$('#s1').cycle({fx:'fade', speed: 1500, timeout: 4500});The Story of Vineland United Mennonite Church
The beginnings of our church go back as far as 1924 when the first German Mennonite refugees from Russia were welcomed by the First Mennonite Church and were given their first employment on local farms. A fledgling congregation was formed with Rev. John J. Wichert as leader. Our first building dates from 1935 and our own church charter dates from 1936.
New families continued to re-locate here from the Prairie Provinces in the 1930's and many refugees from war torn Europe began arriving in the late 1940's. Others arrived from South America in the 1950's and made this church their home. Many of us can still trace our families to these pioneers but today, more and more of us are from other backgrounds.
Our present church building was completed in 1957 and an Education Wing was added in 1966. During this time the language of worship changed from German to English.
Our leadership has evolved from the shared ministry style with pulpit assistants to the pastoral ministry of today.
Some of our members have served with foreign missions or with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) for periods of several months or many years. Closer to home, many have volunteered at the Christian Benefit Shops; and for over 20 years, the Ten Thousand Villages Sale has been a significant fund raiser for MCC. Many have also served with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS).
We are active in our community with different outreach programs, continuing with our peace stance we always have had, with our Anabaptist roots.
Many, many other important happenings could be mentioned. We praise God for the heritage that is ours.