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Development of Church Life in the Older Congregations / 225
in Russia. Known as the "Charity Circle" the women in these two congregations worked together till 1946 when the membership at both churches was large enough to support separate circles. Both groups are now active in the churchwide Women's Missionary and Service Auxiliary of the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities.
Among the recent bishops were A. J. Steiner and O. N. Johns, the latter serving from 1928 to 1962. Reuben Hofstetter became bishop of these congregations in 1963. Pastors in recent years include Stanford Mumaw, Don Augsburger, J. Robert Detweiler, and John C. King.
In 1922 Pleasant View celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary with a special meeting that noted the coming of the Horst family to the area in 1837. In September 1943 an all-day meeting was held in commemoration of Ira J. Buckwalter's fiftieth anniversary aś an ordained minister. The occasion noted the long and faithful service of Buckwalter and his wife to the church and community. Before Buckwalter's passing in 1950 Elmer E. Yoder of Elida, Ohio, was installed to assist him, and four years later was ordained bishop. Willard Ressler is presently serving as minister. David Hostetler, who was ordained a minister in 1953, volunteered for foreign mission work and with his family left for Brazil in 1955.
The Salem Mennonite congregation near Wooster began in 1892 and was originally made up of members from the Martins Church who preferred a more convenient place for worship. The first pastor was David Hostetler, formerly of the Oak Grove congregation at Smithville. In 1899 Amos Mumaw with his family moved to the Salem community from Wakarusa, Indiana. He assisted with the work at Salem until his death in 1906. In 1913 P. R. Lantz came and served for two years before going to serve at the Rittman home. In 1927 Rudy L. Stauffer of the Crown Hill congregation was ordained, and in 1945 Daniel W. Hilty, also of Crown Hill, was ordained to assist him.
A number of evangelists have served Salem, including John S. Coffman, S. G. Shetler, D. D. Miller, and J: D. Mininger. The congregation has been missionary-minded throughout its history, especially during the pastorate of Rudy Stauffer. Mission work grew out of evangelistic meetings held by Maurice O'Connell of Lima, Ohio, in 1928 in an abandoned church three miles east of Wooster. In 1936 the Salem congregation sponsored tent meetings in Wooster
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