Join us for Sunday School at 9:30 am and Worship Service at 10:30 am
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Our Mission
Discovering together how to follow Jesus and make our community and world a better place.
Pastor Michael Howes
Pastor Michael Howes grew up in the bayou country of southern Louisiana and studied religion at Baylor University before earning his Master of Divinity in Fort Worth, Texas.
Since 1991, Michael has been serving as a pastor in a variety of settings—rural, urban, and suburban—across Texas, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. He’s currently a credentialed pastor with the Mosaic Conference of Mennonite Church USA.
Michael is happily married to the Rev. Sue Conrad Howes, who works as a mental health chaplain. Together, they have two wonderful young adult children, Michael and Emily.
Church Leadership
At West Swamp, we believe in shared leadership and congregational involvement. Our Ministry Team includes six dedicated deacons and our pastor, all working together to guide and support the life and mission of the church. One deacon helps lead the team, while the others each focus on one of five key areas that help our church thrive: Stewardship, Worship, Mission, Discipling, and Community.
History of West Swamp
West Swamp Mennonite Church has deep roots, dating back to 1717 when a Mennonite elder and several immigrant families from the Palatinate settled in the area. The first meetinghouse was built in 1735 on land owned by William Allen, and a historical marker now stands nearby to honor that early site.
As the community grew, new meetinghouses were built—one in 1771 at the location of today’s East Swamp Church, and another in 1790 where West Swamp Church now stands. These buildings served the congregation together, with services held alternately at each location.
A key figure in West Swamp’s history is Pastor John H. Oberholtzer, who served from 1842 to 1864. He played a major role in forming both the Eastern District Conference in 1847 and the General Conference in 1860. He also introduced Bible instruction classes to the church, helping shape its spiritual foundation.
By 1877, the growing congregation officially became two separate churches—East Swamp and West Swamp—though they continued to share a pastor until 1921.
Today, West Swamp Mennonite Church is a member of Mosaic Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA. The church actively supports Mennonite missions, education, service, and outreach, continuing a legacy of faith and community that spans more than 300 years.
About the Mennonites and Anabaptists
Mennonites believe in the centrality and inspiration of the Bible and in Jesus Christ as the One sent by God to bring reconciliation between the Creator and a broken world. We try to emphasize the connections between faith, words and actions. We believe baptism and church membership should be voluntary. We also emphasize community, peace and love, helping others and being a diverse and multi-cultural church.
The Mennonites stem from the Anabaptist movement of the sixteenth-century Reformation. Members of the Anabaptist movement insisted that church membership involve a fully informed adult decision, hence many of them requested a second baptism that symbolically superceded their infant baptism. As a result of this practice their opponents called them rebaptizers or Anabaptists. The first adult baptism was performed in January 1525 in Zurich, Switzerland.
The Mennonite group took its’ name from a Dutch Catholic priest, Menno Simons, who joined the movement in 1530. The earliest groups of Anabaptists were established in Zurich, Switzerland and the northern Dutch province of Friesland where Menno lived and worked. The groups in the south were known initially as the Swiss Brethren and later broke into two groups: the Mennonites and the Amish.
