Box 4 - VBS records

Bethel Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), located about eight miles (13 km) southeast of Canby, Oregon, and an equal distance from Hubbard and Aurora, was a member of the Pacific Coast Conference.  Members of the Zion and Hopewell congregations living in this community, five to ten miles (8-16 km) from their respective home churches, held Sunday school and preaching services in local schoolhouses while the roads were muddy in the wet season and dusty in the dry season, until 1912, when a church was built for their community. On 4 May 1919 a congregation was organized and a resident minister placed in the community.  Such names as Roth, Mitchell, Strubhar, Nofziger, Bond, Hostetler, Rogie, Yoder, Troyer, Christner, Kropf, Bressler, Schultz, Greenwood, Miller, Kauffman, Good, Snyder, Zook, Schrock, Gingerich, Bontrager, Switzer, Diener, and Birkey were known as being or having been among the worshipers at Bethel. In 1953 the membership was 80.  Due to declining attendance the congregation disbanded in 1969 when the membership was about 35.