AREA UNITD METHODIST CHURCH CELEBRATES 150 YEARS

GORDONVILLE -- With its stained-glass windows, polished wooden pews, ticking regulator clock and pipe organ, Zion United Methodist Church is so full of history visitors can almost feel the past just by walking through the door.

"Every time you step in the front door, you can feel 150 years of history," said the Rev. Conway Briscoe.

"We are keeping the tradition going and meeting the future," he said. "It's a fine line, but we walk it proudly."

The church is celebrating its sesquicentennial Sunday with a special worship service at 10:30 a.m. Bishop Ann B. Sherer will preach. State Rep. David Schwab will present a proclamation.

Sherer will visit the Benton United Methodist Church March 8 for its 150th anniversary service.

The Gordonville church was formally established in 1848, although German immigrants arrived sometime in the 1840s.

There has always been some debate about when the area was settled and why it was chosen by the immigrants, Briscoe said. Some say it is because the area looks like the rolling hills and farmland of Germany.

The church sits atop a hill along Highway Z, three miles east of Gordonville from where the entire community can be seen.

The 12-acre church property was originally farmland owned by several families and deeded to the church. The original building was constructed in 1876 and still stands, although additions have been made over the years.

Even the arrangement of pews inside the church has historical significance, Briscoe said.

Many newly constructed churches have only a center aisle, but the Gordonville church has three sections of pews with aisles on two sides.

"It's a step back in time," Briscoe said. "It was built big enough to be used for a long time. They had good vision when they built this church."

Many of the current members can trace their roots to the group of founding members whose labor and time went into building the church.

"The church has always been the center of their lives," Briscoe said of his parishioners. The church has been the place where significant events are celebrated -- baptisms, weddings and funerals.

Roy and Melva Deneke were probably the first couple to be married in the church on April 19, 1939.

Typically, weddings were held in a home, Melva explained.

But the church was where the Gordonville couple first met. Now in their 80s, the Denekes have been attending the church nearly all their lives.

And a lot has changed in that time, said Roy Deneke, whose great-grandmother Magdalena was a founding member.

"We used to go to church in a horse and buggy," he said. Now cars are the mode of transportation.

For quite some time, the men and women sat in separate sections of the church. The tradition was for men to sit on the north and the women on the south side of the building. Children sat near the front of the church or with their mothers if they were very young.

A large partition, built into the pew, separated the sexes. It was removed sometime in the late 1930s.

Since the church was founded by German immigrants, it was the language spoken during worship until the early 1940s. Usually one service a month was spoken in German, and others were spoken in English.

The practice ended sometime during World War II, although several adult members continued to speak it in a Sunday school class, Roy Deneke said.

Deneke remembered planning the 100th anniversary celebration at the church, which was a three- or four-night affair.

"I always hated to miss church and getting together with other believers," he said. And he's done just that for nearly 85 years.

When Briscoe arrived as pastor three years ago, he wanted to learn more about the congregation's history.

"I wanted a history lesson," he said. "I wanted to know what people did around here and how they approach life. I didn't want to change for the sake of change. If the people had, we wouldn't be celebrating 150 years."