USA > Pennsylvania > Change and challenge: a history of the Church of the Brethren in the southern district of Pennsylvania, 1940-1972 > Part 33
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The church meets for Lovefeast and Communion twice each year in the spring and in the fall. The service has been prepared by the ministers, the deacons and their wives. Since the congregation began in 1956, the following deacons have served the church: Harvey Baker, Wayne Brandt, Norman Godfrey, Harold Good, John Raver, Harvey Ferree, Charles Keeny, Lehman Schlag, Fred Shannaman and Allen Bahn.
The Sunday School has continued its Christian Education functions for many years. In 1960, the Pleasant View congregation hosted the Christian Education School for the York area for six successive Monday nights. Those who have served as Sunday School superintendents are C. E. God- frey (1940-1941), George W. Keeny (1942-1949), Charles E. Keeney (1950), George W. Keeny (1951-1957), E. Gerald Thompson (1958-1962), Wayne Brandt (1963-1965) and Harold Good (1966-1972).
On July 6, 1968, the Pleasant View congregation met for a special service of dedication for its new organ. Samuel E. Keeney, of the Codorus Church, gave an organ recital as part of the program. The congregation joined in singing many familiar hymns of the church with Alvin Brightbill as the guest chorister.
THE RIDGE CONGREGATION
Jacob Fogelsanger came to America in 1761 from Hamburg, Germany and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His descendants formed the nucleus of the congregation which was known at first as the Fogel- sanger Church and later, as the Ridge congregation. At one time the district served by the Ridge Church was a part of the Antietam congrega- tion of Franklin County. In 1836, the area between Chambersburg and Shippensburg was created into a separate district.
The district continued to grow in population and in church mem- bership. By 1852, David Fogelsanger Jr., his brothers and sisters, do- nated land on the Ridge Road for the erection of the original meeting- house. The first church house was built in 1853. The Fogelsanger family donated the land, the materials for the church and a cemetery plot for the use of the Brethren. By 1869, the entire district had erected three meetinghouses. The houses in use in this year were the Fogelsanger (Ridge) house, the Etters (Salem) meetinghouse in Letterkeny Township near Chambersburg and the Old Stone Church near the South Mountain.
Early members in this district included Daniel Eckerman, John New- comer, John R. Fogelsanger, David Minick Fogelsanger, John Monn, David B. Wineman, William G. Etter, Henry G. Etter, David W. Allison, Casper F. Hosfield and John D. Garnes. Most of these served as deacons or ministers between the years 1853 and 1890.
Prior to the year 1940, S. S. Blough, Olden D. Mitchell and Robert L. Cocklin served the congregation as pastors. Olden D. Mitchell was in- stalled on September 9, 1936 as part time pastor at the Ridge and the Shippensburg churches. Robert L. Cocklin, of Mechanicsburg, agreed to
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serve the congregation beginning in 1938. He succeeded Bro. Mitchell who decided to complete his education at Bethany Biblical Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. Robert L. Cocklin continued to provide the ministry for the congregation until 1950. In May, 1943, Olden D. Mitchell returned to conduct a series of evangelistic meetings for two weeks.
In 1950, M. B. Mentzer served the congregation for a short period of time. He had been a member of the Back Creek Church and was residing in the Chambersburg area. During 1950 the Ridge congregation lost one of its faithful ministers. Joseph U. Burkhardt, who had been licensed to the ministry in 1909, passed to his reward in 1950. He ministered at the Ridge, the Salem and the Shippensburg houses on numerous occasions during the years and lived in the Ridge congregation as a farmer-minister.
From 1950 until 1961, James A. Heckman and Elmer C. Hall shared the preaching and pastoral responsibilities for the church. In 1954, both of these brethren were advanced to the eldership. James A. Heckman was ordained in the Ridge Church house with E. B. Wingert and Howard A. Whitacre officiating. Elmer C. Hall was advanced to the eldership in a service at the Shippensburg Church. During the years these brethren served as co-ministers, the congregation gave support to Betty Blicken- staff, who was ministering with her husband in medical missions in India.
The year 1958 was eventful in the life of the congregation. The Ridge Church joined with the Shippensburg house and the Newville Church on January 5, 1958 for the observance of the denomination's 250th anniversary. On April 13, 1958, the church also broke ground to erect a new church building. In a symbolic ceremony, the members of the con- gregation joined hands to pull a plow as a furrow was broken for the construction of the new sanctuary. A new two-story brick structure was planned and the membership gathered $28,000 for the project. By July, the cornerstone was laid. On November 30, 1958, services of dedication were held for the new sanctuary and the Sunday School space.
