Celebrating your church’s birthday?

If your church will celebrate its 100th, 125th, 150th or 175th anniversaries this year, please notify Ms. Ann R. Phillips, conference historian. Send the full name of your church as it will appear on the certificate, the location to be used on the certificate (town, district or county), year date (especially necessary if the anniversary falls between January and June of NEXT year instead of 2004), and the pastor and/or contact person. Please contact Ms. Phillips by letter, e-mail or phone message immediately at 1110 Lambuth Blvd., Jackson, TN 38301. E-mail: grandyp@bellsouth.net; or phone (731) 427-3975.

Sylvester recognized as Dame of Year for 2004

Mrs. Virginia Sylvester, a member of Bemis UMC in Jackson, Tenn., was named the Dame of the Year by the Colonial Dames XVII Century. She has served as chapter president, state chairwoman of Headquarters Decorating and Furnishing, State Grave Marking Chairwoman, and has for six years sold Heritage Pins as a state fund-raiser. Mrs. Sylvester raised funds for and spearheaded the plans for recognizing with historical markers Bemis UMC, the church parsonage, and the Stage House in Medon, Tenn. Following the May 4 tornado last year, with the help of the Rev. Gary Morse and Bemis UMC, Mrs. Sylvester purchased an American flag and a Christian flag (with brass flag stands) for Mother Liberty Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Mother Liberty, the mother church of the CME denomination, was completely destroyed by the 2003 tornado.

This patriotic lady was employed during WWII at the Pentagon while it was still under construction. She was Senior Administrative Secretary to the Adjutant General. She later was sent to Florida and then to Kansas to work on the Atomic Bomb project as one of the decoding secretaries, and then handled correspondence during the testing of the planes that would eventually drop the bomb on Hiroshima.

VIM summons for service

United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, SEJ, will host the “Summons for Service”, the 25th annual Rally at Lake Junaluska, NC, June 30-July 3. Volunteers can explore how their passion to serve God can intersect with the needs of people around the world. Three workshop tracks will be offered: For All the Right Reasons (Why God would have us be in mission); Team Leader Training (topics essential to effective team service); and Medical Mission (help in preparing for the unique circumstances of medical mission). Speakers and leaders include: the Rev. Jonathan Holston, the Rev. George Mulrain (president of The Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas), Dr. Dan Fountain (former medical missionary to the Congo), Bishop Robert Fannin, and Cullen Davidson. Registration forms and more information are available from UMVIM, SEJ at (404) 377-7424 or on the web at www.umvim.org. This is a family friendly event.

More non-members than members crowd La Grange
 

 By Cathy Farmer

  La Grange, Tenn., an antebellum Fayette County town known as “La Belle Village”, has a very unusual United Methodist church.

Visitors outnumber members every Sunday.

“We have 17 members on the roll,” said the Rev. Bob Rose, the church’s pastor since 2002. “But our average attendance is 36.”

On Easter Sunday, 75 of the 130 people who live in the West Tennessee town were crowded  into the church’s pews.

Cynthia Emerson, pianist for La Grange United Methodist Church since 1997, attributes the burgeoning attendance to the growth of programs for children.

“When I transferred here in 1997, our average attendance was about five,” Mrs. Emerson said. “We probably had more on the church roll then, but many have died.”

For the next few years, Mrs. Emerson said she “toyed” with the idea of creating a children’s choir. But felt there was one drawback.

“I didn’t think there were any children here in La Grange,” she admitted. At the time, only one child attended the small white church with the beautiful stained glass windows.

“Well, you never know until you try,” she said. So, after Dr. Rose arrived as pastor in 2002, the church decided to put on a Christmas program. That started the ball rolling.

The children’s choir that grew out of that first Christmas now numbers a respectable dozen boys and girls. And on any given Sunday, of the 22 children who live in La Grange, you can find anywhere from three to 15 of them at the United Methodist church for Sunday school and worship.

According to Dr. Rose, those numbers are nothing short of miraculous. The entire 38046 zip code that surrounds the church boasts only 130 people.

“We’re really a community church,” Rose said. “The people who attend here are Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians and Methodists. We even have three Roman Catholics.”

Betty Walley, who helps Martha Ann Bland lead the children’s Sunday school class, really doesn’t expect many of the “visitors” to move their membership, even though they attend La Grange UMC regularly. Many of them carry the banner of the fourth, fifth or even sixth generation of their family in their own denomination.

“To move your membership would be sort of like a betrayal of your heritage,” Rose explained. And heritage is very important in a village where every structure is on the national historic register.

“Our regular non-members have grown a lot since Bob has been here,” said Emerson. “When the children became involved in activities, they dragged their parents with them. Now we have parents who routinely ask to help with the choir or with our Vacation Bible School.” The church’s first Vacation Bible School in years drew 30 children.

Cynthia Emerson said she can’t stress enough how important Bob Rose’s contribution has been to the church.

“When he first came, he met everyone in town,” she said. “That helped with the growth of the programs. His presence here has made them flourish.”

Even though La Grange is located in the 96th fastest growing county in the nation, none of the United Methodists expect to see sudden growth in the village or the church.

“The town only has one lot and one house for sale,” Rose explained.

“But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a lot of ambition.”