USA > Ohio > The Church of the Brethren in northeastern Ohio > Part 13
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Sisters Amelia Boone, who died thirty years ago, and Rachel Herstine, about six years ago, are much missed in our social and our public services. Also Sister Sara Shively, of pleasant and precious memory, departed this life Dec. 1, 1914.
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PART ONE: CONGREGATIONAL HISTORIES
The mainstay of this congregation has been Elder Edward Loomis. . . .
In 1929 the Mount Zion church was merged with the New Philadelphia congregation. After the district acquired Camp Zion, the Mount Zion house was moved to the camp site for a dormitory. The building was taken apart and reconstructed after it was moved to the camp. Later the dormitory was named Taylor Hall in honor of M. M. Taylor, who worked for many years in the development of the camp.
In the fall of 1959, after much prayer and thought, the present youth site, which was formerly the site of the Mount Zion church, was established. The church ground had been purchased from the New Philadelphia congregation on the first day of July 1947 by Frank Wise. After the death of Frank Wise, a son, Paul E. Wise, received the land in 1957. A study of the history of the Mount Zion church convinced him that the site should continue to be used for God's glory.
In February of 1960 a group of youth and their counselor, Paul Wise, and Pastor Alvin Kintner set out to clear the land. The group climaxed six consecutive Saturdays of hard work by holding their first worship service and fellowship around the campfire circle the last of May 1960. Volleyball, horseshoes, picnic tables, and other recreational facilities were provided by the youth. A pavilion was built in September 1961 to be used for worship and fellowship. The grounds and the equipment are being used by C.B.Y.F. groups and by other church groups in the area. Plans are being made for additional facilities here in the coming years.
An identifying sign was erected in the fall of 1960. The name of the development is the Church of the Brethren Youth Site.
PART TWO District Developments
INTRODUCTION
The territory comprising the Northeastern District of Ohio consists of thirty-two counties covering an area of forty thousand seven hundred forty square miles and having a population of more than four million.
The boundary lines between the church districts of Ohio were decided by a joint committee and approved by the district meeting of Northeastern Ohio in 1904.
Southern Ohio: "Beginning at the Northeast corner of Franklin County and following county lines between the following counties, Licking, Perry, Morgan and Washington on the west; Franklin, Fairfield, Hocking and Athens on the east to the Ohio river."
Northwestern Ohio: "The following lines shall be recog- nized as the boundary lines, Erie, Huron, Richland, Morrow and Delaware counties on the east, and Lorain, Ashland, Knox and Licking on the west, including all the irregular lines or variations on the direct north and south lines separating the above named counties."
Richland, Huron, and Erie counties were transferred to the care of Northeastern Ohio at the request of Northwestern Ohio in 1921.
In 1962, there were forty congregations with a membership of six thousand eight hundred twenty-five.
In this part of the book we shall present the histories of the various organizations and boards.
THE DISTRICT MEETING
The Annual Meeting of 1856 recommended the plan of holding meetings of the several congregations in a district. However, no records of the meetings were to be permitted. In a reply to a request in 1862 that district meetings be given permission to keep minutes of their proceedings, the following
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Meeting of the Council of Boards
At the table are the officers: Roger Ingold, Harlan Grubb, Clair O. Throne, and Guy K. Beach.
,
Council of Boards Officers Harlan Grubb, Arthur Hess, Guy Beach
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PART TWO: DISTRICT DEVELOPMENTS
answer was given: "We consider that no query of importance, acted on by the sub-District Meeting should be confirmed until it is presented to the Annual Meeting for its sanction." The fear that decisions of the district meeting would supersede Annual Meeting decisions was the reason that districts were not permitted to record their proceedings. Later the districts were permitted to keep records but were prohibited from publishing them. In 1876 the prohibition against publishing them was rescinded.
The first district meeting in Northeastern Ohio was held in 1864, one and one-half miles southeast of Hartville in the barn of Jacob Brumbaugh. There are no minutes of the business transacted in a district meeting until 1879. The minutes of the district meetings from that year until 1914 were written in longhand in a large book which is still in good condition. In 1897 the following item of expense is listed in the district treasurer's report: "Paid to Jacob Mishler, for printing District Meeting Minutes of 1896, $5.50."
