Category — Church News

On June 22^nd, as we talked about in worship last Sunday, the Washington Area Ministerial Assoc. has invited all the area congregations to participate in FAITH IN ACTION SUNDAY.  This is an opportunity to lay aside our denominational differences and focus on working together as brothers and sisters in Christ to serve the shut-in and elderly population of Washington.  Participating congregations will perform short work projects of 2 hours or less.  The projects are being compiled from the input of the various congregations, Connections, and the City of Washington . Supplies and materials will be furnished through a community grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. 

A different worship schedule for June 22^nd at Christ UMC will be as follows:

•             9-9:55am Sunday School
•             10:10am  Worship begins
•                                 Announcements
•                                 Offering

                                         Prayer for those going out to serve. 

(All who would go to be part of FAITH IN ACTION SAUNDAY will leave to join the other congregations by 10:30am at the old Kmart parking lot on East National Hwy.   All who remain for the worship service are invited to prepare and deliver a covered dish for the meal beginning at 2:30pm at East Side Park.  Details below)

The remainder of the service will consist of favorite hymns, prayers, and a brief meditation by Pastor Lennie with dismissal at 11:15am.

Those who participate in FAITH IN ACTION SUNDAY will complete their projects and meet at East Side Park at 12:30pm for a meal of BBQ Chicken and potluck items shared by participating churches.  Due to space limitations, the participants will share the meal together.  A joint community worship service will be held at 1:30pm.  The cost of the meal will be covered by a freewill offering and WAMA.

Christ United Methodist Church

Serving God and our Community since 1816

The year was 1816. The country was still forest covered and swampy in most of southern Indiana. The Hoosier State was admitted to the Union as the 19^th state. Daviess County was created from the eastern half of Knox County. A Kentucky farmer named Thomas Lincoln moved his wife and two children to Indiana. The newly incorporated town of Washington was a hustling metropolis of seventy-seven souls. The town contained only a few houses, mostly cabins, and a fort for protection from Indian raids, streets with no sidewalks, and David Flora’s trading post and the livery stable and wheelwright shop of Samuel Miller.

Also in 1816, in Miller’s home on the northeast corner of what is today Main and Meridian streets the first meeting of the Methodist Society in Washington took place. The pastor was a circuit rider named John Shrader. This congregation was part of the Vincennes and Harrison circuit. The circuit was so large that Rev. Shrader could only reach Washington every fourth week. For the next eleven years meetings of First Methodist Church were held in homes, or in the courthouse that was located on the northeast corner of Main and East First streets.

  In 1827, the congregation built the first of its six buildings. This small brick church sat on the corner of southwest corner of Hefron and N.E. First. However, due to structural weaknesses I the building it was abandoned as unsafe after only two years of use and the congregation returned to meeting in the courthouse.

In 1837, the congregation obtained property on the southeast corner of Flora and N.E. Third (directly east from the St. Simon’s rectory today). A house located on the property was remodeled for use as a church. Membership of the congregation at the time was 125 persons.

After twenty-one years in this small building the congregation had outgrown the building. For the large sum of $2000 the church built a larger building on the same property and converted the old building into a parsonage. In 1859, First Methodist Episcopal Church was taken off the circuit and mad a station with its own permanent pastor.

It was also during this time that the Ladies Aid Society and the Ladies Sewing Circle were formed.

In 1865 the church organized its first choir consisting of twelve members.

In 1868, the church was able to purchase a one-ton bell for $354.52 from a New Albany salvage company. The bell, which sets nest to the chapel today, was originally made for the steamboat Laurel Hill, which sunk in the Ohio River. The bell was placed in a specially built tower on the corner of Flora and N.E. Third next to the church building.

By 1886 the church was prosperous enough that the pastor’s salary was set at $1,000 per year plus the use of the parsonage. Membership had grown to 285 persons. The little frame church building was becoming crowded. $1,000 was raised and Lot #1 of the original plat of the town of Washington was purchased from James H. Meredith. This is the location of the present chapel.

In 1890 a large brick building with seating for 650 was built for $16,000. In a ceremony the bell was moved from the Third Street building and raised into the new church’s steeple. It was said that you could hear the bell for five miles. A parsonage was built north of the church on the southeast corner of Meridian and Walnut.

