On the Sunday morning before the recent
election, we drove along Vermontville Highway on our way to a worship service
in Hastings. The maples still held a fair number of leaves, mainly yellow ones.
These softer hues, mixed in with the shades of green, brown, and occasional
red, provided us with a still decent color tour.
It would not last much longer, I realized as
I enjoyed the visual feast. A hard frost or a wet and windy day and the
remaining leaves (except those on the oak trees) will fall earthward in a
steady drizzle, turning a picturesque countryside into a more somber, dreary
landscape.
But there’s nothing new in that eventuality.
It happens every year here in Michigan, only this time around the leaves have hung
in a bit longer than is customary.
The service was at the First United
Methodist Church, and the congregation was celebrating their 175th
anniversary.
My wife, Dawn, grew up in Hastings and her
parents began attending services when she was a young girl, so this is her home
church. We were married in the sanctuary in February 1985 by Rev. Myron
Williams and in the ensuing years I’ve witnessed the marriage of my
step-daughter, the baptism of my son, and the funeral services of several
family members, including a grandson.
During
that time span, I’ve heard numerous sermons, tested my voice with countless hymns,
attended the Christmas Eve Candlelight Services each December, and showed up
for plenty of spaghetti or Swiss steak fundraising dinners.
Methodism began as a revival and renewal
movement within the Church of England shortly after John Wesley, an Anglican
cleric and theologian, who was suffering a low point in his career and full of
doubt, attended a service at Aldersgate Street in London. At the meeting, upon
hearing a reading of Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, Wesley said
that he felt his “heart strangely warmed,” experiencing what came to be called his
evangelical conversion.
“I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone
for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins,
even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death,” he wrote in his journal
of that experience. It proved to be a moment that transformed not only his
life, but also Protestant Christianity.
Filled with enthusiasm and ardor, wishing to
share his new vision, he began travelling around England, delivering sermons held
outdoors. Wesley was joined in his efforts by George Whitehead and his brother
Charles—the three of them credited with starting what became Methodism.
Others soon embraced the message of personal
salvation and eventually a large and enthusiastic following was created. While
at first the intention was to remain within the established church, in time a
separate denomination was formed.
The evangelizing effort, having found
success in England, was taken across the ocean to the American colonies. Among
those volunteering to come here was 26-year-old Francis Asbury. He arrived in
1771, began preaching, and stayed on during the American Revolution. In 1785 he
was appointed as one of two American bishops for the Methodist Episcopal
Church.
A history detailing his impact stated that
“He traveled up and down the eastern seaboard on horseback and crossed the
mountains over ninety times, preaching everywhere he went. Under his leadership
were the early Methodist preachers.”
In the Midwest, including Michigan, these
preachers became known as circuit riders since each of them had a regular
circuit of places they preached at. They rode their route on horseback, meeting
on a regular basis at someone’s home or at a school house (often the first
public building erected), staying in a different home every night where they
were fed and found lodging.
“They were marked by zeal, and lived a life
of hardship,” it was noted.
These riders preached the gospel, conducted
class meetings, offered funeral sermons, and occasionally officiated a wedding.
The meeting places were scattered about the countryside, reflecting the
widely-dispersed farming community. The group of people they served was called
a Society.
Small
churches were eventually built by these various Societies—both in towns as well
as out in the rural areas One of those groups was located in Hastings.
The bulletin we received for the
anniversary worship contained a timeline that listed several highlights of the church’s
175 years. Initially, a circuit rider
from nearby Gull Prairie visited Hastings a few times to preach in the home of
Slocum Bunker, one of the founders of the town. But then on Nov. 6, 1841, Rev.
Daniel Bush arrived on horseback “to labour among (the people of Hastings) as a
missionary.”
In addition to Hastings, he continued to ride an already
established circuit that included stops in other areas of Barry County as well
as Eaton and northern Kalamazoo counties, Services in the various communities
occurred approximately once every four weeks. For his work, he received $80 a
year.
The timeline also noted that “The first
parsonage for Rev. Bush and his wife was a loft in the home of Alexander
McArthur, reached via ladder. He brought his belongings and household goods
from Grand Rapids to Hastings, via ox-cart.” Two months later, though, on Jan.