District meeting is held each year, with one or more
Moderator Elmer Brumbaugh Giving the State of the District Address at Camp Zion
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Woodworth Church Quartet Sings at District Meeting The quartet is made up of Arthur Royer, Kenneth Garver, Howard Horst, and Edison Brobst.
delegates being sent from each congregation. They elect the officers of the conference: moderator, reading clerk, and writing clerk. Each delegate is provided with an agenda of the business coming before the conference.
For years the elders from the churches in the district assembled in the elders' meeting the morning of the opening day of conference to consider matters and problems of the district. This body nominated the candidates for the officers of the district conference and for Standing Committee delegates. However, the district elders, pastors, and moderators' council now nominates the candidates for the district offices and for Standing Committee. The elders' council is limited to the functions granted by the Annual Conference regulations. The council of boards of the district nominates the candidates for members of the various committees. It is recommended that when the merger with Northwestern Ohio is consummated at a joint district conference the principle of a district board of administration working through commissions be adopted.
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PART TWO: DISTRICT DEVELOPMENTS
THE DISTRICT EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
On May 1, 1958, Brother Gordon W. Bucher and his family moved to Northeastern Ohio to begin his work as the district's first executive secretary. Brother Bucher is a pastor's pastor, counseling and working with those who serve as ministers of our churches. While his home is at Hartville, he travels over the
Gordon Bucher and Family
district, visiting churches, coordinating the entire work of the district, and interpreting the program of the church.
Since 1962 the District of Northeastern Ohio has shared the services of the executive secretary with Northwestern Ohio. He met with sixty-five local boards and committees from July 1961 to June 1962. During the same period he met with fifty-seven district boards and committees, attended thirty group meetings in both districts, had thirty-two appointments for personal counseling, and attended thirteen meetings of the region or the Brotherhood. Brother Bucher gives guidance and assistance in placing pastors when vacancies occur among the
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District Parsonage: Home of District Executive Secretary
sixty-three churches in the Northeastern and Northwestern districts of Ohio.
Northeastern Ohio built a district parsonage, which was dedicated on Sunday, June 4, 1961. The new home provides office space, a study and committee-meeting room, a secretarial and historical room, and a restroom. The living quarters provide a living-dining room area, a kitchen, four bedrooms (one to serve as a guest room), and a recreation area located in the deep part of the base- ment. The parsonage is located in Hartville.
For ten years, prior to his retire- ment as secretary of the Central Galen Lehman Region in 1962, Brother Galen Leh- man gave valuable service to North- eastern Ohio. During that period he won the respect and the affection of the district.
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PART TWO: DISTRICT DEVELOPMENTS
THE HOME MISSION BOARD
A request came to the district meeting held at the Center church in 1875 for an organized plan to preach the gospel in Northeastern Ohio. It was at this meeting that a board of mana- gers, consisting of George Irvin, Joseph Rittenhouse, and Jacob Mishler, was appointed. This was the beginning of the district home mission board. Later the number of members was increased to five and then again was reduced to three. The members were not elected for a term of years, but the total board was elected each year, many times by motion that the entire board be re-elected. In 1896, in answer to a query asking for a change in the manner of electing the members of the board, five were elected, one for one year, one for two years, and the others for three-, four-, and five-year terms. Sometime later, the number was again reduced to three.
The mission board was incorporated under the laws of the State of Ohio in 1922, the membership of it again being in- creased to five in order to meet the requirements for incorpo- ration. The following change in the constitution of the board was adopted: "Section 5-The Board shall be composed of five loyal members of the Church of the Brethren; at least three of these shall be elders."
The board has charge of all the home mission work of the district, each of the mission churches being served by a member of the board as moderator. The board is authorized to receive and hold endowments and annuity bonds; it also holds the Camp Zion property in trust.
The mission board has given help to the following churches and perhaps to others also:
Lake Shore: organized in 1886; assistance in 1894; disor- ganized in 1907.
Bristolville: 1879, assistance in 1894; self-supporting in 1936; assistance since 1941.
Gambier: 1894; discontinued in 1900.
Akron City: 1902; self-supporting in 1916.
Canton City: 1903; self-supporting in 1907.
