What Shaped your Church?

I'm taking a class called Women Speak of God with Be A Disciple and Wesley Theological Seminary as part of their Certification in Advanced Christian Studies.  One of the questions we answered this week was:

What are some of the historical factors that have shaped your church family? What kind of influences do people that join this particular community bring with them?

 

My local church celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2020.  Countless historical factors had shaped in through those years.  It has its roots in a church that was first imagined by Frances Asbury as he traveled through our area and was served by circuit riders, the first one of which served churches in a 200 mile area.  As the civil war approached, the Methodist church split into the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and our Guyandotte/Huntington area church split also; the church that would become Johnson Memorial UMC was the MEC, South.  After the Civil War, Collis P. Huntington began to plan and build the western terminal of his railway, and the town of Huntington was founded.

 

Tragedy shaped the church.  Rev. Johnson became pastor in 1889.  During a Masonic initiation, he fell down a shaft and was injured severely enough to die 36 hours later.  The church was named after him.  Over the years, the church has suffered through three fires; the one in the thirties destroyed all but the exterior of the building.  During the time of rebuilding, the church was invited to worship at the local synagogue; a strong relationship of support developed between the two congregations that exists still today.  After the third fire in 2015, the church was able to worship in the Fellowship Hall, but moved to the same synagogue for Easter worship.

 

The aftermath of World War II and the baby boomer generation saw great growth in the church.  In more recent years, as the population of the city has decreased, the church has grown smaller. As tensions in the United Methodist church have grown over homosexuality, our local church explored its beliefs and joined Reconciling Ministries. 

 

I think those who have joined this church over the years have brought influences with them that have changed us from a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, that more than likely would have supported slavery, to a church that voted overwhelmingly to join Reconciling Ministries.  The church has supported women in ministry and people of color as pastors.  We are a college town; members joined with a thirst for education; bible study and Sunday school have been important aspects of our ministry together.