Montgomery County PA Archives Biographies.....Church, Zion Mennonite ???? - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joe Patterson jpatter@epix.net November 14, 2025, 4:42 pm

Source: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, T. S. Benham & Company and the Lewis Publishing Company, 1904
Author: Ellwood Roberts, Editor

  ZION MENNONITE CHURCH AT SOUDERTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

  A large proportion of the
early settlers of that part of 
Montgomery county were Mennonites, and hence it
is only 
natural that members of the denomination should form a 
considerable
portion of the population of its growing towns. 
Souderton is in the center of
the Mennonite community, and 
has two churches of that faith, one belonging to
the old, or 
Franconia, conference and one, of which Rev. Allen Myers 
Fretz is
the pastor, adhering to the General Conference of 
Mennonites of America. The
membership of these as well as of 
the other churches in Souderton, is drawn
largely from the 
rural community. The Zion church belongs to the eastern 

district of the General Conference. For several years prior 
to the organization
of the congregation, services were held 
for the benefit of the members residing
at Souderton, under 
the auspices of the Home Mission and Church Extension
Board 
of the District Conference, in a hall, and subsequently in 
the newly
erected Reformed church.

  In the autumn of 1892 a lot was purchased on East
Broad 
street, when the erection of a church building was begun and 
continued
through the winter. It was completed in May, and 
on the 21st and 22d of that
month the edifice was formally 
dedicated. During the time the small
congregation were so 
zealously pushing the erection of the church, a charter
was 
procured. 

  On February 8, 1893, the congregation was organized with 
the
following charter members, twenty-six in all: John D. 
Detweiler. Catherine
Detweiler, Abraham D. Detweiler, Mary 
Detweiler, David B. Detweiler, Annie B.
Harr, Henry D. 
Detweiler, William D. Detweiler, John D. Moyer, Olivia 
Moyer,
William G. Moyer, Hannah Moyer, Levi S. Moyer, Annie 
Moyer, Abraham S. Moyer,
William S. Moyer, Menno S. Moyer, 
Joseph P. Moyer, Mary Clymer, Adolph Leber,
Amanda Leber, 
Hannah Taylor, Eli M. Fretz, Catherine Fretz, Isaac S. 
Borneman,
Leah Hunsberger. Rev. Allen M. Fretz, pastor of 
the Deep Run church, in Bucks
county, was chosen pastor. The 
call was accepted by him, as an enlargement of
his field of 
labor. He took charge of the church on April 1, of the same 
year,
and still holds the position. Mr. Fretz's 
ministrations have been very
acceptable, and many new 
members have been added to the congregation. On June
3, 
1893, the pastor baptized five young converts. The aggregate 
of members
from the beginning is 185, and the present 
membership, 154.  The congregation,
while it discourages all 
modern innovations such as are so common in church
work for 
raising funds, was able, in May, 1898, to extinguish a 
building debt
of about eight hundred dollars, besides giving 
substantial aid to various
departments of church work.

  The church has the following auxiliaries in the
carrying 
on of its work: Sunday school, Christian Endeavor Society, 
Junior
Endeavor Society, Ladies' Mission Society, Weekly 
Bible Study, prayer meetings,
etc. Feeling that the common 
lodge system is in principle out of harmony with
Scripture 
teaching, many young men being induced to join them because 
of their
boasted pecuniary advantages, the congregation in 
its constitution instituted
and provided for a charity fund 
to which regular annual contributions are made,
for the 
assistance of the poor and sick where such assistance is 
needed.
Regular support is also given to the Mennonite Home 
for the Aged at Frederick
this county; to the Home Mission 
and Church Extension work and the Foreign
Mission cause of 
the Mennonite church, in India and among the Indians of 

America.

  The preaching services as is common in nearly all 
Mennonite
churches of eastern Pennsylvania, are conducted in 
both German and English,
with a growing inclination to more 
English and less German.

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