Calico Rock assists Church Plant

The Calico Rock (Arkansas) Mennonite Fellowship was started in 1967 largely as a result of Dr Meryl Grasse and his wife Gladys’ medical work in Izard County, Arkansas.  The church declined in the past few years to the point that the people remaining decided to close the church.  More conservative Mennonites have been moving to that area and the “Little Flock” church in Harrison, AR agreed to do a church plant in Calico Rock, which is about 70 miles from Harrison.  The Little Flock church, affiliated with the Beachy Amish, has already helped start two other churches and they will send a pastor and some members to start the new church in Calico Rock.  The Beachy Amish who are called “Mennonites” in that area also have a Bible School in Kulp which is nearby with about 100 students each winter. The Calico Rock Mennonite committee decided to largely give the building and parsonage to this church plant and the two groups together hosted a service and pot luck meal on August 15, 2021. This was both a celebration of the past Mennonite witness in Calico Rock and a dedication of the new church that is beginning.  We trust that with the Lord’s help this new church will be able to carry on an Anabaptist witness in this community, one of the poorest areas in the state.