Cedar Grove Mennonite Church, 2004

Cedar Grove Mennonite Church (formerly Lichti Amish Mennonite) originally was an Old Order Amish congregation, located in Wellesley Township, Waterloo County, Ontario. About 1911 Bishop Jacob F. Lichti, ordained minister in 1898 and bishop in 1901, and John Gascho, ordained minister in 1913, separated from the Maple View Amish Mennonite Church. There was no doctrinal dispute. The group led by Jacob F. Lichti was inclined to be more liberal than the Old Order, but more conservative than the Maple View congregation. About 1912 they built a new meetinghouse one-half mile (one km) east of the other church. Jacob F. Lichti continued as bishop and John Gascho was ordained minister in 1913. Their membership  increased from an earlier probable 150 to a 1955 membership of 236 with 82 families and 360 worshipers. In the 1950s they used the German language entirely and continued to use the Ausbund. They had no Sunday school and were not affiliated with any conference. Services were held every Sunday. The ministers in 1955 were Samuel Roth, Samuel Lichti, and Noah Gerber. After the death of Jacob F. Lichti in 1944 they called upon Bishop Moses Nafziger of Mornington to perform the bishop's functions. 

Bishop Arthur Gerber served in 2004 as the congregational leader. In 1965 there were 200 members; in 1975, 187; in 1985, 186; in 1995, 150; in 2000, 150; in 2004, 127. The congregation became affiliated with the Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship in 1947. The language of worship is German and English; the transition from German occurred in the 1970s.

Bibliography

Additional Information

Address:

4831 Deborah Glaister Line

Wellesley, Ontario

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 336. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.

To cite this page:

MLA style: Fretz, Joseph C. and Marlene Epp. "Cedar Grove Mennonite Church (Wellesley, Ontario, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. January 1989. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 09 July 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/C4582.html>

APA style: Fretz, Joseph C. and Marlene Epp. (January 1989). "Cedar Grove Mennonite Church (Wellesley, Ontario, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 09 July 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/C4582.html>