The East Fairview Mennonite Church, Chappell, Nebraska (Mennonite Church), after 1953 called the Chappell Mennonite Church, was founded by families who had previously moved from Holmes County, Ohio, to Seward County, Nebraska. In 1886 Abraham Stutzman, who had in the previous year filed claim to a homestead in that section, settled here together with five other families. Sunday school was held from the beginning. In 1890 a meetinghouse was built six miles (10 km) northeast of Chappell and a church organized. N. C. Roth was ordained to the ministry by Joseph Birky of Tiskilwa, Illinois. The membership in 1954 was 63, about 75 per cent of whom lived either in Chappell or in Julesburg, Colorado, 15 miles (25 km) distant. The ministers in 1954 were John Roth and Fred Gingerich. The congregation was a member of the Iowa-Nebraska Mennonite Conference.

The congregation constructed a new church in Chappell in 1958-59. In 1958 the members living near Julesburg, Colorado, formed a separate congregation under the Iowa-Nebraska Conference and built a meetinghouse in Julesburg. The Chappell church, with a membership of 20, then joined the South Central Conference.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 119; vol. 4, pp. 1071-1072. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2009 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.

MLA style: Gingerich, Fred and Melvin Gingerich. "Chappell Mennonite Church (Chappell, Nebraska, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2009 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/C46019.html>

APA style: Gingerich, Fred and Melvin Gingerich. (1959). "Chappell Mennonite Church (Chappell, Nebraska, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2009 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/C46019.html>