USA > Pennsylvania > Change and challenge: a history of the Church of the Brethren in the southern district of Pennsylvania, 1940-1972 > Part 34
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Ronald E. Ludwick was installed as pastor of the church on September 12, 1971. He had been a member of the Quakertown Church of the Brethren and a 1971 graduate of the Messiah College of Grantham. The church voted in March, 1972 to continue their pastor under an indefinite contract. On May 27, 1972, Ronald E. Ludwick and Peggy Good were united in marriage at the Shippensburg Church, with Dr. Clyde Meadows, Elmer C. Hall, and Hess Brubaker assisting in the service.
The congregation has had several young people to enter Brethren Volunteer Service. Larry J. Carey, Ray Horst and Alvin Martin have served in hospitals within the state under the Alternative Service arrange- ment. The outreach program of the congregation began under Dr. Ross Murphy when several members of the church represented the member- ship on the Shippensburg Council of Churches. The members of the congregation have cooperated with the Meals-on-Wheels program in the community. Others have worked with Industries Limited organization which assists the retarded youth of the area. Up until 1972, when the program came to a close, the congregation cooperated with the Released Time program of Religious Instruction operated by the local Council of Churches.
The church is organized with a moderator in charge. In the past thirty-five years, the church has been served by only three moderators: Samuel A. Meyers, Ross D. Murphy and Elmer C. Hall. The Ministerial Board functions as the Official Board for the church and meets once per month. The church also has a Trustee Board, a Board of Christian Educa- tion, a Deacons' Board, A Music and Worship Committee and a Missionary Committee.
The Sunday School organization began in the church soon after the original church was built. Since 1940, the following superintendents have served the Sunday School organization: W. P. Harley, William H. Fogel- sanger, Samuel A. Meyers, Joseph Shelly, Elmer C. Hall, Charles L. Row- land, Ray E. Swartz, Benjamin Brechbiel, Lawrence J. Carey, Marlin Mohn and Jesse Killian.
THE SHREWSBURY CONGREGATION
The community of Shrewsbury was originally a crossroads settlement on the side of a hill. It was founded in 1739 by immigrants from Shrews- bury, England. Agriculture soon became the chief means of livelihood for many of the people who settled there. By 1800, German Methodists had organized the Evangelical Association in the community. The first regular preaching was conducted by this religious organization.
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Shrewsbury Township, organized in 1742, was one of the early town- ships in York County. The German people began to take up the rich farm lands of the township before the organization was formed. For more than a century, early Brethren who entered the southern portion of York County were content to worship and fellowship in the homes of their own members. The homes of Samuel Bowser, near New Freedom; the Charles Small house near Shrewsbury; and the John Keeney home near Shrews- bury, were used regularly as centers for worship. The Brethren retained their membership in the large congregation known as the Codorus Church.
The New Freedom Church house was the first to be built in the area. The decision to build was made on April 14, 1883 in a meeting at the home of Catherine Myers of the Codorus congregation. The New Freedom house was built of brick later in the year on a site one-half mile north- west of New Freedom. It was known for many years as the Bowser's meeting house because it was located on an acre of land which had been given by Samuel Bowser.
New Freedom House
In 1910, John H. Keller was appointed to solicit funds to erect a church house in Shrewsbury. He reported to the church council on January 2, 1911 that a lot had been donated in the borough of Shrewsbury and that $1998 had been subscribed for the construction of the church. A building committee composed of John H. Keller, Lewis Keeney, Daniel B. Keeney, Jacob L. Myers and David Y. Brillhart was appointed on June 19, 1911. This committee completed its work in 1912 with the construction of a new brick meeting house. The church was built on South Main Street in the community along the old Susquehanna Trail.
The Shrewsbury congregation has been served by the non-salaried ministry, with services alternating between the New Freedom and the Shrewsbury houses. Since 1940, the following elders have been in charge of the work of the congregation: Samuel C. Godfrey (1940-1951), Joseph M. Baugher (1952-1958), Chester H. Royer (1959), and Henry E. Miller (1960- ). Until its separation from the Codorus congregation, the Shrewsbury and New Freedom church houses were served by ministers of the total Codorus Church. However, since its division in 1952, the fol- lowing ministers have provided a preaching-visitation ministry to the membership: Samuel A. Lerew, Samuel K. Sweitzer, George B. Fuhrman, Henry E. Miller and Wendell H. Sweitzer.
