`WE'LL KEEP THE DOORS OPEN.' DWINDLING NUMBERS DON'T DISCOURAGE JACKSON AME CHURCH

JACKSON -- The history of St. John AME Church is evident throughout the building: Walls of the one-room sanctuary hold pictures of beloved pastors long gone, and shiny metal placards on new pews tell of members who once took their places in that section each Sunday.

In the basement old pews rest, awaiting occasional use when members come together for a church dinner. Many of the fixtures aren't new, but like the aging congregation, they continue to perform their assigned functions.

The church is a living history on the banks of the River Zena, known now as Hubble Creek. It is that history members of the small church hope to keep alive.

At 92, Bessie Eulinberg is one of the oldest members of the church's congregation. She said the sacrifices James Wheeler, Burrell Wade, Thomas Wade and Joseph Greer made to found the church more than 130 years ago are the same sacrifices that keep its doors open today.

Each of the church's founding fathers contributed $100 -- no small amount at that time -- to build the original building in 1866. Similarly, the church's 11 remaining members tithe faithfully to keep their small congregation from being merged with the larger St. James AME Church in Cape Girardeau.

The churches are sisters and work together, said Eulinberg. But her heart is in the Jackson church next door to her home on Cherry Street. It is there that she has spent the past 72 years in worship.

"There were lots of hard times, but with the help of the Lord we were able to survive," she said.

From the first day of her marriage, Eulinberg has been connected to St. John physically and emotionally. When she joined the church she and her husband lived across the street, but after saving for several years they were able to buy a new house and move. The move took them right across the street -- right beside the church.

Eulinberg said St. John had a strong presence in Jackson's black community during the early 1900s. It was one of only two predominantly black churches in Jackson, and every pew was usually filled.

In 1931 the church was accidentally destroyed by fire. Even that didn't stop the congregation. They just pulled together and built the one-room sanctuary being used today, she said.

"I can't tell you the best times, because we had pretty good times all the time," she said. Eulinberg said that in the 1930s and 1940s, children from segregated Lincoln School in Jackson met in the basement during floods. "Those were good days."

Membership started dwindling at the church about 30 years ago as children grew up and moved away, she said. At the same time, the congregation aged, and members began to die. The remaining members started tithing faithfully to meet church obligations, and many of the old programs were dropped.

"There used to be a church full," Eulinberg said. "We used to have Sunday school, which we don't any more because all the kids have grown up.

"We used to sell a lot of dinners out of that basement to pay the bills, and I remember the children always running between the cooking pots. We all just worked real hard."

Although the congregation has dwindled, and many of the church's activities have been curtailed, Eulinberg said members are going to keep on working. The Rev. James Winfrey, the church's new pastor, seems to be interested in taking the church back to its former bustle, and the members, all of whom remember the good old days, are ready to help him.

"We're going to try," she said. "The church has been there too long to close now."