Marion Mennonite Church (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, USA)
The Marion Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church USA) is located at 4365 Molly Pitcher Highway, Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Among the family names associated with the early history of the congregation were Hege, Bender, Burkholder, Shank, Whitmore, Over, Gingrich, Garman, Kriner, Gsell, Snively, Stauffer, and Lesher. The first meetinghouse was built of brick at Brown's Mill, eight miles (13 km) south of Chambersburg. In 1867 this church was removed to the present site, and was replaced in 1898 by a larger brick church. For the members who were left in Peters and St. Thomas townships when the church was moved away, a church was built one mile southwest of Williamson in 1869, both churches being served by the same ministers, although steps were taken to organize the Williamson group into a separate congregation.
The following ministers served the church up to 1954 (with dates of ordination): Jacob Hege 1832, Benjamin Lesher 1850, Jacob W. Hege 1892, George S. Ernst 1898, W. W. Hege 1907, J. Irvin Lehman 1922, and Norman H. Martin 1937. J. Irvin Lehman, one of the 1954 ministers, was a great-great-grandson of the first minister.
In 1896 a Sunday school was started, and in 1912 young people's Bible meetings. The first evangelistic meetings were held in 1904, conducted by Abram Metzler. Among the most active leaders of the church was W. W. Hege, who promulgated young people's meetings, teacher-training classes, mission study classes, and Bible conferences. The membership of the congregation in 1954 was 100, but the approximate membership of the Marion, Williamson, Pleasant View, and Pond Bank congregations, the last three formerly outposts of the Marion church, was 321 in 1954.
| Author(s) | J. E Martin |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1957 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Martin, J. E. "Marion Mennonite Church (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Marion_Mennonite_Church_(Chambersburg,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=89381.
APA style
Martin, J. E. (1957). Marion Mennonite Church (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Marion_Mennonite_Church_(Chambersburg,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=89381.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 486. All rights reserved.
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