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Shrewsbury Church
The congregation has produced some notable community and church leaders. Obed F. Fry, who was elected to the ministry in the Codorus congregation, was ordained to the eldership in 1942. He served for many years as a delegate to the Annual Conference and to the annual District Meetings. He taught a Sunday School class at the Shrewsbury house for many years before his death came on October 31, 1946.
The descendants of Emmanuel Keeny continue to attend the Shrews- bury and the New Freedom Church houses. Emmanuel M. Kenny once owned a farm house which was used by the Codorus congregation as a house of worship before church houses were built. He died at his home in Shrewsbury on July 18, 1949.
Henry G. Gottshall (1903-1946) was a music supervisor in the Glen Rock and the New Freedom schools. He was a composer and a writer of church hymns. He published a book of hymns under the title, Joy of Salvation. Many of these hymns were used in the Codorus and the Shrewsbury congregations. He composed the music for the hymn, "Death, Where Is Thy Sting?", in 1938. This hymn was included in the 1951 edi- tion of The Brethren Hymnal. Henry G. Gottshall died on November 15, 1946.
Samuel A. Lerew (1895-1963) preached and taught for many years at the Shrewsbury house and in the Codorus congregation. He passed from this life on October 27, 1963, and special memorial services were conducted for him by Henry E. Miller and Joseph M. Baugher. His wife, Martha Keeny Lerew, continues to be an active member of the congre- gation.
Henry Z. Sweitzer served the Shrewsbury congregation for many years as a Sunday School superintendent and as a Sunday School teacher. He had been active in the community as a school director for fifteen years, was a charter member and director of the Glen Rock State Bank and aided in the organization of the Superior Wire Cloth Company at Hunger- ford, Pennsylvania. He died at his home in Shrewsbury on September 28, 1948.
George B. Fuhrman, who was active as a minister in the congrega- tion, passed from this life on December 22, 1965. Memorial services were conducted for him by Henry E. Miller and Joseph M. Baugher.
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On January 1, 1948, plans were presented to the Codorus Church for a new congregation at the Shrewsbury and New Freedom Church houses. The view had frequently been expressed that congregations should think of dividing when they discover that their membership resides in two or more communities which are not homogeneous. In addition, in 1950, the Codorus congregation conducted three evangelistic meetings at three different locations. In the face of its growth and its size, the need for a new congregation was expressed. The Shrewsbury congregation was organized in the fall of 1952 with 189 members.
In 1948-1949, the New Freedom Church house placed a basement beneath the original structure. It added a hot air furnace, rest rooms and class rooms for the Sunday School. The vestibule was enlarged and stairs were placed to the new basement.
The congregation observed many special events in the years since 1940. It has continued the custom of regular annual evangelistic meetings, regular rally days, frequent temperance and mission emphasis Sundays. Bible leaders from Elizabethtown College and the district have served at the annual Bible Institutes in the congregation. On March 9, 1947, a service of dedication for Heifers for Relief was held at the Shrewsbury house. Bob Zigler, the son of M. R. Zigler, delivered a message and an offering was lifted for the overseas relief program.
In 1960, the children of the Sunday School presented a special Christ- mas program. The children placed many pairs of stockings on a Christmas tree as part of their program. These stockings were later sent to New Windsor, Maryland to be used for overseas relief. In 1962, when a member of the congregation was ill for an extended period of time, the members of the church aided him by caring for his chicken houses and by bedding the chicken houses with new straw.
The congregation was host to the Annual District Meeting on October 25, 26, 1960 with Robert L. Cocklin as the moderator. The Children's Aid Society, the Women's Fall Fellowship, and the Men's Fellowship met for special programs at the church houses on Tuesday of the Conference. The Elders' Body of the district met and made their decision to inaugurate the Three Year Reading program for non-college and non-seminary li- censed ministers. Ninety-one delegates from thirty-five district congre- gations met in the Shrewsbury house for the business sessions.
On October 29, 1961, the Shrewsbury congregation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the beginnings of the Shrewsbury house. Dr. A. C. Baugher, former president of Elizabethtown College, was the guest speaker for the occasion.
