East Pennsylvania Conference
Attempts to reconcile the division failed and in 1847 a new group, East Pennsylvania Conference, was formed from about a quarter of the original Franconia members. Oberholtzer provided leadership for the new conference, creating a set of guidelines to act as a constitution. He initiated contact with Canadian and European Mennonites in order to incorporate ideas from the broader Mennonite world into the new conference.
Oberholtzer stressed training for young people wanting to become church members. He distributed a catechism booklet among the churches as a guide for religious education. The class he formed for his own congregation in 1857 was one of the very first Mennonite Sunday schools in North America.
Oberholtzer purchased a hand printing press in 1851 and set it up in his locksmith shop. He published Der Religiöse Botschafter (the Religious Messenger) with a circulation of 400, the first successful Mennonite periodical in North America. The financial burden and the demands on his time ended the operation after three years. In 1856, with funding from 92 shareholders, the Mennonite Printing Union was organized and printing resumed with a periodical named Das Christliche Volksblatt. Besides the periodical, books and other material were printed at this new facility. Oberholtzer's contribution as publisher and editor was to have significant influence on Mennonites in North America.
Oberholtzer writing reflected his response to issues of his time. He advocated open communion, allowing Christians of other denomination participate. With respect to the emotional prayer meeting movement, he believed one should pray continuously and need not participate in specially arranged prayer meetings. He was opposed to church members participating in secret societies and believed foot washing should be taken symbolically, not literally. Oberholtzer believed participation in war is always wrong.
Read more about this topic: John H. Oberholtzer
Famous quotes containing the words east, pennsylvania and/or conference:
“At length, having come up fifty rods off, he uttered one of those prolonged howls, as if calling on the god of loons to aid him, and immediately there came a wind from the east and rippled the surface, and filled the whole air with misty rain, and I was impressed as if it were the prayer of the loon answered, and his god was angry with me; and so I left him disappearing far away on the tumultuous surface.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The discovery of Pennsylvania’s coal and iron was the deathblow to Allaire. The works were moved to Pennsylvania so hurriedly that for years pianos and the larger pieces of furniture stood in the deserted houses.”
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Politics is still the man’s game. The women are allowed to do the chores, the dirty work, and now and then—but only occasionally—one is present at some secret conference or other. But it’s not the rule. They can go out and get the vote, if they can and will; they can collect money, they can be grateful for being permitted to work. But that is all.”
—Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958)