East Union Mennonite Church (Kalona, Iowa, USA)
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The East Union Mennonite Church, Kalona, Iowa, USA, had its origins in a division within the Old Order Amish church between followers of more conservative Amish bishops and members who desired to hear preaching from more liberal Amish preachers from the eastern United States. Some of the dissidents, including Sleeping Preacher Noah Troyer, began to meet separately and by 1883, organized a Sunday school in the Prairie Dale schoolhouse.
Preacher Christian Warey moved to the settlement in 1884 but was not invited to preach by the Old Order Amish leadership because he had a folding top buggy and owned a raincoat. The dissidents invited Warey to become their preacher. He became a bishop in 1885.
The congregation met in the Prairie Dale schoolhouse until 1889, when it built a small (32" x 46") meetinghouse. Because members came from four different Old Order settlements, it was called the Union Meetinghouse. When the western part of the congregation built its own meetinghouse in 1898, the congregation became the East Union Amish Mennonite Church.
The congregation moved the building northeast of Kalona sometime after 1897. It built a new brick meetinghouse in 1912 that seated 500 people.
During World War I, East Union experienced some hostility. A mob wanted to tar and feather the minister, Dan Fisher, but he was not home.
In 1956, when East Union's building was crowded, it began the Kalona Mennonite Church in town. In the 1970s, the charismatic renewal movement influenced some members who left to help form the nondenominational Kalona Christian Fellowship.
The congregation was part of the Western District Amish Mennonite Conference from its beginning. It became part of the Iowa-Nebraska Mennonite Conference of the Mennonite Church (MC) in 1921 when then Amish Mennonites and Mennonites merged. In 2001 the Iowa-Nebraska Mennonite Conference merged with the Northern District Conference of the General Conference Mennonite Church to form the Central Plains Mennonite Conference as part of the new Mennonite Church USA.
In 2023 the East Union congregation remained part of the Central Plains Conference of Mennonite Church USA.
Bibliography
Gingerich, Melvin. The Mennonites in Iowa: marking the one hundredth anniversary of the coming of the Mennonites to Iowa. Iowa City, Iowa: The State Historical Society of Iowa, 1939: 137, 318-321.
Yoder, Holly Blosser. The same spirit: History of Iowa-Nebraska Mennonites. Freeman, S.D.: Central Plains Mennonite Conference, 2003: 31-32, 98, 156, 223-224.
Additional Information
Address: 5615 Gable Ave., Kalona, Iowa 52247
Phone: 319-656-2590
Website: https://eastunionmennonite.org/
Denominational Affiliations: Central Plains Mennonite Conference
Pastoral Leaders at East Union Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Christian Warey (1832-1914) (Bishop) |
1884 1885-1914 |
| Jacob J. Swartzendruber (1848-1922) | 1885-1894 |
| Amos I. Yoder (1866-1932) | 1906-1909 |
| Daniel J. Fisher (1877-1970) (Bishop) |
1907-1929 1929-1961 |
| Frederick J. Gingerich (1878-1955) | 1909-1921 |
| Amos J. Gingerich | 1925-1928 |
| Sanford C. Yoder (1879-1975) (Bishop) |
1911-1913 1913-1929 |
| Joseph C. Brenneman (1877-1938) | 1919-1938 |
| Edward J. Shettler (1879-1964) | 1932-1946 |
| Harold H. Brenneman (1918-2010) | 1942-1945 |
| A. Lloyd Swartzendruber (1903-2002) | 1946-1969 |
| Samuel B. Nafziger (1913-2005)(Interim) | 1951-1952 |
| J. John J. Miller (1919-2012) (Bishop) |
1953-1969 1969-1984 |
| Lonnie D. Yoder | 1972-1984 |
| Norman Derstine | 1984-1986 |
| Noah B. Helmuth (1924-2021)(Interim) (Assistant) |
1986-1987 1992-2001 |
| Michael Loss | 1987-1996 |
| Jay Miller | 1996-2013 |
| Sonya Stauffer Kurtz | 2014 |
| Firman Gingerich | 2014-2015 |
| J. Joel Beachy | 2015- |
Membership at East Union Mennonite Church
| Year | Membership |
|---|---|
| 1889 | 85 |
| 1913 | 225 |
| 1920 | 322 |
| 1930 | 463 |
| 1940 | 640 |
| 1950 | 512 |
| 1960 | 412 |
| 1970 | 379 |
| 1980 | 343 |
| 1990 | 313 |
| 2000 | 245 |
| 2009 | 225 |
| 2020 | 238 |
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By A. Lloyd Swartzendruber. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 130. All rights reserved.
The East Union Mennonite Church (MC), located three miles north of Kalona, Johnson County, Iowa, was organized in 1884 under the leadership of Christian Warey, having come out of the large Old Order Amish settlement in this locality. It first met for worship at the Prairie Dale schoolhouse, 1 1/2 miles west of the present location, and was known as the Union Church. Christian Warey was ordained bishop the following year, with Jacob B. Yoder as deacon. Others who have served as deacon, minister, or bishop up to 1950 are A. J. Yoder, Jacob J. Schwartzendruber, Jacob S. Yoder, Fred Gingerich, S. C. Yoder, A. C. Brenneman, Harold Brenneman, and Edward Shettler.
The East Union congregation was a member of the Western District Amish Mennonite Conference until the merger of 1921 and since then has been a member of the Iowa-Nebraska Mennonite Conference.
The present church was built in 1922, and was the largest Mennonite church of its branch west of the Mississippi in the 1950s. The ministers in 1955 were D. J. Fisher, bishop; A. Lloyd Swartzendruber, assistant bishop; J. John J. Miller, minister; and Henry H. Miller, deacon; the membership was 565.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | May 2023 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "East Union Mennonite Church (Kalona, Iowa, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. May 2023. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=East_Union_Mennonite_Church_(Kalona,_Iowa,_USA)&oldid=175444.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (May 2023). East Union Mennonite Church (Kalona, Iowa, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=East_Union_Mennonite_Church_(Kalona,_Iowa,_USA)&oldid=175444.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.