250 f The Growth of Newer Congregations

began in 1949 as Louis Road Chapel. By 1958 it became an independent congregation, and instead of serving a sparsely settled area is now in the rapidly developing southeastern Greater Cleveland suburb of Bedford Heights. It is composed largely of community people in the younger married age-group. Marion Bontrager, the present pastor, succeeded Dale Nofziger, founder and former pastor.

The above three congregations are described in a brochure which they distribute to newcomers to the city of Cleveland.

In 1964 the Summit Christian Fellowship of Akron, Ohio, was founded to serve a small number of family groups who reside in the city and desire a center for worship. David Brunner, a licensed minister, serves as leader of the group.

Two other Ohio cities that have newly formed fellowships of Mennonites are the Springdale Church of Cincinnati with fifty-five members and Charles Kalous as pastor, and the Kennedy Avenue Church in Dayton with Jonas Hostetler as pastor. Both of these groups are under the Ohio Mission Board.

For some time prior to March 1965 Mennonites in Columbus, Ohio, had formed a fellowship but were without a building for worship. In the spring of 1965 they acquired a former Presbyterian church building, and in March of that year held their first worship service. On the following June 27 Glenn Esh, formerly of the Monterey Church in Pennsylvania, was installed as pastor. Known as the Neil Avenue Mennonite Church, this congregation is located near the Ohio State University campus and serves Mennonite and other students of the university. The congregation belongs tó both the Ohio and Eastern Mennonite Conference and the Central District of the General Conference Mennonite Church.

For some years Mennonites have resided in the Boston and Cambridge area of Massachusetts, a number engaged in teaching and as students in the universities of the area. They have formed a fellowship which meets in the home of the leader, J. Lawrence Burkholder, a minister in the Mennonite Church who is also a professor at Harvard Divinity School. In 1966 the fellowship was admitted to the Ohio and Eastern Conference while also holding membership in the General Conference Mennonite Church.

The role of the Ohio Mennonite Mission Board continues to be important in the planting of both rural and urban churches. The 1966 report of the board lists fifteen stations operating under the board. Their names, location, and pastors and wives are: