The Role of Conference in Transitions and Expansions / 161

The conference developed a live interest in missions and charitable institutions. In 1898 it clearly stated that congregations with qualified workers should send them forth. One of the questions to be discussed, indeed the first one, was, "How can we awaken a greater zeal for the salvation of lost souls?"

In 1899 the conference officially approved an old people's home and an orphanage. In 1901 a measure was passed favoring home missions. In 1904 the conference joined with the Ohio Mennonite Conference to establish a mission in Canton. A joint board controlled this venture. In 1907 a mission was sponsored in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after conferring with the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities. In 1911 the conference favored the ordination of John L. Stauffer for this work.

Annual conference time came to include the appointment and election of representatives to the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities, of trustees to the Canton Mission, the orphans' home, and the old people's home.

Original Site of the First Mennonite Orphanage

In 1897 an orphanage was opened in the residence of S. K. Plank near Smithville, Ohio. Plank, a deacon in the Salem Church near Wooster, and his son-in-law Bishop David Garber were in charge during the early years of the institution. In 1901 the Mennonite Orphanage was moved to the Glover estate at West Liberty, Ohio.