1, Rev. Bush and his wife moved into a home they built with a brick fireplace
and chimney.”
He did not remain here too long though. The
next piece of history listed in the bulletin—dated July 13, 1843--tells of the
local Society deciding to build a parsonage for the new preacher.
Like other early Societies, the one in
Hastings met at the homes of members until 1845 when they began using the log
schoolhouse for services. In 1852, when a new, larger school was constructed,
the congregation purchased the log building for $150. They remained there until
1859 when a new, larger church was finished.
THE
CHURCH I GREW UP IN—the one we now attend since we live nearby--is the
First United Methodist Church of Fowlerville. It has a similar early history to
the one in Hastings, tracing its beginnings to the first white settlers who
arrived in the area in mid-1830s.
Societies met in the homes of early settlers
in Iosco, Conway, as well as Handy Township.
A history of Methodism in this area noted that “in the fall of 1837,
Reverend Washington Jackson paid a visit to the Parsons settlement in Conway
Township and held the first religious services in the house of Levi Parsons.
The class consisted of four members at
first.”
Rev. Jackson had been appointed to the newly
created circuit to the north called the Shiawassee Mission. This included the
area in northwest Livingston County where the Parsons’ families lived.
Another circuit rider, Rev. John Cosart, who
served the Livingston Mission, conducted the first religious services in Handy
Township. The historical records state that these first meetings “were held in
the house of Richard P. Bush in 1838, probably early in the year,” adding that
“Rev. Cosart visited the people in this and adjoining settlements once every
four weeks.”
The class that was formed included over 14
members, considered “quite large for a beginning Society on the frontier.” The class
leader was John Fowler, a position (I’m assuming) similar to a lay minister and
one of importance.
“The Class Leader in Methodism was a very
important figure,” it was noted. “The circuit preacher only came once in four
weeks, probably on a week night. The Class Leader’s task was to convene the
class weekly, and hold something of a prayer and testimony meeting. He would
inquire into each member’s religious experience, and keep a brotherly watch
upon each one. This small group meeting developed a sense of brotherhood or
fellowship, which was often very precious to the lonely folk of the frontier.”
John Fowler had come to this area of
Michigan, along with his brother Ralph, in September of 1936 to look over the
land they had purchased. They returned with their wives and children, along
with a couple of other families to establish farms. John would fall victim to
disease within in 1842, while Ralph would go on to found the village that bears
his name.
One of the anecdotes of Fowlerville’s early
history is the following story, as recalled by Ralph. “The first Sunday after our arrival, my brother
and myself strolled through the woods and came to a cleared spot or an opening
of about an acre, where we sat down under a large oak and talked of our mother,
who had been a Methodist all her days. ‘Right here,’ my brother says, ‘if we
live long enough, we will have a Methodist Church.’ When the village plot was
surveyed (in 1849), the stump of the same tree still remained there.
Remembering the conversation of my brother and myself, I marked the lots of a
Methodist church, and in about twenty years the church was built upon that
site.”
That first church, located at the corner of
South Second and Church Street, was finally completed in 1868. It was a wood-framed
building that included a steeple and was painted white. It remained in use for
the next 48-plus years.
“By June 1916 this frame building, having
served its day, was sold to B.D. Grover and moved two blocks north,” the
historical records indicate. “The new church was designed in Gothic
Architecture, built of brick and tile, has a commodious auditorium and large
basement. It included steam heat and electric lighting. At the time this entire
church structure cost $18,000. It was built during the pastorate of Richard T.
Kilpatrick and the Dedication Week was held May 20-27, 1917 (nearly 100 years
ago), with the corner stone being laid on Oct. 8, 1916.”
This original structure has seen additions,
remodeling, and upgrades since then, including a large two-story educational
wing added in the mid-1960s.
This was not and is still not the only
Methodist church in the area. At one time there was a church in Conway
Township, another in South Handy Township, and two in Iosco Township. The first
two are gone, while the congregations in the latter two combined with one in
West Marion Township to form the present-day Trinity United Methodist Church,
located at the corner of Bull Run and Iosco Roads.
One of those previous Iosco Township
churches, known as the Green Church, is now at the Fowlerville Fairgrounds and
has been restored for use.
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