Local Mennonites tour Utah church
Staff writer
At least a dozen people from the Hillsboro area participated in a July 26 tour of South Mountain Community Church in Salt Lake City.
M.B. Foundation, headquartered in Hillsboro, sponsored the tour in conjunction with the United States Mennonite Brethren National Convention.
Foundation vice president Bruce Jost said the Utah church was founded in 1998 in a garage by a family of four. The foundation has partnered with the church since 2002.
It has grown to six congregations in five locations, with more than 3,000 in attendance. More than 1,300 have been baptized in the Mennonite Brethren tradition.
M.B. Foundation, with over $190 million in assets, has loaned more than $10.5 million to the Utah church to fund buildings necessary to its ministry.
“We were very encouraged by the tour and are thankful to be a part of what God is doing among the Mennonite Brethren in Utah and beyond,” foundation president Jon Wiebe said.
The tour group, 88 in all, visited the 10-acre Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, where participants learned about Mormon history and its impact on the people of Utah.