Mountain View Mennonite Church (Creston, Montana)

Corporate body

Mountain View Mennonite Church (Creston, Montana)

1903-

Mountain View Mennonite Church, 795 Mennonite Church Rd, Kalispell MT (Mennonite Church USA), located 10 miles (16 km) east of Kalispell and 2-1/2 miles (4 km) northeast of Creston, Montana, originated in 1903, when Jacob Roth, bishop in the Amish Mennonite Church, moved to Creston from Oregon. Other early settlers were John Eicher, Lee Neuschwander, Peter and Samuel Sutter, Ed Ruckdashel, Joseph Murer, Andrew Bachman, and Peter Eyman. Norman Leroy Kauffman came in the spring of 1911.

In the spring of 1904 a Sunday school was organized. Preaching services in the German language were held every two weeks. Four different buildings were used for these services before the church was built in 1913. During these years this congregation was a part of the Western Amish Mennonite Conference, but in 1916 it joined the Pacific Coast Conference and in 1923 became a member of the Alberta-Saskatchewan Conference. In 1955 the membership was 98. The following ministers had served the congregation to 1955: Jacob Roth, D. D. Kauffman, Joseph Whitaker, Christ Snyder, John W. Oesch, John G. Hochstetler, who was the bishop in 1955, and D. D. Brenneman, was then the minister.

A new church building was completed in 1964. In the mid-90's an fellowship hall/kitchen addition was added to the west side of the church building. In 2002 with the realignment of the Mennonite Church, General Conference Mennonite Church, and Conference of Mennonites in Canada into Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada, the congregation felt the need to join a U.S.-based conference, and thus joined the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA.

Nov 2023 by AHR