The new sanctuary cost the congregation $50,568. More than 4,000 man-hours of labor were given by the congregation in the construction of the church. The new sanctuary seats 325 persons. Two class rooms to the rear of the sanctuary care for an additional 100 persons.
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The Ridge Church
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Prior to the services of dedication on November 23, 1958, a week of services featured many guest speakers. These include the Rev. Allen Brubaker (Green Spring Brethren in Christ), the Rev. Roland Garvin (Newburg E.U.B. Church), the Rev. Harold R. Rockey (Middle Spring United Presbyterian Church), the Rev. Jacob Zepp (Oakville Evangelical United Brethren Church), the Rev. Robert Cocklin (Newville Church of the Brethren) and the Rev. Joseph M. Long (Chambersburg Church of the Brethren). Special music was furnished each evening by members of the visiting congregations.
On November 23rd, at the special services of dedication, Harold Z. Bomberger, the Regional Executive, M. Guy West and Howard A. Whit- acre were guest speakers. Dr. Ross D. Murphy spoke at the evening service of the day of dedication. The pastors of the congregation, Elmer C. Hall and James Heckman, assisted in the services.
In June, 1959, the original church house, located next to the new structure, was struck by lightning and was partly destroyed. The church council voted to dismantle the original building but to mark the site with a special memorial stone. The original sandstone steps remain with the memorial marker on the site of the old church building. The dates of the building and a simple outline of the building are inscribed into the memorial stone.
The congregation began to prepare for the full-time pastoral ministry in the early 1960s. Philip M. Kulp, a career missionary to Nigeria, was on furlough and was taking some additional work at the Shippensburg State Teachers College in 1961. The Ridge congregation voted to employ him as the pastor, effective June 1, 1961. The congregation knew he must return to the African mission field in the summer of 1962. The Southern District took action to advance Philip M. Kulp to the eldership. At a special service conducted in the Ridge church on December 10, 1961, Clarence B. Sollenberger, moderator of the congregation, and assisted by James A. Heckman and Samuel A. Meyers, conducted the service of ordination.
The congregation met in a council to vote for the full time pastoral ministry on March 11, 1962. Ordo M. Pletcher, then serving as pastor at the Leamersville Church of the Brethren, was elected by the council to serve as pastor. He became pastor on July 1, 1962 and was formally installed on July 29, 1962 with Clarence B. Sollenberger conducting the service. Ordo M. Pletcher was called to the ministry at the Connellsville Church in Western Pennsylvania and served pastorates in Florida and in Pennsylvania. While he served as the Ridge pastor he was elected presi- dent of the Shippensburg Area Council of Churches (1967).
In preparation for a full time pastor the congregation built a new parsonage on an adjacent lot along the Ridge road. Within a period of five months the parsonage was completed. The cost to the congregation was $12,635, but many man-hours of donated labor from the membership reduced the cost of the building. The church observed a mortgage-burning service on November 29, 1964. On this date, the money borrowed to build the church and the parsonage was completely repaid, leaving the congre- gation free of debt.
Terry Slusher succeeded Ordo M. Pletcher as pastor of the congre- gation on September 15, 1969. Terry Slusher was a licensed minister from Southern Virginia who served the congregation as an interim full- time pastor. He provided the ministry for nearly a year.
Perry B. Liskey became the new pastor of the congregation in July, 1970. A service of installation was conducted on July 26, 1970 by a rep- resentative from the district Ministerial Committee. Perry B. Liskey
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was called to the ministry by the Annville congregation in Eastern Penn- sylvania and served congregations in Eastern and in Middle Pennsylvania. He has been active in evangelistic work in many Pennsylvania congrega- tions.
The Ridge congregation called Carl Baughman to the ministry on April 4, 1971. Since his High School days he felt a call to serve in the Christian ministry. A special service of licensing was conducted by J. Stanley Earhart, the Southern District Executive Secretary, at the Ridge congregation. The message for the day was, "A King In Servant's Clothes."
The Ridge congregation is an active church. Its interests center about Christian Education, Men's and Women's Work activities, organized youth activities and regular evangelistic meetings each year. The con- gregation, occupying the ridge section northwest of the community of Shippensburg, continues to serve a people of strong rural interests. Like many other congregations of the district, its people have gradually turned to the industries in surrounding communities.
