Allegheny Valley Mennonite Church, (2016)
Source: Lester M. Burkholder
Allegheny Valley Mennonite Church Information
We would love if you came to visit and join us for a worship service!
Sunday Morning Worship 9:30AM
Evening Service: 3rd Sunday 6:30PM
Prayer Meeting 1st Wednesday 7:30PM
Cottage Meeting: 3rd Wednesday
Songbooks: Zion's Praises & Life Songs
We would love if you came to visit and join us for a worship service!
Sunday Morning Worship 9:30AM
Evening Service: 3rd Sunday 6:30PM
Prayer Meeting 1st Wednesday 7:30PM
Cottage Meeting: 3rd Wednesday
Songbooks: Zion's Praises & Life Songs
Address: 597 Hoover Road, Schellsburg, PA 15559
Phone: 717-314-9778
Phone: 717-314-9778
Allegheny Valley Mennonite Church History
Hope Mennonite Fellowship (HMF) began exploring the possibility of planting a new congregation in the spring of 2007. Several ordained men were appointed to identify a suitable location, and they ultimately chose the Bedford/Manns Choice area of central Pennsylvania. The first service was held at the Bedford Grange Hall on April 20, 2008. Later that year, on November 30, 2008, the newly formed Allegheny Valley congregation began meeting in the Quaker Meeting House in Fishertown, Pennsylvania.
Since August 1, 2010 services have been held in the former Pleasant View Mennonite Church building at 597 Hoover Road, Schellsburg, Pennsylvania which Hope Mennonite Fellowship purchased from the Allegheny Mennonite Conference (AMC). Settlement on the building had been delayed a few weeks because, until settlement proceedings, no one remembered that the property was deeded to AMC, not to the local members who had withdrawn from AMC around 1991.
Elvin Horst and James Stelfox shared bishop responsibility for the fledging congregation for two years until James Stelfox took full responsibility. Since the Allegheny Valley congregation had no resident ministry, other Hope Mennonite Fellowship ministers traveled from Lancaster, Lebanon, and York counties to bring the Sunday sermons, On January 31, 2009 Steven Nolt was ordained to serve as the first resident deacon. James G. Weaver, minister of the Schaefferstown congregation, commuted from Lancaster County for two years to services at Allegheny Valley until moving to Bedford in June 2011 to become the first resident minister.
The Allegheny Valley Christian School opened in 2008 in the garage of one of the members. For the 2009-2010 school term, a section of the Fishertown Quaker Meeting House was partitioned off for the school. For the 2010-2014 school terms school was held in a trailer on the church property near Schellsburg. The school finally found a permanent location when the Allegheny Valley congregation purchased the Lakeview Restaurant at 1461 Shawnee Road, Schellsburg, Pennsylvania and fully renovated the building.
Since August 1, 2010 services have been held in the former Pleasant View Mennonite Church building at 597 Hoover Road, Schellsburg, Pennsylvania which Hope Mennonite Fellowship purchased from the Allegheny Mennonite Conference (AMC). Settlement on the building had been delayed a few weeks because, until settlement proceedings, no one remembered that the property was deeded to AMC, not to the local members who had withdrawn from AMC around 1991.
Elvin Horst and James Stelfox shared bishop responsibility for the fledging congregation for two years until James Stelfox took full responsibility. Since the Allegheny Valley congregation had no resident ministry, other Hope Mennonite Fellowship ministers traveled from Lancaster, Lebanon, and York counties to bring the Sunday sermons, On January 31, 2009 Steven Nolt was ordained to serve as the first resident deacon. James G. Weaver, minister of the Schaefferstown congregation, commuted from Lancaster County for two years to services at Allegheny Valley until moving to Bedford in June 2011 to become the first resident minister.
The Allegheny Valley Christian School opened in 2008 in the garage of one of the members. For the 2009-2010 school term, a section of the Fishertown Quaker Meeting House was partitioned off for the school. For the 2010-2014 school terms school was held in a trailer on the church property near Schellsburg. The school finally found a permanent location when the Allegheny Valley congregation purchased the Lakeview Restaurant at 1461 Shawnee Road, Schellsburg, Pennsylvania and fully renovated the building.
As of January 2026, Allegheny Valley had 88 members.
Ministry
Earl Ray Sensenig — Bishop
Wendell Martin — Minister
Darwin Sensenig — Minister
Steve Nolt — Deacon
Elvin Zimmerman — Deacon
Earl Ray Sensenig — Bishop
Wendell Martin — Minister
Darwin Sensenig — Minister
Steve Nolt — Deacon
Elvin Zimmerman — Deacon