The Brethren began moving into what is today Indiana as early as 1802 along the Ohio River in Southern Indiana. The first Brethren community which took root and remains to the current day was centered around Four Mile Creek in Union County where the Four Mile congregation was established in 1809. Some of these settlers would eventually push north near St. Joseph County in 1824. Many of the earliest Brethren settlers to Northern Indiana came from Montgomery County in Southern Ohio.
Northern Indiana Congregations
The earliest congregation established in Northern Indiana was founded on the Elkhart Prairie south and west of what became Goshen. Elder Daniel Cripe moved there in 1829 from Montgomery County, Ohio. By 1830, Elder Cripe gathered together 16 Brethren living in the area and delivered the first sermon to a Brethren group in Northern Indiana and formally organized what was known as the Elkhart Church (later named West Goshen). The first love feast was held in late summer 1830.
As more settlers arrived, the original Elkhart Church territory began to be divided: Turkey Creek in southern Elkhart County in 1838; Rock Run in the eastern part of the county in 1850; and Yellow Creek in the western part of the county in 1856. The first church building was built in 1854 in the Turkey Creek district and was known as the Whitehead house. This building now forms the basis of the Maple Grove congregation.
The Annual Meeting of 1856 gave conditional approval to the formation of districts by groups of adjoining churches, with final approval given in 1866.
The first meeting of this kind in Northern Indiana was held in 1857 at the Solomon's Creek church (today known as Bethany). Another similar meeting was held in 1859 at a love feast near Goshen.The first District meeting resembling today's district conference was held near Goshen on April 6, 1863.
The actual division of the state into districts began as a statewide meeting on October 25, 1866. A committee was assigned the task of studying ways the congregations of the state might be grouped. The report returned by the committee recommended that Indiana be divided into three districts: Southern Indiana, Middle Indiana, and Northern Indiana. This recommendation, with specific congregations assigned to each district, was accepted and put into effect in 1868. The original Northern Indiana district included the southern tier of counties in Michigan. A listing of the original Northern Indiana congregations includes: Portage, Baugo, South Bend, Bremen, Pine Creek, Union, Yellow Creek, Elkhart, Turkey Creek, Union Center, Solomon's Creek, Rock Run, Springfield, Shipshewana, Washington, Cedar Creek, Tippecanoe, Pigeon River, Fawn River (English Prairie).
The minutes of the early meetings show that these Brethren had their problems. They were not those of raising funds for missions, education, and other movements; but questions pertaining to divorce, avoidance, and some of the questions that were soon to cause trouble with the Old Order and Progressive movements.
A northern Indiana farm field served as the stage for one of the greatest events in Brethren history. It was the site of the 1882 Annual Conference which was the final act in a great drama that became known as The Great Divide -- a three-way schism which eventually produced the Old German Baptist Brethren, Brethren Church, and Church of the Brethren. The 35-acre site owned by John Arnold was located a short distance east of the present intersection of US 6 and Indiana 15 in Elkhart County, north of Milford. The Big Four railroad ran north and south past the site, and the B&O railroad ran east and west a short distance to the south. Both railroads made special arrangements to transport passengers directly to the conference grounds.
The Solomon's Creek (now Bethany) congregation was in charge of arrangements. Later accounts of the 1882 conference have placed the attendance as high as 10,000 but an accurate estimate is nearly impossible. However, judging from the amount of food used, it is evident that this meeting was among the largest of any Brethren conference.
The focus of the conference centered around a recommendation from a conference committee that had been sent to meet with Henry Holsinger the previous year. Unable to meet all of Holsinger's conditions for a meeting, the attempt to hold a hearing was abandoned and the committee announced "that Brother H.R. Holsinger cannot be held in fellowship with the Brotherhood, and all who depart with him shall be held responsible to the action of the next Annual Meeting." Nearly an entire day of the 1882 conference was spent debating the issue before a vote was called for. An estimated 7,000 voting members were present and all but about 100 stood to support the motion.
After the vote Holsinger led a group of supporters to a nearby school house where they discussed what to do next. This marked the beginning of the Progressive church which later changed its name to the First Brethren. A meeting in Dayton, Ohio, in June 1883 marked the official formation of the new denomination. It is estimated that some 5,000 members left to join the newly forming denomination.
Heifer Project Beginnings in Northern Indiana
One of the more creative service ministries growing out of Northern Indiana was Heifer Project. Dan West had developed this idea as a result of his experiences in Spain. The germ of the idea was presented to a District Men's Meeting at Middlebury Church on April 12, 1942. Interestingly, the theme for the day was "Christianity has the Answer."
The 1942 District Men's Report for the year, written by Abe Neff, reports: "Through the suggestion of Bro. Dan West the cabinet initiated the Heifer Project. One milk cow will mean the difference between life and death, by starvation, for ten children in Belgium and other Nazi-occupied nations of Europe when the war is brought to a conclusion. After the project was set on foot by No. Indiana it was presented to Annual Conference. There it was accepted as a National Project. Our committee of 3 with 2 others appointed at Annual Conference form the National Committee. The plans are already under way to be ready when the time comes to send dairy heifers to Belgium for post war rehabilitation."
World War II prevented shipment of the first heifers to Europe. However, Brethren investigation discovered a great need in Puerto Rico. Following a dedication service at the Rock Run Church, the first shipment of heifers were shipped from Mobile, Alabama to San Juan, Puerto Rico on July 14, 1944. Shipping records in the District Office show that by February 1950, 11,320 animals had been shipped including 5,729 heifers, 81 bulls, 45 horses, and 5,465 goats. These shipments were made to such places as: Greece, France, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Albania, Ethiopia, Japan, Austria, Ecuador, and Germany.
In 1953, the Heifer Project, with its humble beginnings by the Men's Work of Northern Indiana, was incorporated as an independent, non-profit organization known as Heifer Project International.
The district structure has been fluid over the years as the organization changed to meet the changing needs of the congregations. The current structure includes the district conference held on the 3rd weekend in September to which congregations send delegates. The district board is made up of members elected at district conference.
The district first employed leadership was Mark Schrock who served from 1948-1962. Other district executives include:
J. Wilburn Lewallen (1962-1977);
Anita Metzler (interim DE, 1977; Program Coordinator, 1978-1983 );
Charles Bieber (1978-1986);
Ron Finney, Associate DE (1984-1993 );
Terry Hatfield (1987-1994);
Herman Kauffman (1994-.
Resources:
History of the Church of the Brethren in Indiana, Published by Authorization of the District Conferences of the Church of the Brethren in Indiana, 1952. Copyright, 1952, Historical Committees Church of the Brethren in Indiana.
Planting the Faith in a New Land: The History of the Church of the Brethren in Indiana, Steve Bowers, Editor, Copyright 1992 Indiana History Editorial Board. Used with permission.