THE ROUZERVILLE CONGREGATION
Close to the South Mountain and the Pennsylvania-Maryland line lies the community of Rouzerville. This Franklin County community had been laid out in 1868 by Peter Rouzer. The Rouzerville Church was started by members of the Antietam congregation who were meeting in the old Amsterdam schoolhouse. They found that the schoolhouse, located one mile from Rouzerville, was too far for most people to walk in bad weather. As early as 1904, a movement was begun to establish a Sunday School in the village of Rouzerville so that people could walk to church.
From 1906 until 1909, meetings were conducted bi-weekly in the Rou- zerville Methodist Episcopal Church. After this group of worshipers conducted a successful revival meeting in the Rouzerville community, the desire increased to have a church of their own. The Brethren broke ground in 1909 on a plot of ground purchased from Harvey Hartman. The ground had cost them $300. By 1910, a new frame church with brick veneer was constructed at a cost of $3,288.69. The church was formally dedicated on May 29, 1910 with Elder C. R. Oellig of Waynesboro deliver- ing the message. A week of revival meetings followed the dedication.
The Rouzerville Church
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On the day of dedication, seventy-two persons united to form a Sunday School organization. For a brief period of time the Sunday School con- vened on Sunday afternoons, but eventually changed to a time prior to the preaching services of the morning. The preaching ministry was pro- vided for the church by ministers from the Antietam congregation. These ministers included Walter A. West, W. Hartman Rice, Willis Rice, H. Mitchell Stover and M. Carroll Valentine.
The congregation has consistently shown strong interest in the work of the Brethren Home and in the work of the Children's Aid Society. Early records show that Sunday School classes and individuals of the church have contributed canned goods and cash to the Children's Home at Carlisle, and to the Old Folks' Home at Huntsdale and at Cross Keys. At Christmas time the Sunday School contributed cash and gifts for the children at the Carlisle Home.
On October 17, 1949, the Ministerial Board of the Southern District met to discuss the division of the Antietam congregation and the forma- tion of the Rouzerville Church. The Ministerial Board of the District suggested that the church might secure a summer pastor to begin its work. In 1950, D. Luke Bowser, from Bethany Biblical Seminary, spent the summer with the new congregation. In 1951, John E. Rowland of Green- castle began to serve both the Welty and the Rouzerville congregations. This was done by arranging the morning preaching schedules at 9:30 A.M. for the Welty congregation and at 10:40 A.M. for the Rouzerville Church.
The church membership and the children enjoyed the ministry of John E. Rowland who blended stories with evangelistic preaching. He frequently used illustrated Bible stories for children during his ministry. In 1953, the congregation held a special service of dedication for its first electric organ. Nevin W. Fisher was invited to be present as guest of the congregation to conduct a hymn sing.
Bro. Rowland continued to serve the church until 1958, the denomin- ation's 250th anniversary year. The church joined with the Waynesboro congregation and the Antietam congregation in placing a special marker on the grave of John Mack in a cemetery south of Rouzerville.
On November 30, 1958, John E. Rowland delivered his final sermon to the church as the pastor. He had decided to retire from the pastoral ministry after forty-two years. Edwin Eigenbrode was appointed chair- man of a committee to prepare a surprise farewell for Bro. Rowland. He sent special notices to friends of the church and to leaders of the district announcing the special service of recognition for the pastor. Present on November 30th were Harold Z. Bomberger, the Regional Executive Secretary, and Joseph M. Baugher, a member of the District Ministry Commission, in addition to many other representatives from the churches which John E. Rowland had served.
In 1956, Laurean R. Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Smith of Waynesboro, was licensed to the ministry. On June 27, 1957, he was ad- vanced to the full ministry in a special service at the church. Laurean R. Smith accepted a position as the first full-time pastor of the Moorefield Church in West Virginia in July, 1957.
With the retirement of John E. Rowland, the congregation installed Kenneth L. Franklin as pastor. He served the Buffalo congregation as pastor prior to his election at Rouzerville. J. Vernon Grim, of the District Ministerial Commission, visited with the congregation on December 14, 1958 and installed the new pastor into office. Like the ministers before him, Kenneth L. Franklin served on a part-time basis. However, he moved into a new parsonage which the congregation had recently acquired across the street from the church. The parsonage was purchased for
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$16,000, and was formally dedicated by special services on May 24, 1959. Glenn E. Norris, representing the Southern District of Pennsylvania, was present to assist in the dedicatory program.