In April, 1917, the first Boy Scout troop was organized under the sponsorship of the church. In 1935 a Girl Scout troop was organized under the leadership of Miss Evelyn Reed. The 1890 building continued to serve this congregation into the 1960’s and say the beginning of the baby boom. Fortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Spinks remembered the church in their wills and in 1941 a 42-acre tract was left to First Methodist Church. This land was sold in 1943 for $3,400. This money was used to purchase land to the east of the church and in 1954 the Activities Building was constructed to provide much needed space for Sunday School classes. The Activities Building was constructed after a six-week fund drive that raised $123,000. In 1964 the front lobby was partitioned off and a church library was begun under the direction of Miss Evelyn Reed and Miss Mary Knowles. The Library is currently located in the upper hallway of the Activities Building near the elevator and a few feet from the sanctuary. Carolyn Jones is the current librarian.

On Thursday, September 2, 1963 at about 7:50 pm the church building caught fire and there was some heavy damage in parts of the building. Church services were moved into the Activities Building due to the unsafe conditions of the sanctuary. Early in the morning of September 20, 1963, smoldering embers in the church attic reignited the fire and the 1890 building was destroyed. Fortunately, the bell and some pieces of furniture from the sanctuary and parlor were recovered.

The cornerstone for the present church building was laid on July 25, 1965. Bishop Richard C. Raines consecrated the current building on March 27, 1966.

On April 24, 1968 the Methodist Church and its “German” cousin, the Evangelical United Brethren Church, merged to form the United Methodist Church. Because the EUB church in Washington was a “First” church as was this congregation the two congregations agreed to give up their historic names. The EUB congregation became known as Otterbein United Methodist Church and this congregation moved from being First Methodist to Christ United Methodist.

Over the years, our church has opened its doors to several ministries serving the Washington Community. As noted the church has always been a supporter of the Scout organizations. In the 1970’s the Rosemary Kennedy School, which served the learning handicapped members of our community was started in the Sunday School rooms of Christ Church. This has grown into the Red Door Industries and functions in its own buildings today. For several years Christ Church was the home of the Headstart program. Christ Church is currently providing space for a church supported day care center. In addition the members of Christ United Methodist Church can be found as active participants in almost all the civic and charitable organizations, putting their Christian faith to work in our community.

Our congregation has a proud tradition of service to God and our community. The programs of the church have been varied and have met the needs of this community over the past one hundred and ninety-two years. May we continue to follow this path of Christian leadership and service that has been followed by so many who have gone this way before.

Article by Don Spillman

The Special Work and Teasing (SWAT) team join area churches to do community projects in Washington, IN on Saturday, May 3rd. The team built a ramp to add accessible access for a local church member. SWAT meets the first Saturday of every month. Other community projects included concrete and yard work.

We had the pleasure of listening to the message in music given by Simple His. May you enjoy this excerpt of their music. The following is some details of their band. Click on the above link to listen to (or download) their message in music. To learn more about them visit their website at http://www.simplyhis.net

Press Release:

Have you ever thought of taking a vacation in the lovely Ozark Mountains of Southern Missouri? Join us Sunday morning, April 20 at the Christ United Methodist Church as we welcome SIMPLY HIS for a gospel concert straight from the Ozarks. They blend traditional mountain instruments such as hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, mandolin, guitar, banjo, bowed psaltery, autoharp, upright bass, and harmonica with vocal melodies to bring new life to old hymns and a unique sound to their own original Christian music.

SIMPLY HIS is Don and Donna Mohl of Fair Grove, MO and Jerry and Cheryl Jorgenson of Russellville, MO. Their love of the Lord shines through the personal testimonies shared at every concert. Their emphasis on family values combined with down-home humor will warm your heart.

Garrison Keillor on Methodists

We make fun of Methodists for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed, and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like them. If you were to ask an audience in New York City, a relatively Methodist-less place, to sing long on the chorus of “Michael Row the Boat Ashore,” they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their underwear. But if you do this among Methodists, they’d smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! And down the road!

Many Methodists are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony, a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your little head against that person’s rib cage.

It’s natural for Methodists to sing in harmony. We are too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in unison. When you’re singing in the key of C and you slide into the A7th and D7th chords, all two hundred of you, it’s an emotionally fulfilling moment. By our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each other.

I do believe this: People, these Methodists, who love to sing in four-part harmony are the sort of people you can call up when you’re in deep distress. 

• If you’re dying, they will comfort you.
• If you are lonely, they’ll talk to you.
• And if you are hungry, they’ll give you tuna salad.
• Methodists believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray out loud.
• Methodists like to sing, except when confronted wi th a new hymn or a  hymn with more than four stanzas.
• Methodists believe their pastors will visit them in the hospital, even if they don’t notify them that they are there.
• Methodists usually follow the official liturgy and will feel it is their way of suffering for their sins.
• Methodists believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially during their stewardship visitation programs or when passing the plate.
• Methodists think that the Bible forbids them from crossing the aisle while passing the peace.
• Methodists drink coffee as if it were the Third Sacrament.
• Methodists feel guilty for not staying to clean up after their own wedding reception in the Fellowship Hall.
• Methodists are willing to pay up to one dollar for a meal at the church.  
• Methodists still serve Jell-O in the proper liturgical color of the season and think that peas in a tuna casserole adds too much color.
• Methodists believe that it is OK to poke fun at themselves and never take themselves too seriously.

