Redding church celebrating 150 years
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Redding United Methodist Church June 20, 2009. Photo by Mike Avitt.
Redding United Methodist Church members are preparing to commemorate their 150th year of congregational worship this month. They are welcoming people to join them for a sesquicentennial celebration on Sunday, September 29. Church service will be held at 10 a.m., and an afternoon celebration is planned from 1-3 p.m. at the Redding community park. Josh Daniels will be providing live gospel music, while a car show is planned to border the park. A quilt show is also being organized for viewing in the Frontier Building across the street from the church.
Fifty years ago, around 160 members gathered for the centennial celebration of the church on September 15, 1974. A parish-wide lay witness mission was carried out to deepen the faith and strengthen the bonds between church members earlier that year.
The congregation traces the beginning of the church to 1874, when Reverend Kern began leading church services at the Maulding Country School a half mile south of Redding.
The Methodist and United Presbyterian churches were established in Mount Ayr just a few years prior, around 1870.
At that time, it was common for Methodist pastors to be appointed to preach in places located within a large geographic area. Traveling on horseback throughout their assigned areas, these ministers became known as circuit riders.
Rev. Kern was part of a group of traveling circuit riders that included Rev. Durfee, Rev. Wycoff, Rev. Lovejoy, and Rev. Elliott who led early efforts to establish churches in the area according to an article written by the late Sharon R. Becker for the IAGenWebProject website.
Rev. Kern was succeeded by Rev. Lovejoy, and Rev. G. W. Norris assumed the pulpit in 1877 when the charge was changed. The town of Redding was not officially laid out until 1880, and few church congregations could afford to build their own church at that time. Church services moved several times from Maulding School to new Brush School, Badger School south of “Old” Redding, and into the “New” Redding school building around the time the town was incorporated in 1882.
Ten years after Rev. Kern arrived in the area, the congregation began building a church under the leadership of Rev. J.L. Johnson and church trustees Dwight Derickson, D. W. Poore, and William Miller between 1882-1884. Five others served on the building committee, and carpenters J. M. Crouch, J. W. Ullery and Stacy Nye of Blockton constructed the church.
The original church was later remodeled and enlarged between 1902-1905 to add a furnace, stained-glass windows and circular oak pews. The building was raised to install a basement under it during 1912.
At one time, Redding was known as “a progressive little community” that had a good school, two churches, and a small town newspaper of it’s own, according to “Early History of Ringgold County,” written by the late Mrs. B. M. Lesan.
Church records note the highest attendance recorded was November 18, 1917, when 185 people. There were fourteen Sunday school classes at that time. By the end of the 1920’s, average church attendance was around 90. The church experienced two fruitful decades between the 1950s and 1960s.
Rev. W.A. Whitenack was successful in increasing attendance over his four years of leadership between 1950-1954. Vacation bible school (VBS) was started in 1957 with 74 students, and continued yearly, with an attendance of 59 noted in 1977.
In 1962 there were around 152 members recorded. While church membership has declined along with the population in the last 50 years, the Methodist Action Club (MAC) and Methodist Men remain active in carrying out the activities of the church. Formed in 1977, MAC brought a group of young women from Redding and Middle Fork churches together.
At least 65 reverends have pastored the church congregation over the course of 150 years. United Methodist pastors are uniquely sent, not called or hired by the congregation they serve. Annual clergy appointments have historically been made by the bishop as instituted by John Wesley. Bishops typically consult with people who know the congregation and community, including the district superintendent, the pastor, and the pastor-parish relations committee of the local church when considering appointments.
Presently, Lorinda H Hoover is appointed to serve as the Pastor for Redding, Middle Fork and Mount Ayr United Methodist Church.