The congregation has continued to meet for its Lovefeast and Com- munion service twice each year. The Lovefeasts and Communions are served in the Shrewsbury house on Sundays. The following deacons have served the congregation since 1940: William Bailey, Harry Sellers, Roy G. Myers, John Sieling, George Keeny, Paul Stremmel, Vernon Sieling, John Orwig and John Lerew.
Since 1940, the congregation has elected Samuel K. Sweitzer, Samuel Lerew, George B. Fuhrman and Wendell K. Sweitzer to the ministry. Samuel K. Sweitzer, Samuel Lerew and George B. Furhman were installed into the permanent ministry on January 1, 1941 and were all ordained as elders on December 18, 1950. In the spring of 1961, the congregation called Wendell H. Sweitzer to the ministry. He served in Alternative Service at Falfurrias, Texas in 1962 and 1963. On his return to the com- munity, he was ordained to the full ministry at the church. He has served as co-minister of the congregation with Henry E. Miller since 1963.
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Wendell H. Sweitzer
Henry E. Miller
In the fall of 1970 and the winter of 1971, the Shrewsbury house was repainted. New lights were installed, new carpet covered the complete sanctuary floor and a new baptistry was built. Much of the work was done by the members of the church. A divided chancel was introduced into the church house at this time. The cost of the entire project was $5,000.
On May 30, 1971, J. Stanley Earhart, the Southern District Executive Secretary, conducted a service of dedication for the improvements at the church house.
THE SUGAR VALLEY CONGREGATION
In October, 1960, the Sugar Valley congregation met in a rededication and home-coming event. The church house was remodeled and an addi- tion was made to the original structure. Much of the work on the new building was done by volunteer labor and much of the lumber was con- tributed by members of the church. Milford Martz supervised the work of remodeling. Other members contributed of their time and materials. Edward T. Heggensteller, Fred Heggensteller, Grant U. Barner, Lawrence Bartges, Clifford Walizer, Donnell Jeffries and the Rev. John C. Boone donated 27,000 board feet of lumber to the project. Daniel Boone donated his time and the use of a sawmill for the preparation of the lumber.
Sugar Valley Church
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The new building provided seven rooms, six of them for class room space and a nursery. The new addition also made possible basement space, rest rooms, a kitchen and a fellowship-dining area. A new heating system was installed in the basement beneath the old building. The floor space of the church and the Sunday School area was increased from 1,680 square feet to 3,775 square feet. The people who dedicated themselves so com- pletely to the building of a sanctuary to the Lord now met on October 16, 1960 to dedicate the work of their hands.
Earl S. Kipp, who had served as a moderator of the congregation, brought the message of dedication for the new building. John C. Boone, Mervyn Mensch, Robert Harbach and Ernest Geisewite assisted in the services. Robert Harbach and Ernest Geisewite recited the history of the congregation for the assembled audience. S. Clyde Weaver spoke to the church at the evening service. A Lowry organ was placed in the church for these services and was played by Lillian Lupton Gramley.
With the completion of this structure, the congregation observed ninety-three years of history. The donation of materials and labor kept the costs of the building to $26,586. A congregation of 100 people gather to worship each Sunday in the beautiful, white frame structure nestled among the hills of Clinton County.
In the year 1867, Brethren ministers began to ride circuits and to preach in the Sugar Valley area of lower Clinton County. The records of the congregation show that ministers crossed the mountains by horse- back and by wagon from York County, from Huntingdon County, and Juniata County. These ministers arrived at intervals of eight to sixteen weeks to conduct services. Such early services were held in the homes of George Schroyer and David Schroyer. The first recorded baptism into the Church of the Brethren in the Nippenose Valley was of David Schroyer on June 23, 1867.
The Sugar Valley congregation was formed in a region noted for its groves of sugar maple trees. The production of sugar maple syrup and maple sugar was once a flourishing enterprise in the region. The lime- stone which crops out in the valley next to Sugar Mountain attracted the sturdy farmers of earlier years. Some Brethren of the Buffalo Valley came into this region and organized the Sugar Valley Church on October 22, 1878. From 1878 until 1880, the Church of the Brethren rented the United Brethren Church building at Eastville, five miles southeast of Loganton. The congregation paid an annual rental of from $35 to $50 for its use. In 1880, when "the Rev. Smith locked the doors" against them, the Brethren decided to erect their own church house.