And finally,

• You know you are a Methodist when: it’s 100 degrees, with 90% humidity, and you still have coffee after the service.
• You hear something funny during the sermon and smile as loudly as you   can.
• Donuts are a line item in the church budget, just like coffee.
• When you watch a Star Wars movie and they say, “May the Force be with  you,” and you respond, “and also with you.”
• And lastly, it takes ten minutes to say good-bye

Thanks Joe for the article - Webmaster

Dr. Campolo, Professor Emeritus of sociology at Easter University in Pennsylvania is among the most celebrated and sought after speakers and writers in the U.S.  He has authored thirty-two books, the most recent of which are Speaking My Mind, Which Jesus? and Revolution and Renewal: How Churches are Saving Our Cities.

Through his organization, The Evangelical Association fro the Promotion of Education, he has developed and nurtured elementary and secondary schools, universities, adult and child literacy centers, tutoring programs, orphanages, AIDS hospices, urban youth ministries, summer camps and long-term Christian service programs in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Africa, Canada, and the USA.

Make plans with friends, family, fellow Christians, church members to attend this opportunity and her his inspiring message at the Red Skeleton Center on April 27th at 2:30 p.m. in Vincennes, Indiana.

Contact the church office to reserve your tickets prior to public sale beginning March 15th.

2008 Communion Dates:
Open Communion is available in the CUMC Chapel each Sunday - 8:30am-10am.
Our Morning Service Communion will be on the following dates:

April 6
November 2
December 2

Current Addresses:

Please be sure that you have updated the church office with your current address. The post office has announced that all mail not updated with the 911 changes will be returned, so we will not send out mail to RR addresses.

Email Addresses: 

If you have an email address, the office would be happy to include it in our email directory – it is a quick & convenient way to send reminders & notify you in a hurry.

General Information:

The Flower Chart is available for signups – located on the bulletin board by the church office. Cost for altar flowers is $25.00. Sign up with what you would like printed in the bulletin if possible. If not, you will need to contact the office near the time of your Sunday for information to be printed in the bulletin.  Flowers may be given for special occasions, in memory of loved ones and friends, congratulations or a variety of reasons. When reserving flowers for the altar, both flower arrangements may be taken home following Sunday morning worship. THE LINERS, however, have to be left in the vases for use the next week. An ice cream bucket works well for transporting flowers home and those can usually be found in the closet in the kitchen if you need one.

The “Share Your Care Group” is a new outreach program at CUMC. The volunteers in Share Your Care connect with CUMC members or members’ relatives who are homebound or residing in a nursing home
or assisted living center.

This is a very personal, fulfilling, rewarding, and uncomplicated ministry for caring Christians. No special skills are required. If you are interested in helping with this important work, contact Rev. Lawrence.

“Cast me not off in the time of old age, forsake me not when my strength faileth” Psalm 71:9. The Share Your Care Group reaffirms to our elderly and infirm members that “God loves them and so do we at CUMC.”

Here’s a picture of our first church that sat north of the present site. The artist signed with his initials JHF and dated it 1893. Notice the bell tower on the right and the missing window panes!

I have been asked [by the Worship Committee] to write a few words concerning the communion table, pulpit, and choir director’s music stand being used in our worship services during remodeling. All three of these items are from the “old” church … the 1896 building. The “old” church is the one that we used when I was a child. The Activities building was added in the Spring of 1956 when I was seven years old. In 1963 the old church caught fire on Thursday evening. The fire was put out and we had church in the building the next Sunday. The building still smelled a little smoky but everyone attributed that to the lingering smell from the fire on Thursday. However, the timbers in the rafters hid some still smoldering sparks and that Sunday evening the whole building became engulfed in flames …the entire building was destroyed. Amazingly three items escaped without damage. The altar/communion table, the pulpit, and the music stand which had been donated by the Smiley family. For the next 18 months we used these three items in our worship services in Activities building. The choir sat on the stage, the communion table was in the center on the floor in front of the steps and the pulpit was to the left of the communion table, again on floor level.
When we moved into the new sanctuary in 1965 the pulpit, communion table, and music stand went into storage. Occasionally, these items were brought out for use in Sunday School classrooms … but in the recent past they have been stored away. They are beautiful works of craftsmanship, and it is special for me, and I assume for others of us who remember the “old” church to see them in use again.