Celebration at Old McKendree marks 200 years of Methodist faith in Southeast Missouri

Riding in on horseback Sunday, the Rev. Cleo Kottwitz, a retired Methodist pastor, invoked memories of the past days of circuit riding missions during Old McKendree Day, a commemoration of the 200 years since the organization of the Old McKendree Chapel in Jackson.

More than 125 members from several area United Methodist congregations attended the celebration, which featured a performance by New Beginning Quartet, a gospel group from Chaffee, Mo.

The worship service began with an invocation by the Rev. Karen Nothdurft of Centenary United Methodist Church and a report by Jack Byrd, the president of the trustees. Kottwitz was the day's main speaker as he portrayed the Rev. Jacob Lanius, a Methodist mission rider who visited Southeast Missouri from 1831 to 1851. Kottwitz spoke of the many hazards and hardships circuit riders endured in order to bring the word of God to people who lived in frontier areas of Missouri. These circuit riders held their annual conferences at Old McKendree Chapel, where they met with their bishop to report on their labors among the people and receive new assignments.

Betty Poe Henry, a 22-year member of the Old McKendree Chapel Trustees, has attended the services at chapel since childhood. Her ancestor, William Williams, was one of the founders of the church and donated the two acres on which it sits.

Perched on top of a hill surrounded by a grove of walnut trees and a spring, Old McKendree Chapel was the site of the first service held by the Missouri Conference Methodist Episcopal Church west of the Mississippi River.

The chapel itself was built in 1819 and is thought to be named after William McKendree, a Methodist bishop who visited the area many times during the 1800s.

The Methodist church began in England in 1739 when two brothers, John and Charles Wesley, both Anglican Church of England ministers, began preaching an emphasis on conversion and holiness. Eventually their preaching led to the formation of small faith restoration groups and a division with the Anglican Church. They worked with another Anglican minister, George Whitefield, who is famous for his part in the Great Awakening movement. It was Whitefield who was instrumental in bringing Methodism to the United States.

It was during the Civil War that the Methodist church began to split into the Methodist Church South and the Methodist Church North. After this division, Old McKendree Chapel was gradually deserted, with members splitting between the church in Cape Girardeau and in Jackson.

But in 1926, the Rev. W. J. Steward, pastor of the New McKendree Methodist Church in Jackson, determined the Old Chapel must be saved.

Since that time the formation of the Old McKendree Memorial Association has led to the complete restoration and upkeep of the chapel. Many improvements have been made, including ample parking, restroom facilities, running water, enclosed eating areas and, in 1986, a new building called the Williams House Museum that was built from the original Williams homestead.

The chapel is presently used by various groups for weddings, reunions, baptisms and annual Easter sunrise services. The Old McKendree Day church service is reminiscent of the early times when hundreds of families would gather for preaching, singing and sharing fellowship on the grounds.

The chapel is listed in the National Archives of the Methodist Church and the National Register of Historic Places in the United States.