New Philadelphia: 1915; self-supporting in 1941.
Kent: 1918; self-supporting in 1936.
Cleveland: 1921; self-supporting in 1942.
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Mission Board
F. Blake Million, Kenneth W. Hollinger, Adam H. Miller, L. B. Oaks, George S. Strausbaugh, J. D. Zigler.
Alliance: 1926.
Tuscarawas (Zion and Eden) : organized between 1836 and 1840; assistance given at various times; since 1941 assistance regularly.
Maple Avenue, Canton: 1931; assistance to date.
Eastwood, Akron: 1932; self-supporting in 1943.
Mansfield (Lincoln Heights) : 1935; self-supporting in 1954. Dillonville: 1942; sold to the Mennonites in 1945.
Painesville: 1954.
Lake Breeze (Elyria) : 1957.
Brookpark: 1957.
Wooster: 1961.
Of all the members who have been on the board, G. A. Cassel and M. M. Taylor have served the longest. For many years Brother Cassel was its solicitor.
The following were members of the 1954 board when a larger outreach program was begun: chairman, F. Blake
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Million; secretary, Kenneth W. Hollinger; treasurer, George S. Strausbaugh; Adam H. Miller; W. D. Shoemaker; and Galen C. Hochstetler.
The district mission board of 1962-1963 consists of Arthur Hess, Merlin Shull, Guy Buch, Wilbur Shoemaker, and Galen Hochstetler.
THE MINISTERIAL BOARD
In 1906 the Annual Conference adopted a report of a com- mittee on a "plan for the effective distribution of the ministerial force of the Brethren Church." In 1907 the district meeting of Northeastern Ohio passed a resolution to "provide at once to carry into effect the decision of Annual Conference at Spring- field, Illinois, Article 4, Section 3." The committee appointed was William Desenberg, A. W. Harrold, and D. R. McFadden.
In 1921, Annual Conference provided for the organization
Ministerial Board
Henry A. Krommes, Ralph B. Martin, and Wilmer A. Petry.
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of the General Ministerial Board, the district ministerial board, and the local ministerial board.
The functions of the ministerial board are numerous. The board holds a number of recorded meetings in addition to a large number of unrecorded conferences held at district functions. The board grants licenses to preach. It ordains ministers to the eldership and conducts services of installation of pastors. It sponsors district meetings for ministers. The board has given much time to the study of the needs of evan- gelism and ways of meeting them.
The board for 1963 is composed of Elmer Brumbaugh, John Blough, and Alvin Kintner.
THE BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
The district meeting of 1887 voted for a Sunday-school correspondence secretary whose duty it was to correspond with the Sunday schools of the district, offer suggestions, and report the conditions of the schools to the district meeting. Brother John F. Kahler was appointed by the moderator, I. D. Parker. The following sentence from the report given by Lena M. Wieand, corresponding secretary in the year 1894, gives something of the beginning of Christian education in the Northeastern Ohio District: "The Mount Zion sabbath school in the New Philadelphia church is the oldest school in the District, being organized in 1867." In 1905 the work of the secretary was enlarged to include visitation to the Sunday schools of the district.
In 1897 the Ashland church asked "District Meeting to arrange for a meeting of the Sunday schools of the District at least once a year." This request was granted and T. S. Moherman, R. S. Shroyer, W. L. Desenberg, Quincy Leckrone, and D. M. Irvin were appointed as a committee of arrange- ments.
There were thirty-eight schools in the district in 1893, with twenty-one reporting, and an enrollment of one thousand four hundred ninety-six with an average attendance of one thousand two hundred fifty-six. In 1909, G. A. Cassel, correspondence
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secretary, reported that thirty-three schools had an enrollment of three thousand four hundred sixty-one.
In 1906 the Sunday-school meeting sent a request to dis- trict meeting that provisions be made for holding a Sunday- school institute. James Murray, H. H. Helman, and G. A. Cassel were appointed as a committee to arrange for it. In 1914 a "board of control" was authorized to have charge of the general welfare of the schools of the district. This committee consisted of seven members: G. S. Strausbaugh, Mrs. Cora Keller, G. A. Cassel, Emma A. Rohrer, O. C. Hahn, Eva Sepher, and the district secretary, Edson W. Wolfe.
