Vision

Rooted solidly in the Anabaptist understanding of faith, we seek to follow Jesus Christ both as Savior and Lord; believing his life, death and teachings model for us both faith and contemporary discipleship. We are a multi-cultural congregation integrating both English and Spanish in our services and ministries. In addition to music and scripture being offered in both languages, sermons are simultaneously translated into Spanish. For those unfamiliar with English, "Classe de los Amigos" offers an adult Spanish Sunday School study.

From its beginning, North Goshen Mennonite Church has been established for outreach to witness to the love of Jesus Christ in very down-to-earth ways in our community and around the world. On the third Wednesday night of each month, we celebrate a "Community Meal" in which the entire neighborhood is invited. From our summer community "Block Party" which attracts many local residents of all ages to offering weeknight classes for learning English, we try to make our faith evident in concrete ways.

In addition to regular scheduled Sunday School for all ages at 9:00 A.M. and Sunday Worship at 10:15 A.M., we have a lively Youth Group for High School youth on Wednesday nights and "Venture Club" activities for Elementary and Junior High ages. Our church is a safe haven for all those who enter. A Safe Sanctuary Policy has been implemented to ensure each one is nurtured and cared for in a protective environment. If you have any questions or would like to visit with one of the pastoral staff, please contact us.

TEAM

Becky Helmuth

Lead Pastor

Becky has been a member of North Goshen Mennonite Church for over 30 years, joining as a college student alongside her husband, Todd. They have three grown children. With a background in pastoral ministry, conflict transformation, and Mennonite journalism, Becky values storytelling, deep listening, and walking with others through seasons of change. She is passionate about fostering an intergenerational church that reflects God’s love, justice, and peace in both word and action.

Izaete Nafziger

Outreach Pastor

Izaete has been serving on the pastoral team for the past several years. She previously was a pastor at a Mennonite Church in Recife, Brazil. Izaete is married to Tim and they have a son, Natan, and a daughter, Alaiza. Being born in Brazil, her hobbies include cooking Brazilian food.

Our History

North Goshen Mennonite Church traces its roots to a mission Sunday School outreach begun by early Goshen College students soon after the college was established in Goshen, Indiana, in 1903.

The North Goshen Mennonite Church, which was formally established in 1936 as an outpost of College Mennonite Church, can claim several historical members and church leaders, including Paul Mininger and J.C. Wenger, Bible professors at Goshen College. By 1942, North Goshen was recognized as a separate congregation with full membership in the Indiana-Michigan Conference of the Mennonite Church. Early church pastors included Paul Mininger, Russell Krabill and A. Don Augsburger.

The original church building for the congregation came to North Goshen from Mt. Union, Iowa, near Wayland. Goshen College students raised the funds necessary to purchase the Beulah Baptist Church in Iowa for about $300. The Baptist church was dismantled, hauled by truck to Goshen, and rebuilt as a meetinghouse at the current location of the North Goshen Mennonite Church. All told, the project cost about $3,000.

Later pastors have included Harvey Chupp, Art Smoker, Dean Linsenmeyer, and Mark Schloneger. Over the years, assistant pastors have included Darrel Hostetler, Jerry Wittrig, Rosemary Fry, Lisa Enns-Bogoya, Marian Hostetler, and Bek Linsenmeyer.

The missional focus of the North Goshen Mennonite Church has evolved over time. In the early years, college students brought Sunday School to the Appalachian immigrant factory workers who lived in the North Goshen area. The congregation then became a magnet for Amish families seeking to leave many of the strict regulations common in Amish churches in the 1950's.

Our missional emphasis today has followed demographic changes in the North Goshen neighborhood as Hispanic people began arriving in the 1980's and '90's to find affordable housing and to work in the local factories.

Currently, our congregation is made up of people whose ancestors come from many different cultural backgrounds and nationalities, including Germany and Switzerland, Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Uruguay, Guatemala, Bolivia, and Puerto Rico. We worship God together in both English and Spanish languages.