Ohm-Stübchen ("anteroom"), a traditional room next to the entrance to a Mennonite meetinghouse in Prussia, Poland, and Russia, was transplanted to North America. The elder, referred to as Ohm, and the ministers gathered there to make arrangements for the worship service and to wait for the time to start. This was also the room for business meetings and for interviewing members of the congregation. At the beginning of the worship service the elder led the ministers to the pulpit. Entering the sanctuary, he would at times announce "Peace be with you," as was the practice until after World War I in the Beatrice (Nebraska) Mennonite Church (General Conference Mennonite). The modern church structure has eliminated this room by possibly making provision for a minister's study. An almost identical room was used (and is in many places still used) in the same way in the meetinghouses of the Mennonite Church (MC) called in Pennsylvania-German "das Kämmerli." In fact, most Mennonite groups in America formerly had this custom.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 1112. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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