246 / The Growth of Newer Congregations

a native of the Big Laurel community. Aquila Stoltzfus is pastor.

Growth of the Ohio Conference in other states has been due at times to an entire congregation changing its formerly independent status and joining the Ohio and Eastern Conference. This was the case in 1950 _when the Cedar Grove congregation of Greencastle, Pennsylvania, transferred to the Ohio and Eastern Conference. The Black Oak and Bethel churches, and the North Side Mission outposts of Cedar Grove, were started before the transfer in conference membership.

In Hagerstown, Maryland, is the North Side Mennonite Church, the outgrowth of many years of witness in this city. In 1935 Adam Baer and members of his family organized a Sunday school which by 1937 became an outreach of the Cedar Grove congregation at Greencastle, Pennsylvania. In 1954 the Sunday school became an organized congregation under the Ohio and Eastern Mennonite Conference. A church building was erected and dedicated in 1962 with Richard E. Martin preaching the dedication sermon. Harold A. Lehman is pastor of the congregation.

The Neffsville Mennonite Church of Neffsville, Pennsylvania, dates from December of 1951 when a number of persons met with Bishop O. N. Johns to discuss the possibility of organizing a new congregation in the community. An organization took place and for several years supply pastors preached to the congregation in an abandoned meetinghouse of the Church of the Brethren. In 1953 a church council was chosen, and in 1955 ground was broken for a new building. The young congregation has been active in supporting missionary programs in this country and in South America. Maurice Landis was the first pastor. His successor is John R. Martin.

An independent congregation developed at Oxford, New Jersey, in an unchurched community and in 1956 became affiliated with the Ohio and Eastern Conference. Known as Faith Mennonite Church, its membership is drawn from an urban group that is largely without a local church home. Henry Swartley has been its pastor through the years.

The Maple Grove Church of Atglen, Pennsylvania, established young congregations at Wesley Chapel in Delaware and at Media Chapel, Oxford, Pennsylvania. These new churches resulted from surveys and explorations between the years of 1947 and 1950. Media Chapel's first service was in 1947, and in 1952