church organized from the Nimishil- len congregation, Stark County.
1830 -- Mohican Church, Wayne County.
1834-Annual Meeting near Freeburg, Stark County. 1835-40-Tuscarawas Church.
1843-Annual Meeting held within the bounds of the Mohican Church on the Shoemaker Farm.
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1848-Annual Meeting held five miles southwest of Orrville, on the farm of Jacob Kurtz.
1851-Beginning of church publications by Elder Henry Kurtz, in a springhouse loft, Ma- honing County.
1854-Annual Meeting, within the bounds of the Ashland Church, five miles southeast of Ashland, on the Elias Dickey Farm.
1855-Black River Church, Medina County, was organized from the Mohican congregation, Wayne County.
1856-Loudonville Church, Ashland County.
1860-Maple Grove Church, Ashland County.
1860-Ashland Church, Ashland County.
1864-Northeastern District of Ohio, Church of the Brethren, one and one-half miles southwest of Hartville, on the Jacob Brumbaugh Farm, Stark County.
1866 -- Mt. Zion Sunday-school, Tuscarawas County. (Note: This was the first Sunday-school organized within the District-a " union " school.)
1868-The Nimishillen Church was organized into the East Nimishillen, West Nimishillen and Springfield congregations.
1868-Jonathan Creek Sunday-school. Discontinued a few years. Reorganized in 1885.
1868-9-Black River Sunday-school.
1869-Mohican Sunday-school.
1870-North Bend Sunday-school.
1870-Owl Creek Sunday-school.
1872-Annual Meeting held within the Wooster
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congregation, on the Cyrus Hoover Farm, near Smithville.
1872-Ashland Sunday-school.
1873-Maple Grove Sunday-school.
1874-Paradise Sunday-school, within the Wooster congregation.
1874-Mahoning Sunday-school.
1875-Beginning of the Home Mission Board.
1877-Mt. Zion Church, Tuscarawas County.
1877-Orrville Church. Disorganized in 1880.
1877-Wooster Church, Wayne County.
1877-Wooster Sunday-school.
1877-8-Sugar Creek Sunday-school.
1878-McMahon Creek Church. 1883.
Disorganized in
1878-First District Sunday-school Convention held in Northeastern Ohio, within Chippewa Church.
1878-Ashland College chartered, Ashland, Ohio.
1878-Chippewa Sunday-school.
1878-Bristolville Church, Trumbull County.
1878-Ashland City Sunday-school.
(Note : 1878 was a busy year within the District.)
1879-Tuscarawas Sunday-school.
1879-Ashland City Church, Ashland, Ohio. Dis- organized in 1882. Reorganized in 1914.
1881-Annual Meeting held within the bounds of the Ashland City Church, on the college grounds.
1881-Eden Sunday-school, within the bounds of the Tuscarawas Church.
1885-June 28, West Nimishillen Sunday-school.
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1886-Chippewa Sisters' Aid Society. Discontinued. 1886-Lake Shore Church, Ashtabula County. Dis- organized in 1907.
1887-Beginning of District Sunday-school Secre- tary work.
1887-Springfield Sunday-school.
1889-Rush Creek congregation transferred to Southern Ohio.
1890-East Nimishillen Sunday-school.
1890 -- District Meeting changed from spring to fall.
1891-Beginning of District Ministerial Meetings.
1893-Bristolville Union Sunday-school.
1893-Delaware Church disorganized, Delaware County.
1894-Maple Grove Aid Society.
1895-Ashland (Dickey) Young People's Society.
1895-Ashland (Dickey) Aid Society.
1895-General Missionary Treasury dispensed with. 1896-Beginning of the District Credential Com- mittees.
1896-Coshocton Church transferred to the Sugar Creek congregation. .
1896-Canton City Sunday-school, East Tuscarawas Street.
1897-Chippewa Christian Workers.
1898 -- Chippewa Aid Society reorganized.
1902-Beginning of the Akron City Mission.
1902-Black River Missionary Reading Circle-later changed to Christian Workers' Society.
1902-Canton Christian Workers.
1902-Mahoning Aid Society.
1903-Canton City Church, Canton, Ohio.
1903 -- Tuscarawas Christian Workers.
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1904-Beginning of District Christian Workers' Meetings.
1905-Kent Sunday-school.
1905-Canton City Christian Workers.
1905-Mahoning Christian Workers.
1905-Owl Creek Christian Workers.
1906-Beginning of Sunday-school Institutes.
1906-Sugar Creek Aid Society.
1907-Wooster Church Aid Society.
1907-Kent Christian Workers.
1907-Jonathan Creek Aid Society.
1908-Danville Christian Workers.
1908-Jonathan Creek Christian Workers.
1909-Springfield Christian Workers.
1910-Beginning of District Temperance Commit- tee work.
1911-East Nimishillen Christian Workers.
1912-Canton City Aid Society.
1913-Sugar Creek Christian Workers.
1913-Owl Creek Aid Society.
1914-Canton City Church dedicated.
1914-Ashland and Maple Grove Churches bought
the Evangelical churchhouse and organized work in the city of Ashland.
CONFESSION OF FAITH.
The churches of Northeastern Ohio have always been known and read of all men, as believing in the One and Eternal God, Maker of heaven and earth and all life contained therein; and Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, who came to redeem and save fallen man; and the
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Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Illuminator of men's souls.
And baptism into the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit for the remission of sins, and the answer of a good conscience; the " washing of the saints' feet " in imitation of the example of the Savior, and for the development of the grace of humility in each soul; the " Lord's Supper " for the strengthening of the bonds of fellowship and good will among the membership of Christ, and for the hope that is set before them; the partaking of the " bread and cup," for the renewal of the inner man, by memorializing the emancipation Jesus Christ wrought in his sufferings and death for the souls of men ; the salutation of the "holy kiss " as a natural and fit expression of the highest type of love that should characterize the children of the Master; the " anointing with oil, and the laying on of hands " for the raising of the sick; that war, and all forms of conflict, are inconsistent with the message of " peace and good will toward men," as given by the angels upon the advent of our Savior into the world ; that worldlyism in all its forms is repugnant to the will of God and a direct impediment to human prog- ress; that plainness of attire, and a proper adorn- ment of the inner man is the requirement of the Holy Scriptures; that secret and oath-bound so- cieties are unscriptural, and work an evil in society by retarding the growth of the spirit of universal brotherhood among mankind; that the church of Jesus Christ should preach the Gospel to all peoples, and bring all opposing forces under the power of the Kingdom of the Eternal God; and that the
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will of Heaven is that all souls in Christ should faithfully seek to save all souls who are out of Christ, and to build up souls who are in Christ.
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