Atlantic Coast Conference is pleased to welcome Spring Mount Mennonite Church as its newest member congregation. Voting delegates unanimously affirmed the congregation’s request for affiliation in August, formalizing a relationship that began with a heartfelt letter of application last December.
Spring Mount, a small but vibrant congregation of about 20 active participants located in Schwenksville, PA, began as a mission outreach in 1934 from congregations within Franconia Mennonite Conference. The congregation joins ACC from Mosaic Mennonite Conference, following Mosaic’s decision to leave Mennonite Church USA. After careful discernment, the congregation voted in November to seek affiliation with Atlantic Coast Conference while remaining connected to Mennonite Church USA.
In their letter to ACC’s Executive Committee, Spring Mount’s leaders pointed to several reasons for the move, including ACC’s congregational polity and a desire for closer relationship with conference staff and neighboring congregations. They were also drawn by ACC’s welcome of LGBTQ+ members, noting that this “is important to us, as we have several members of this group who are an integral part of our congregation.”
The congregation arrives at a season of transition. Facing an aging building and shrinking resources, Spring Mount has voted to sell its property and look for a rented worship space — one that, notably, offers the accessibility their current building lacks. Several members currently unable to worship in person due to accessibility issues are eager to reengage once a new space is found. The congregation described this shift not with anxiety but with openness, pointing to two decades of adaptive leadership and a congregational habit of framing new ministry opportunities as “an experiment in the Spirit.”
Spring Mount’s leadership, including Pastor Christian J. Nickels, wrote in their request to join ACC, That they hope to both give and receive counsel within this new conference family, deepening relationships with congregations they already know and building new ones they have yet to meet.
Please join us in welcoming Spring Mount Mennonite Church to Atlantic Coast Conference. We look forward to walking alongside this faithful, adaptable congregation as they discern what’s next.