On May 29, 1960, the congregation observed its fiftieth anniversary. Dr. Ralph W. Schlosser, of Elizabethtown College, was the guest speaker for the morning service. C. Reynolds Simmons, of the Gettysburg Church spoke at the afternoon service, and the pastor, Kenneth L. Franklin, spoke at the evening service. Jesse O. Jenkins, of York, conducted a series of evangelistic meetings following the anniversary day. In this manner, the congregation repeated the experiences of the church when it began fifty years earlier.
In 1961, the congregation added an educational building to the rear of the sanctuary. This building, erected at a cost of $15,000, gave the congregation six Sunday School rooms and the possibility of six more. An enlarged basement with kitchen was also realized in this building endeavor.
When Kenneth L. Franklin became pastor of the Drexel Hill con- gregation on July 16, 1962, the local ministerial commission recommended to the church council that the church should enter into a full-time pas- toral ministry. However, the church voted against the recommendation and decided to maintain a part-time ministry.
LeRoy E. Plum
H. James Pearson, who had been or- dained to the ministry in the Conemaugh Church, had been active in the supply ministry in Western Pennsylvania and in Middle Pennsylvania. The church voted to have him serve part time as pastor at Rouzerville. He began his pastoral duties on August 22, 1962, and was installed into the pastorate by Clarence B. Sollenberger on September 9, 1962. He continued to serve the congregation until 1967.
On May 13, 1967, LeRoy E. Plum was installed as the part time pastor of the church. He has continued to provide the preaching and visitation ministry to the congregation until the present. In 1972, the congregation began to negotiate with him for his full-time services.
In 1971, the congregation remodeled the church sanctuary. An improved chancel was added and indirect light- ing was installed.
THE SHIPPENSBURG CONGREGATION
The decision to erect a meetinghouse in Shippensburg was made in the Salem meetinghouse close to Chambersburg. In 1896, members of the Ridge congregation met and decided that a new worship center was needed in Shippensburg. It was a banking borough at the time, and had been a center for a carriage works. It was a community of three thousand people, and was the second oldest town west of the Susquehanna river. A state normal school, now Shippensburg State College, had been founded here in 1871. In keeping with the trend to follow the movements of the Brethren to the towns, the members of the Ridge Church constructed the first building at the corner of East Garfield and Washington Streets. The estimated cost of the construction was $2800.
The church was served by the self-supporting ministry for many years. In 1897, Abram K. Hollinger moved his membership from the Upper Cum-
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berland congregation to the Shippensburg meetinghouse. In 1917, Ross D. Murphy began to serve the church as the first full-time pastor. During his pastorate, he aided the church in organizing itself. He developed missions study classes and teacher training classes. The growth of the Sunday School between 1915 and 1920 was very promising. During his early years at Shippensburg, Bro. Murphy married Florence Fogelsanger, a member of the Ridge congregation.
On May 7, 1926, the Shippensburg Church was organized into an independent congregation, separating from the Ridge membership. Early presiding elders of the new congregation were E. J. Egan, B. F. Zug, J. M. Moore and Levi K. Ziegler. In 1937 S. A. Meyers became the elder of the congregation and served almost continuously until 1962.
Jesse D. Reber became the pastor of the congregation in 1928. He was succeeded by Olden D. Mitchell in September, 1936. In 1938, J. Linwood Eisenberg, the dean of Shipensburg State Teachers' College, began to serve the church as the new pastor. Dr. Eisenberg served in the ministry of the Church of the Brethren since 1902 and spent many years in public education. He became the editor of the first district history published in 1941.
In 1944, the Shippensburg congregation voted to adopt the Minis- terial Pension Plan and to contribute to the 100 percent Messenger Club. The church also began the tradition of holding several decision days each year, sometimes known as Rally Days. In 1944, on May 7, a Decision Day was held at the church with four decisions for Christ.
Dr. Ross D. Murphy and Florence Fogelsanger Murphy retired from their pastorate at the First Church of the Brethren in Philadelphia and moved to Shippensburg in 1946. On December 20, 1946, the Murphys conducted an open house to invite their friends and neighbors to their new home in the community. Mrs. Murphy continued to serve the brother- hood as a representative for the Brethren Service Committee as she worked with the Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia. Mrs. Murphy's grandfather, Elder John Newcomer, was a minister of the Ridge congre- gation in earlier years.
