OUR HISTORY

Tracing roots back to the Conestoga congregation.

Congregational History

Get to Know the History of Mohler Church of the Brethren.
The Mohler Church of the Brethren traces its roots back to the Conestoga congregation which was established in 1724, the third oldest Church of the Brethren congregation organized in the America. In 1864, the church divided into the Conestoga, West Conestoga and Ephrata congregations. In 1899, the Ephrata congregation divided into the Ephrata and Springville Congregations. The Springville congregation met in numerous meetinghouses to worship; Springville, Blainsport, Denver, Cocalico and Mohler. The congregation also met at a number of union houses shared with other groups at Mt Airy, Schoeneck, Denver and Akron. In the first half of the 1900’s, they consolidated their meeting locations by closing or selling meetinghouses. In 1959, the Springville congregation divided into two separate congregations, Cocalico and Springville. In 1966, the Springville congregation incorporated and officially changed its name to Mohler Church of the Brethren.     

The present Mohler Meetinghouse was first built as a 50’ by 80’ frame structure in 1872. On April of 1898, it was destroyed by fire but was rebuilt the same year on the original stone foundation. An addition of Sunday School rooms was added in 1949 on the west side and a new narthex and Sunday School rooms on the east side were added in 1985. An elevator was installed in 2011 and the church pavilion was converted to a youth building in the same year. 


In the early years, the congregation was served faithfully by a team of non-salaried “free ministers” called from within the congregation who served for life. In 1983, Mohler hired its first fulltime pastor, George Ebersole. Other fulltime pastors were Harold Bowman, Phil Reynolds, and Carl L. Brubaker who is currently serving the church as pastor. 


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