104 / Growth-and Some Decline-of the Churches

tion of followers that Rupp had.

It appears that the issues in this division were largely those of holiness and sanctification. Yet it is thought that other issues also were in the picture, including the usual problems of discipline as well as "personality clashes." Egly's movement never became a large one. Though it had a following as far west as Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, its main centers have been Berne, Indiana; Archbold, Ohio; and Gridley, Illinois. Known for years as the Defenseless Mennonite Church of North America, it changed its name in 1948 to Evangelical Mennonite Church. The membership in the area of Fulton and Allen counties of Ohio numbered between 700 and 800 in 1960.

The Holdeman Division Among the Mennonites

What is generally called the Holdeman division centers around John Holdeman (1832-1900) who was born at New Pittsburgh in Wayne County, Ohio." His baptism in 1853 by Bishop Abraham Rohrer of Medina County seemed to mark the beginning of an intensely religious career which he felt included the call to preach. Not receiving this call from the church, he responded to a call that he felt came as a revelation from heaven and he began to preach in 1859. Much of his emphasis was on earnest Christian living and the disciplined life-both of which he criticized the church for not having. He traveled widely, preached often, and wrote numerous works in defense of his beliefs. While he never gained a large following in Ohio churches, he did organize numerous congregations in the United States and Canada before his death in McPherson County, Kansas. His followers became known as the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite.

The Fulton County Amish were affected by Holdeman who with Frank Seidner visited their churches, perhaps even before he began preaching. His emphasis on the new birth made a deep impression on the Fulton County Amish." There were a few converts from among them, though the ministry opposed Holdeman because of his "Methodist" emphases. The father of C. L. Gearig, a longtime minister in the Holdeman Church, was converted under Holdeman's preaching. Christian Beck, the first minister of the settlement, became interested in the movement, though his views on temperance (especially tobacco and strong drink) were not strict enough to allow him to have fellowship with the