For a brief period of time, while he was a student at the Shippensburg State College, Donald F. Hursh served as pastor of the congregation (1950). In September, 1950, Glenn E. Kinsel, a recent graduate of Bethany Biblical Seminary, was installed as pastor of the church. It was during this period that the congregation began to plan for alterations and improvements to the original church building. Glenn E. Kinsel was ordained to the elder- ship while he was pastor.
By 1953, the congregation began to erect a sanctuary to the west of the original church structure. Much of the work on this new building was done by volunteer labor by the members of the church. The work pro- ceeded slowly and was not completed until 1956.
During Glenn E. Kinsel's pastorate (1950-1953) the congregation licensed several men to the ministry. Elmer C. Hall, a life-long resident of the community, was ordained to the ministry in 1950. He was ordained to the eldership in 1954, and, in 1963, became the presiding elder of the congregation. He has served continuously in this capacity since 1963. Donald H. Fogelsanger was also called by the congregation in 1950 and was ordained to the full ministry in 1956.
When Glenn E. Kinsel accepted a pastorate in Indiana, the congre- gation asked Dr. Ross D. Murphy to minister to the people. In 1954, he began a pastorate at the Shippensburg church for a second time, helping it to recover its morale, and developing a plan for completing the sanc- tuary. He provided a full-time ministry to the church at a minimum
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cost to the congregation. By March 18, 1956, the Shippensburg Church was ready to dedicate its completed sanctuary. An organ with chimes had been installed, stained glass windows had been placed as memorials. A baptistry was installed in the pulpit area and choir lofts were placed on both sides of the central pulpit. A series of services were conducted with Dr. M. Guy West, Dr. Calvert N. Ellis, E. Russell Hicks, Joseph M. Long, Dr. A. C. Baugher and Dr. Jesse D. Reber as speakers.
In 1957, the congregation observed its sixtieth anniversary. Dr. Murphy was the speaker for the January 20th observance. In this same year the church decided to conduct its own fund-raising campaign with an Every-Member Canvass. In 1958, the church secured Dr. Clyde W. Meadows as an evangelist and conducted an Every-Member visitation prior to the services.
Shippensburg Church
The church council called Kenneth C. Martin Jr. to the ordained mins- try on August 27, 1961. He was a graduate of Elizabethtown College and had recently graduated from Bethany Theological Seminary. On July 1, 1961, he had become the pastor of the Lewistown, Pennsylvania, Church of the Brethren.
Dr. Murphy submitted his resignation to the congregation, the resig- nation to be effective on his eightieth birthday in September, 1962. He had suffered from illness early in February. On December 31, 1962, he suffered a severe heart attack which took his life. Memorial services were conducted at the church by Dr. Calvert N. Ellis, Dr. M. Guy West, Elmer C. Hall and the new pastor, Irving R. Glover. Mrs. Florence Murphy presented a memorial gift annuity to Bethany Biblical Seminary in honor of Dr. Murphy in 1963. A picture and a brief biography of Dr. Murphy appeared in the National Encyclopedia of American Biography for 1966.
Irving R. Glover, who had been licensed and ordained in the Big Swatara congregation of Eastern Pennsylvania, was installed as pastor of the church on September 30, 1962. He was a recent graduate of Bethany Biblical Seminary. Irving R. Glover served the congregation until August, 1964, at which time he assumed the pastorate of the First Church of the Brethren in Canton, Ohio.
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At the October 14, 1964 church council, Paul H. Boll was employed as an interim-part-time pastor of the church. He had previously served as a pastor in West Virginia. Elmer C. Hall was employed to care for congregational visitation and for church office responsibilities until May 31, 1965. On February 21, 1965, Paul H. Boll was installed as pastor of the Shippensburg Church. He became a full-time employee on September 1st of the same year, and continued to serve the congregation until August, 1971. He resigned from the pastorate in order to accept the position as director of men's housing at Bridgewater College, Virginia.
On March 11, 1967, Florence Fogelsanger Murphy died. She had been active on behalf of the brotherhood in Women's Work and was recognized in the book, Faces Among The Faithful, written by Inez Long.
The congregation completed its new educational unit in 1968. The original church had been remodeled, and the space had been converted into Sunday School rooms, a church vestibule for the new sanctuary, and a pastor's study.
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