A lot was purchased at Eastville in 1881 from Solomon Lupold for the sum of $128. All the labor and the materials for the new building were donated by the members and the residents of the community. For many years this congregation was known as the Sugar Valley German Baptist Church. The church house was located twenty-two miles north of the Buffalo congregation and twenty-one miles southeast of Lock Haven, the county seat of Clinton County.
The original lighting of the early church was by kerosene lamps attached by brackets to the side of the walls. An interesting note in the Minutes for 1909 states that, "since the congregation was unable to see to sing", the hanging lamps were purchased and installed. In 1919, acetyl- ene lamps were secured. These served until the church was wired for electricity in 1935.
The Sunday School was originally a Union Sunday School. It was first held in 1878 in a school house located on the Henry Schwenk farm, now owned by Joseph Raudabaugh. The Sunday School moved into the United
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Brethren church house for the brief time in which the Brethren rented the building. In 1881, the Sunday School was transferred to the new church building. In those earlier years there was no Sunday School during the winter months.
All of the singing in the church and the Sunday School was done with- out the aid of a musical instrument until the year 1904. In this year an organ was installed. The organ served until March, 1932, when a piano was installed.1
The Sugar Valley congregation has been served for most of its existence by the non-salaried ministry. Elder John C. Boone, who was elected to the ministry on August 19, 1922, served the congregation as moderator and as pastor until his death on October 25, 1962. John C. Boone succeeded Earl S. Kipp who had been appointed by the District Ministerial Board to be elder-in-charge in 1942. Earl S. Kipp was ap- pointed to serve at the death of Charles A. Schwenk on August 20, 1942. Mervyn W. Mensch succeeded John C. Boone as elder-in-charge of the congregation and has served until the present time.
Other ministers have provided a preaching-visiting ministry to the congregation over the past three decades. B. Frank Long, formerly a minister of the Brethren in Christ Church, was installed into the ministry in the Church of the Brethren on September 25, 1927. He served in the non-salaried ministry at the Sugar Valley congregation until his death on June 7, 1957. Dana Z. Eckert, who transferred from the Pittsburgh Brethren Church, was installed into the ministry on September 25, 1948. He died on December 3, 1957. Mervyn W. Mensch transferred his member- ship from the Buffalo congregation in 1959. On December 16, 1962, he was called to serve as pastor of the congregation. He served in this capacity until his resignation in 1967.
Gerald E. Walizer was called to serve in the ministry by the Sugar Valley congregation. He was ordained to the ministry on April 19, 1957. He became active in pastorates in Middle Pennsylvania and Eastern Penn- sylvania, but in 1972 returned to the Sugar Valley area.
Robert C. Harbach, a native of the county, was licensed to preach at the Sugar Valley congregation on December 16, 1962. Clarence B. Sollen- berger represented the district in the licensing service. Robert felt the call to serve in the ministry through the evangelistic meetings conducted at the church annually. He also received encouragement from members of the congregation to enter the ministry. On November 6, 1966, he was ordained to the full ministry. On June 11, 1967, the congregation called him to serve as its pastor.
Since 1940, the congregation has observed the custom of annual evangelistic services. Over the years such evangelists as Joseph Whitacre (1940, 1944, 1947, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, 1969), H. H. Nye (1941, 1946), Edward K. Ziegler (1948), S. Clyde Weaver (1949, 1953, 1962, 1965), Jacob L. Miller (1952), Paul R. Yoder (1950) and Linford Rotenberger (1954, 1960, 1967, 1971) have served the congregation.
Laura Mae Boone, Delores Salamone, Linda Walizer, William Walizer and Jane Walizer have all completed terms of service for the Brethren Volunteer organization of the brotherhood. Laura Mae Boone worked in the community program of the Church of the Brethren at Modesto, California, and Delores Salamone worked in rehabilitation work in Balti- more, Maryland.
Although the congregation represents the northernmost church of the Southern District, it has maintained regular participation in district affairs. The Annual District Conference convened in the renovated church on October 24-25, 1961. Eighty-nine delegates met in the church from
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thirty-four congregations of the Southern District, with J. Vernon Grim as the moderator. At the worship services for this occasion, the congre- gation used the 1925 edition of the Church of the Brethren Hymnal. The District Men's Fellowship Supper was served in the Loganton Fire Hall on October 25, 1961 with the Rev. Roy S. Forney as the guest speaker.
