HISTORY OF THE LAINGS CHURCH OF CHRIST
Members of the Church of Christ have been meeting in the community of Laings, Ohio for nearly a century. It began December 31, 1911 with 5 families meeting in the Green Township building. The members who were at that first meeting were W.H. Cehrs family, Dr. & Mrs. S.J. DeVaul, Mrs. Mary Simmons & children, the C.E. Straight family, and the W.H. Thompson family. The congregation then moved into a larger building across the street in 1937. The congregation continued to meet in this building until 1998. The congregation grew to the point they needed to build another building which is the present meeting place of Laings Church of Christ, sitting on top of a hill, just off State Route 255. The first Sunday worship at our present location took place on October 4, 1998.
The congregation has had ten men serve as fulltime preachers. March 29, 1960 Delmar Morgan came to work with the congregation until April 1963. In the autumn of 1963 Marlin Rohrbaugh came to work with the church and remained until 1965. Tom W. Butterfield Sr. followed Marlin and worked with the congregation from June 1966 until May of 1972. Dean Manning then came to work with the church here in 1972 and remained until December of 1974. Then following Dean, Robert Knox, Jr. served as minister from July of 1975 until June 1977. Sam Bartrug came to work with the congregation in July 1977 and remained until December of 1985. Then Richard Tincher followed him in January of 1986. Rick worked here until October of 1991. In July 1992, Sam Bartrug returned to the Laings congregation and worked until 2000. At which time Charles Schultheisz became the next preacher. Charles served the congregation from 2000—2004. Then following Charles, Craig Matheny preached for the congregation from May 2005 until 2006. After nearly two years without a full-time minister, Mark T. Tonkery, and his family came to work with the congregation beginning in Aug. of 2008 until September 2016.
There has been a great deal of good work done in over 100 years since the church has been established in Laings, Ohio. As a congregation we hope to press on to our goal of Heaven and look forward to doing the Lord’s work in the 21st century.
Laings Church of Christ 