218 / Development of Church Life in the Older Congregations

ministers. The congregation produced a quota of men who were ordained for other congregations in Ohio and elsewhere.

The Maple Grove Church at New Wilmington in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, has remained a small congregation due to westward migrations of its members, one of the pastors calling it "a springboard to the West." It has also been somewhat isolated from its sister congregations.

The attraction of nearby industrial centers in western Pennsylvania has drawn members away from the community. For many years John R. Zook (1842-1910) was an influential leader as the congregation made changes from German to English and introduced Sunday school, youth activities, and Bible conferences.

The congregation has had an interest in mission work and in 1925 one of its members, Minnie Kanagy, went to India as a missionary. Another member, Sarah Zook Eshleman, served with her husband, a medical missionary, Dr. Merle Eshleman, for two terms

in East Africa. From 1922 to his retirement in 1953 Enoch J. Zook served as bishop, being succeeded by David Steiner. Recent pastors include Roy D. Kauffman, James A. Steiner, and Nathan Nussbaum.

In Mahoning and Columbiana Counties, Ohio

The Midway, North Lima, and Leetonia Mennonite congregations were under one organized leadership throughout most of their long history. As noted elsewhere, these three congregations were often pioneering centers for Bible conferences, revival meetings, and missionary programs. The records of these churches show

that their members were interested too in literary societies, reading circles, and summer Bible schools.

During the first half of the twentieth century A. J. Steiner (1876-1965) was an influential Mennonite bishop and leader. I. B. Witmer (1865-1958) was a minister who not only served the congregations in the area but was also active in conference committees and assignments. He also helped in the founding of new congregations in western Pennsylvania. Steiner served as conference moderator eleven years and for many years he was on the executive committee. Like his brother, M. S. Steiner, he had churchwide interests and responsibilities in missions, publication, and education. Two of A. J. Steiner's sons are ordained as bishops, David and John. A third son, James, is a minister.