The Sugar Valley congregation stands in a section of Pennsylvania which is noted for its spectacular beauty. Rugged mountain scenery and pleasant streams make the country a scenic delight. The church is in an area of the state which has not grown rapidly. Greene township, in which the church is located, has a population of 900 persons. The borough of Loganton has about 400 persons.
The congregation stands in the path of history where lumbermen, farmers and Indians once lived. The name of Loganton and Logan Town- ship celebrate the memory of Logan, the son of Shikellamy. The church continues to symbolize the kind of self-help spirit begun more than a century ago among the Brethren of Clinton County.
THE THREE SPRINGS CONGREGATION
The Three Springs congregation is located in the western end of Sherman's Valley in Perry County. It is situated in Jackson township west of the community of Blain. The community of Blain grew up about a mill erected by James Blaine in the eighteenth century, but the town itself was not formed until 1846. The Three Springs congregation took its rise in 1843 when Elder Peter Long and Elder John Eby moved into the area of New Germantown. Peter Long came from Huntingdon County and John Eby from Cumberland County.
Peter Long Farm
About 1843, Jacob Swartz moved into the Perry congregation from Juniata Township and became the first deacon. The first services were held in the homes of the members. The Lovefeasts were held in barns, using the barn floors for the foot-washing and the Lovefeast. The com- municants sat in the hay mows. The first Lovefeast in Perry County was held at the barn of Elder Peter Long in September, 1843. When school- houses became plentiful, church services were conducted in these. The Fairview schoolhouse was one of the first used by the Brethren of western Perry County. Communion services continued to be held in barns until church houses were erected.
An interesting record of the congregation, in the possession of Edmund R. Book, makes this observation about the Perry congregation:
"Toboyne Township, Perry County, September the 14th A.D. 1845. The members as Brethern (sic) and Sisters of the German-Baptist
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Church met this afternoon at the house of Brother Peter Long's for the purpose of electing a member as a meet helper or Preacher in said church."
Three individuals were named in the voting, and Jacob Spangogle received the election.
The original Three Springs Church house was built in 1876 on land donated by Samuel Book. Later, his son Edmund D. Book enlarged the grounds by gifts of land. The building committee for the original structure was composed of Edmund D. Book, B. F. Shoemaker and Isaac Eby. The cost of the structure was $1477.73.
The Brethren also shared in the construction of the Manassa Union Church several miles to the south of Blain on the Newville Road. The Lutheran, German Reformed, Presbyterian, Methodists and German Bap- tists united in erecting the building in 1870-1871 to conduct union services. Eventually, the other denominations withdrew and the property became the sole possessions of the Mission Board of Southern Pennsylvania. In the 1940s, services were customarily conducted at the Three Springs house and at the Farmers' Grove house by the District Mission Board. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, services were revived at the Manassa house. However, in' 1958, the Mission Board received permission to sell the Manassa house. It is now used by the Manassa citizens as a community church house.
Three Springs Church
In 1942, Cletus Myers moved from Newville into the vicinity of Blain to take up the work in Perry County. Robert L. Cocklin, on behalf of the District Mission Board concluded his work with the Perry congregation about June, 1941. The Mission Board continued to give partial support to the work in Perry County. During the 1940s, the congregation began the practice of meeting during the week for Bible studies. In the begin- ning, these studies were conducted once per month. In more recent years they have been conducted on a weekly basis.
During the period following World War II, the congregation was very active in shipping comforters, dried foods, soap, shoes, blankets, several heifers and other goods to New Windsor, Maryland, for overeas relief. In 1946, Glenn L. Gingrich began to serve the Perry County Church with a part time ministry. Glenn had been licensed to the ministry in 1943 by the Lost Creek congregation. However, shortly after his services began
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in the Perry congregation, he went to Elizabethtown College to complete his education. In 1949, he returned to serve the congregation. He also taught school in the new Blain Union school until 1956.
The church remodeled the interior of the church building in 1952. New pews were purchased, new folding chairs were secured and class rooms were constructed. A social room and a kitchen were added to the basement and a new furnace was installed. An outside entrance to the church was placed in the center of the north end of the Three Springs building. The exterior landscaping was done with assistance from the Agricultural Extension Services in the County. The cost of the project to the congregation was $18,000. On December 7, 1952, the church had George L. Detweiler as a guest minister to assist in dedicating some of the improvements.
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