Centenary celebrates 100 years at current location

The Centenary United Methodist Church recently reached a landmark that is a rarity and a reason to celebrate. On April 4, the building in which church members worship turned 100 years old. The first worship service in the current building was on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1915. This past Easter, they paid tribute to the centennial with special music and acknowledgments.

In a technology age that provides Internet worship, church by phone, and drive-thru prayer, a thriving congregation meeting in a 100-year-old brick and mortar building that still sports stain-glass windows and "old-style architecture," as lifelong member Barbara Rust described it, seems an enigma. And Centenary does not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. Rather, it is a model of ministry within our community.

A common complaint among people who have gradually abandoned church is that they're bored. Well, that, no doubt, depends on the church one attends, as Centenary's example teaches us. Centenary has much to offer. Among other things, it offers a basketball program, Sunday school for children and adults, a preschool, tutoring for Southeast Missouri State University foreign students and contemporary and traditional worship.

Pastor Dave Conley told the Southeast Missourian that the church continues to focus on its chief mission, which is "making disciples of Jesus" and preaching the love of God. The church has managed to do so in various ways that are attractive to youths and the elderly -- embracing the new without throwing out the old.

The ability to remain relevant in the personal and spiritual lives of people of all ages may be precisely why the doors of Centenary United Methodist Church remain open.

Here's to 100 more years!