Sugar Creek Mennonite Church is a member congregation of Central Plains Mennonite Conference. Central Plains Mennonite Conference is a vibrant area conference of Mennonite Church USA made up of 45 diverse congregations spanning 7 states (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) and more than 1,000 miles from corner to corner.
Sugar Creek Mennonite Church is a member congregation of Mennonite Church USA. Members of Mennonite Church USA share a Mennonite or Anabaptist perspective on matters of faith. It's how we understand our commitment to following the way of Jesus Christ.
In 1855 Bishop Joseph Goldsmith moved near Trenton, Iowa and organized a church in homes, later to be known as Sugar Creek Mennonite Church. As this congregation grew, there was interest in establishing two churches in the Henry and Washington County area. Two separate organizations were formed with Bishop Goldsmith at the head of both. Joseph Von Gunden and Peter Tschantz served as ministers for the Henry County church, and Joseph Wittrig and Christian Bechler served as ministers for the Washington County church. Disagreements became more marked. Even though each congregation was probably evenly divided between progressive and conservative members, a break between the Washington County and Henry County churches did finally occur in 1874.
In 1871 the first church building was built two miles southeast of the town of Marshall, now Wayland, near Sugar Creek. Sebastian Gerig (minister, later bishop) had suggested among his family and friends that Sugar Creek would be a good name for the church since the church building was located near a creek by that name. He brought the matter to the church and it was adopted. In 1872, one year after the church was built, the congregation organized its first Sunday School.
During, World War I the church had a severe trial because of its non-resistant stand. During World War II the local community was more tolerant of the non-resistant stand than it had been during World War I. Twenty-one young men in the church served in Civilian Public Service camps and units across the United States.
In 1949, the congregation was asked to give prayerful thought to the important work of additional help in the ministry. In December a vote was to be taken to ordain either Vernon Gerig or Vernon E. Roth. As the Sugar Creek Church was considering building another church north of Wayland due to lack of space, it was suggested to ordain both men. In the evening meeting on December 18, 1949 both men were ordained for ministry.
In 1950 the new congregation, Bethel Mennonite Church, was established and the four ordained ministers began a “round-robin” preaching schedule. Vernon Gerig was ordained to the office of bishop in 1953 which led to a new preaching plan. Vernon Roth served only at Bethel, Willard Leichty served only at Sugar Creek and Vernon Gerig and Simon Gingerich alternated. This stayed in effect until 1958 when Vernon Roth became the logical choice to serve as pastor of the newly formed Eureka congregation (later called Washington Mennonite Church), and Bethel called Willard Leichty to serve as pastor. After many transitions, Vernon Gerig became the single minister for Sugar Creek Mennonite Church.
Joseph Goldsmith 1852-1876
Joseph Wittrig 1856-1862
Christian Bechler 1860-1874
Peter Tschantz 1860-1885
John von Gunden 1861-1887
Joseph K. Roth 1863-1882
Joseph Schlegel 1867-1879
Sebastian Gerig 1869-1924
Stephen T. Miller 1879-1893
Martin Eicher 1882-1884
Christian R. Gerig 1887-1904
Daniel Graber 1893-1930
John Wagler 1904-1920
Simon Gingerich 1908-1957
Chris L. Graber 1922-1924
Ellis Zook 1928-1933
Willard Leichty 1935-1958
Vernon Roth 1949-1958
Vernon Gerig 1949-1971
Robert Hartzler 1962-1969
Orie L. Roth 1971-1980
Carl Smeltzer (Interim) 1979
Edmond Miller 1980-1988
Murray Krabill (Interim) 1988-1989
Dean Swartzendruber 1989-1993
Ruben Chupp 1990-2000
Roger Farmer 1993-2002
Sharon Wyse Miller (Interim) 2002-2003
Robert Hartzler (Interim) 2003-2004
Nathan Luitjens 2004-2020
Rachelle Luitjens 2014-2022
Kent McDougal (Interim) 2022-2023
Pam Gerig Unruh (Interim) 2023-2024
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