Rev. Jeremy Mann has accepted a call as pastor from St. John’s UCC, Bluffton, effective March 1, 2022. He will be the shared pastor for Emmanuel UCC and St. John’s UCC, both of Bluffton, Ohio.

The announcement from Northwest Ohio Association UCC, Tiffin, made official what the two churches have been working on for several months, thus renewing a shared ministry that existed for decades prior to 1961, when each congregation decided to employ its own pastor.

Older Bluffton residents may recall Rev. V.C. Oppermann and Rev. William Von Brauchitsch, the last pastor to serve both churches. St. John’s has been without a full time minister since Rev. Carol Clements retired in early 2020.

Rev. Mann, who has pastored Emmanuel UCC since September 2014, said he is “humbled and honored” to continue to serve the Bluffton community with the addition of St. John’s. He has been president of Bluffton Area Ministerial Association (BAMA) for several years.

Rev. Mann resides in the Emmanuel parsonage on Phillips Road with his wife Jennifer and children Kaleb and Lucy.

The churches will alternate Sunday service times after the first two months. Starting March 6, St. John’s will meet at 9 a.m. through April. During this period, Emmanuel services will begin at 10:30 a.m.

The times will reverse May through August with Emmanuel meeting at 9 a.m. and St. John’s at 10:30 a.m. The four-month cycle will continue after that. The churches also will combine special services during Lent and Advent.

Bluffton’s UCC congregations began as one in 1842 as Riley Creek Church in a log school building, near where the church cemetery is now located on Phillips Road. In 1861 it was reorganized into the German Reformed Society. In 1873 several members decided to move to their current “town” location at 223 West College Ave. In 1957 the Reformed Church became part of the United Church of Christ. The congregations shared a minister until 1961, an arrangement that has been resumed 61 years later.