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Maple Grove Mennonite Will Celebrate 100th Anniversary  Photo by Marcella Peyre-Ferry By Marcella Peyre-Ferry Members of the Maple Grove Mennonite Church of Atglen will celebrate the church's 100th anniversary on Sunday, Aug. 16, and the entire community is invited to join them. "Our intent of the day originally was to invite members of the church who have gone out in the community to come home," said Melba King of the organizing committee. As preparations began, the event grew and took on additional meaning. "(The purpose of the anniversary celebration is so that) the community can understand who we are and that they are welcome to join us," said committee member Cathy King. The day will begin at 9:30 a.m. with traditional Sunday school for all ages, featuring guest teacher John Smucker. Smucker grew up in the area and attended Maple Grove Mennonite. His theme will be Jesus' first and last words in his ministry from Matthew 4:17-25 ("Follow Me…") to Matthew 28:16-20 ("Go and make disciples…"). The traditional Mennonite worship service will be held at its normal 10:30 a.m. starting time, with traditional attire encouraged but optional. The guest speaker for the service will be Linford King. King is a great-grandson of one of the charter members of the church, Isaac King. His theme will be "Effective Leadership in Anxious Times." The day will continue with an afternoon full of activities, including a slideshow, photo and memorabilia displays, testimonials and the showing of recordings of historic sermons. There will also be a presentation of the drama "In the Year 1909" twice during the day, with the roles of the original charter members being played by their descendants. Lunch will be served from noon to 1 p.m., and the evening meal will be from 5 to 6 p.m. The meals are free and open to everyone, but the church would like those who are planning to attend either lunch or dinner to reply by Wednesday, Aug. 5, by calling 610-593-6658 or e-mailing mgchurch@netzero.net so that the kitchen will be prepared for the proper number of guests. Following the evening meal, there will be a Parade of Music beginning at 6:30 p.m., featuring music through the decades. Plans call for the various styles of church music over the history of the church to be performed by different groups, plus there will be congregational singing. Maple Grove Mennonite has been preparing for the anniversary since the beginning of the year. Services have included a number of special events that have commemorated landmarks in the church history. Dramatic vignettes have been performed. The history of the church has been memorialized in a recent book prepared by members that will be available for purchase at the centennial celebration. In the lobby of the church, a bulletin board has been posted with the full list of founding members and photos of many of them. It also includes the congregation of today, in keeping with the motto for the anniversary, "We celebrate the faithfulness of current members - 61 percent with names different from the Amish names of yesteryear." Pastor Steve Crane describes the church as multi-generational, with four generations of some families attending together, alongside young families who are new to the area. "There are historically Mennonite connections, but not conservative. It seems to be a comfortable church for a lot of people," he said. Maple Grove Mennonite Church is located at 549 Swan Road, Atglen. For more information, interested readers may visit maplegrovemennonite.blogspot.com. Gap-Parkesburg-Oxford Community Courier - 08/05/2009 |
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