In 1921 the name was changed from board of control to board of religious education. In 1925 the Ashland City church asked Annual Meeting of 1926 through the district meeting of Northeastern Ohio "to state ... whether the religious educa- tion activities of our Brotherhood shall operate under the head of 'Christian Education' or 'Religious Education' and thus settle much confusion and dissatisfaction." The answer of district meeting of 1925 was: "We express ourselves as favor- able to the term 'Christian Education' and pass the paper to Annual Meeting."
The district welfare board, which was previously the district temperance committee, was merged with the board of Christian education in 1935.
Whatever the name of the board down through the years, the purpose was to promote the cause of Christian education, including temperance and peace, among the churches in the district. Sunday-school conventions and district workers' institutes and conferences were sponsored for this purpose.
Now the board of Christian education, comprised of five members elected by district conference and associate members appointed by the board to carry out its work, still has as its purpose the promotion of Christian education in the churches throughout the district. Such education is promoted through age-group camps at Camp Zion, Christian education confer- ences, Christian service training schools, and other ways. Directors of worship, peace, temperance, and family life are appointed. The board cooperates with the Camp Zion trustees, the women's fellowship, the men's fellowship, the youth fellowship, and the churches in the promotion of their work.
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The board personnel for 1962-1963 is Mrs. Ralph (Hilda) Bowman, Atlee Stroup, Victor Bendsen, Mrs. Gene (Gladys) Pickens, and Mrs. L. E. (Thelma) Kieffaber.
BRETHREN SERVICE
War clouds were dark and ugly in 1940. The Selective Service Act had just been passed, creating an immediate emergency for peace-loving churches and individuals. Annual Conference Moderator Rufus D. Bowman called Standing Committee members together in a special session at Bethany Seminary in Chicago to consider how the church could and should back up her young men who were being called to the service of the country. Out of this and subsequent meetings came the framework for Brethren civilian public service.
Great amounts of money had to be forthcoming quickly to help undergird our civilian public service men and their dependents. As Brethren rose to the challenge and worked at this emergency problem, conviction grew and crystallized that the church's peace witness needed to be more positive and permanent. So there came into being the child, Brethren Service, sired by emergency need and mothered by positive, deepening peace convictions. Thus a movement coming out of sheer necessity has outlived emergency and developed into one of the major expressions of the church's life and witness.
The first district Brethren service committee in North- eastern Ohio was made up of two members appointed by the district mission board from their number, two members from the district board of Christian education, and one each from the men's, women's, and B.Y.P.D. groups, plus the district peace representative. In those days it was a committee without district status, since it was not elected by the district and it operated without a budget. Each committee or group represented paid its own members' expenses.
On January 18, 1941, a special district meeting was con- vened to consider this whole problem. Early this same year, Ora DeLauter was asked to serve as the promotional secretary for the committee; his expenses incurred in helping to raise
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PART Two: DISTRICT DEVELOPMENTS
Brethren Service Committee
Mrs. Harold Steiner, Mrs. Merle Greiner, Norman Hostet- ler, Curtis Dubble, Henry Krommes, Arthur Hess, and Arthur Crone.
civilian public service camp funds, relief funds, and material were to be paid from the money collected. Peace bonds and stamps made their debut about this time as the Brethren answer to war bonds and stamps. In 1941 at the regular district conference the service committee asked permission to file a budget. The permission was granted and the first budget was set at three hundred dollars.
Visual education, the District Herald, district tours, group conferences, and visiting civilian public service personnel and leadership were some of the means used to promote Brethren service. The women were very active in relief work such as sewing relief garments, gathering good used clothing, and providing such items as towel kits, medical kits, and Christmas packages. The young people talked peace, suffered for it, visited civilian public service camps, and participated in the relief projects. The men raised money, established and supervised relief depots, collected wheat for relief, and, in general, held the ropes.
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PART TWO: DISTRICT DEVELOPMENTS
Heifers for Greece
A dedication service is being held on the Vernon Wolf farm near Hartville, Ohio.
