Bethlehem Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church USA), Bloomfield, Dawson County, Montana, is a member of the Northern District Conference with a membership of 157 in 1953. A group of Low-German Mennonites originally from Karolswalde, Poland, coming here from Avon, South Dakota, in 1906 and a group of Swiss Volhynian Mennonites coming from Freeman, South Dakota in 1910, were organized into a church in 1910 by H. A. Bachman of Freeman. A third group from Marion and Dalton, South Dakota, of Low-German background, moved into the community in 1910 and joined the congregation in 1911. The 1950s-era church was dedicated in the spring of 1951. Pastors who had served the church to that time were P. P. Tschetter, 1913-1915; John M. Franz, 1916-1919 and 1921-1923; John Baergen, 1923-1926; David D. Schultz (lay minister), 1926-1927; Abe P. Unruh, 1927-1928; Jacob Sawatzky, 1928-1938; Herbert Widmer, 1939-1943; and George G. Dick, 1943- .

The pastor in 2009 was Darrell Nefzger; the membership was 72.

Additional Information

Address: 183 Road 516, Bloomfield, Montana

Phone: 406-583-7583

Denominational Affiliations:

North Central Conference of the Mennonite Church

Mennonite Church USA

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 317-318. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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