A boost from the past

Sometimes looking back has a purpose.

"Looking back helps push us forward," said the Rev. Jeff Long, pastor of Centenary United Methodist Church.

The congregation will celebrate its centennial over the next few weeks, beginning Sunday with a historical re-enactment at the Old McKendree Chapel in Jackson, where Methodism took root in America.

"Methodism started with men on horseback traveling from one church to another providing sacraments and preaching," Long said. "A lot of them died, the life was so hard."

Stephen Limbaugh Jr., a Missouri Supreme Court judge and lifelong member of Centenary, is writing a book about the church with his father. He says he found Centenary's roots go beyond 100 years -- they're deep enough in Cape Girardeau's history to coincide with the city's platting 200 years ago.

He said that in 1806, the Rev. John Travis was assigned to oversee what was then Upper Louisiana. His assignment was to create a new circuit, and he created the first Methodist circuit west of the Mississippi River. It is unclear, Limbaugh said, whether Travis spent time in the Cape Girardeau settlement, but his arrival in the area as the first Methodist minister did coincide with the founding of Cape Girardeau.

The original church building burned down in 1914.

"Prior to that time, when France and Spain controlled Louisiana, Protestant preachers were not allowed in the area," Limbaugh said. "There were no Protestant preachers anywhere in Missouri until after the Louisiana Purchase when the Methodists came in 1806."

Three years later, the Rev. Samuel Parker was the first Methodist minister to preach in Cape Girardeau. His grandson, Dr. W.W. Parker, became president of Southeast Missouri State University and a leader in Centenary United Methodist Church in the 1930s and 1940s.

The elder Parker established not only the first Methodist congregation in Cape Girardeau, but also what is now Old McKendree Chapel near Jackson, now a United Methodist shrine.

In 1952, the church was not yet attached to the building on the left.

During the Civil War, Limbaugh said, Unionists drove out Methodist ministers loyal to the South. Circuit riders were not assigned in the area until 1869.

"It had to start all over, basically," he said.

By 1882, the congregation in Cape Girardeau had grown large enough to be officially considered a church. In 1906, church leaders bought property at Bellevue and Ellis streets from Sen. R.B. Oliver and made plans to build a new structure.

Centenary United Methodist Church in the 1950s

According to legend, the name Centenary came from the congregation's establishment coinciding with 100 years of Methodism in the area, but Limbaugh said that any record verifying that has been lost.

Sunday the congregation will re-enact those early days at the Old McKendree Chapel. The Rev. Jim Brice will play the role of a circuit rider. Worship services will be held outdoors, and some of the members will be dressed in period clothing. The choir will sing songs of the era, and a box lunch will be served after the service.

In 1989, this stained glass was installed at the church.

"The purpose of remembering history is not to wallow in the good old days, but to remind ourselves how people got through difficult times and how God was with them," Long said. "And to be emboldened by the fact that God will be present going forward. That's the reason to remember church history."

Throughout Centenary's history, the members overcame adversity. Fire destroyed the original building in 1914 before the mortgage on it had been paid. During the Depression, the congregation fell on financial hard times and nearly lost its property to foreclosure.

"For a congregation, nothing is worse than your property going to be seized," Long said. "That's why we look at history and say there were tough times and they got through it. God will give us strength for what may come in the future."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160

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Want to go?

Centenary United Methodist Church Centennial Celebration

Where: Old McKendree Chapel

Date: Sunday

Time: 10 a.m.

Speakers: The Rev. Dr. David Lowes Watson, "Our Methodist Heritage," the Rev. Jim Brice, "Historical Re-enactment of a Circuit Rider"

Tours, music, box lunch picnic, musical groups in period costumes.

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Date: Sept. 24

Time: 8:45 a.m.

Where: Centenary Methodist church

Speaker: Stephen Limbaugh Jr., "Centenary's History"

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Date: Oct. 1

Time: 8:45 a.m.

Where: Centenary Methodist Church

What: Communion service

Speakers: Dr. John Shelton, Centenary's Music Heritage"; Barbara Rose Rust, "Art, the Celebration of Life."

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Date: Oct. 7

Time: 6 p.m.

Where: Family Life Center

What: Reunion dinner with chicken and dumplings. Historical slide presentation and tribute to former pastors.

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Date: Oct. 8

Time: 8:45 a.m.

Where: Centenary Methodist Church

What: Homecoming service

Speaker: Bishop Robert Schnase