SERVICE
CH OF THE BRETHREN
22 South State St. ELGIN ILL.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Steiner Helping Load a Truck With Relief Material
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PART Two: DISTRICT DEVELOPMENTS
For a number of years- at least five - the Brethren service committee met every month. Its members were active in raising funds for civilian public service and, later, for the broader Brethren service program. As much as twenty-two thousand dollars per year was raised in Northeastern Ohio for Brethren service alone. Scores of dozens of half-gallon jars were procured and many thousands of quarts of food were processed and given for our civilian public service camps and relief needs. Clothing, shoes, soap, and soap grease totaling many thousands of pounds were collected and sent to our relief centers at New Windsor, Maryland, and Nappanee, Indiana. Thousands of cut garments were made with every church in the district participating, aided by churches of other denominations.
The problem of a spiritual ministry to civilian public service men; the dependency of their families; the keeping of accurate records of the names and the locations of nearly seven hundred young people from Northeastern Ohio who were in various branches of service to our country; the compilation, printing, and mailing of suitable messages of greeting and encouragement to our civilian public service and other service personnel; advising civilian officers in their numerous problems with draft boards and classifications; the sponsorship of the very significant project known as Heifers for Relief, which found and still finds our district supplying hundreds of animals and thousands of dollars - all these and many other projects challenged the best thought, the unstinted time, and the sacrificial giving of the Brethren in Northeastern Ohio.
Such other activities as providing a carload of wheat for Holland, toward which Northeastern Ohio gave more than twelve thousand dollars; procuring, preparing, canning, and labeling eleven thousand cans of beef; helping to relocate Japanese Americans uprooted by war; and cooperating in the fields of rural rehabilitation and mutual aid are all a part of the thrilling Brethren service story.
With the ending of the war, the pressure of emergency was felt less and there was a decline in the response to Brethren service challenges, even though world needs continued to be as great as ever.
But Brethren service, now firmly fixed in the church's
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thinking and life, goes on through the years translating the gospel into deeds of love, mercy, and helpfulness around the world.
Members of the 1963 committee are Ben Bollinger, Norman Hostetler, and Merl Cordier.
CAMP ZION
To the district conference held in the Freeburg church, on October 8-10, 1935, the joint board of Northeastern Ohio made the following recommendation:
We recommend to District Meeting that steps be taken looking toward securing a permanent place for holding District gatherings. And that a committee composed of five members, one to be selected by District Meeting, and one member of, and selected by, each of the following Boards:
CAMP ZION
Camp Zion Auditorium The dining room is in the basement of this building.
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PART TWO: DISTRICT DEVELOPMENTS
Mission, Christian Education, Ministerial, and Young People.
Clyde Mulligan, Chairman G. W. Phillips, Secretary
The recommendation was adopted.
The following year the committee, consisting of M. M. Taylor (chairman), Walter M. Young (secretary), A. H. Miller, Clyde Mulligan, and John Strausbaugh, brought the following report to the district conference held at the Black River church on October 6-8, 1936:
The Committee on locating a permanent place for all District gatherings has endeavored to carefully study the problem in view of the needs of the District. There is an increasing need in our District for a place centrally located and adequate to accommodate the different meetings held throughout the year.
The place now available and the one considered by the committee as very desirable is the site of the Zion Church property of the Tuscarawas congregation. This is located about ten miles south of Canton, Stark County, on the Canton-Bolivar Road, and about one quarter mile west of this highway on a gravel road. This place was chosen from among a few others, and considered as the one to be proposed to the District as being the most suitable to meet all the needs.
The Tuscarawas congregation has already acted officially to cooperate and is willing to present the church property to the District on a long-term lease. The property includes the church building, approximate size thirty-five by eighty feet, a cemetery lot consisting of about one acre. The building is in good condition and could be arranged at a meager cost to adequately care for the meetings of the District.
The Committee also realized the growing demand to accommodate such meetings as Sunday School Conventions, programs of Young people and other conferences sponsored by the District, investigated the possibility of purchasing the tract of land adjoining the church property. This land is owned by Mrs. Newman, and consists of approximately ten acres. It is a splendid grove with a stream running through and makes a natural setting for a camp site. She has been interviewed and is quite favorable for the District to get possession of it. It was impossible for the Committee to ascertain a definite purchase price. However, it was ascertained that she would probably set the amount between $1000.00 and $1200.00.
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