Presbyterians mark milestone with 200th anniversary celebration

Apple Creek Presbyterian Church, a congregation that has not met regularly since 1939, held a 200th anniversary celebration Sunday a half-mile east of Pocahontas.

Trudy Lee, vice president of university advancement at Southeast Missouri State University, is a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau.

A music celebration is held on the lawn of historic Apple Creek Presbyterian Church near Pocahontas. The church, which has not met for regular weekly services since 1939 and is considered the third oldest Presbyterian church west of the Mississippi River, marked its 200th anniversary Sunday.Submitted

Lee was on hand along with her four-person a cappella singing group, Faith in Harmony, to provide music for the event.

"It is amazing to me that so many descendants of those original (Apple Creek) members are still together, working hard to preserve the church's history and live in faith as their ancestors did," Lee said.

Todd Rushing, president of the Apple Creek Presbyterian Memorial Association, helps to lead worship Sunday at the 200th anniversary celebration of Apple Creek Presbyterian Church, near Pocahontas.Submitted

Todd Rushing, president of the Apple Creek Presbyterian Memorial Association, helped lead worship.

Liz Kanerva, associate leader of the St. Louis-based Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy, offered a sermon inside the historic structure, built originally in 1873.

Salmon Giddings was the first pastor of the church and Elijah Parish Lovejoy, a noted itinerant abolitionist, visited Apple Creek in 1835.

History

Apple Creek Presbyterian claims status as the third oldest Presbyterian church west of the Mississippi River with a founding year of 1821.

The first, Bellevue Presbyterian in the Ozarks region of Caledonia, Missouri, and the second, Bonhomme Presbyterian in Chesterfield, Missouri, were both said to have been started in 1816 -- also by Giddings.

"One of the songs we sang (Sunday) was 'Blest Be the Tie That Binds,' and those ties are still strong among those families," Lee noted.