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Tuesday Evening, May 31

6:30 PM

We met at Kreider Meeting House because it was one of the first buildings constructed for our congregation. The other one, which was built the same year is about four miles away and has been sold to another church denomination.

Kreider Church, Manheim, PA, is an historical site, owned by our congregation and will be used for the beginning of our celebration on Saturday evening, August 20. The rest of the celebration will be the next day at White Oak Church near Penryn, PA.

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This church was built in 1859, eighty-seven years after our congregation was established in 1772. Prior to the construction of church buildings, meetings were held in homes, barns and other available buildings.

Because a celebration meeting will be held here, we thought it important to have a committee meeting here.

The outhouses are no longer usable, but because of maintenance and a neighbor’s decorations they look nice from the outside.

Back in the day, this was the door the men entered – southside. Men and boys sat on this side of the building. Women and girls sat on the other side. We plan to replicate that in August to give our congregation an idea of how it was to worship in 1772.

The nursery where women took crying or noisy children. The steps go to the upstairs.

Back in horse and buggy days, this is where people stayed overnight for extended meetings – like Love Feasts. Men slept on one side of the center wall and women on the other. There were straw mattress on rather crude cots.

There was a fireplace for cold evenings.

A kettle that was left there.

The basement was used for meals. There are tables on both sides.

The kitchen area

An exit/entrance to the basement.

There are two entrance/exits to the basement. Notice one at the other end near the cemetery.

The view when entering the men’s (south) entrance.

Raised benches to the left of the men’s entrance.

The pulpit area. All preachers sat on the bench behind the pulpit table – in order of their election to the ministry.

The bench and table on the other side of the pulpit.

Old songbooks. Our congregation still uses this building a few times a year for evening hymn sings.

We found a few old notes that Jim Myer asked me to photograph and email to him. He is speaking about this meeting house during our celebration.

I cropped them for him so he could easily read them.

Following our tour of the building, the committee began to gather at a table in front of the church. I took this photo from what was the lady’s side of the building.

This table served as a bench when folded back or a table when set up like this. This is where love feasts would have been served during a communion service. Most of this type of bench has been removed from the building. There is a second one behind the committee – to their left. You can see it better from the previous photo because it is the only solid back bench.

I was checking on the lighting for a photograph of the committee. Matt on the back center (green shirt) was there to check on the building for setting up a sound system in August. He agreed to take a photograph of the committee.

Discussing some items that pertain to the August meeting in this building.

The committee – back bench: Janessa Diffenderfer, John and Kathy Diffenderfer, Lawanda and Kerwin Miller, Kim and Mike Groff; front bench: Me, Cerwin, Jim Myer, Dave and Shawn Wenger and Keri and Jon Cassel.

The other angle.

Following this meeting we went to Mike and Kim’s (front) place where it was air conditioned. 🙂

I love serving with this committee. It is fun to hear everyone’s ideas and watch their gifts being demonstrated. During our first meeting, earlier this year, Dave Wenger (our congregation’s moderator) wrote a list of the needs on a wet board and asked us what we wanted to be in charge of. Cerwin and I quickly chose history, because we are old and didn’t feel gifted in the other areas. 🙂