Bluff Dale United Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Way out in Erath County, the story of Bluff Dale United Methodist Church starts the way a lot of good things start in Texas, with people gathering outside, under open sky. Back in 1881, area Methodists came together for a camp meeting along the Paluxy River.

Something took root that day. Those folks kept coming back, meeting regularly through the mid-1880s, building the kind of community that doesn't let distance or dust get in the way of worship. Then came 1894, and the congregation didn't just show up anymore, they showed up to a building they had constructed themselves.

Now that is a statement of intent. The community kept growing, and the congregation grew right along with it, earning the name Bluff Dale Methodist Church in 1939. By 1956, the membership had outgrown what they had, and they moved into a newly completed church facility.

That's a congregation that never sat still. Then 1968 brought a change that swept across the whole denomination, the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren denominations merged, and out of that union the congregation took the name it carries to this day: Bluff Dale United Methodist Church. More than a century after that first camp meeting on the Paluxy River, the church is still standing, still serving, still described by the people who know it best as a beacon of light in a revitalized Bluff Dale community.

Some things, it turns out, are built to last.

What the marker says

Bluff Dale Methodist Church dates to the mid-1880s, when area Methodists began to meet regularly, following an 1881 camp meeting along the Paluxy River. In 1894, members began to meet at a church building they constructed. As the community grew, so did the congregation, which became known as Bluff Dale Methodist Church in 1939. By 1956, membership moved into a newly completed church facility. In 1968, after the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren denominations merged, the congregation became known as the Bluff Dale United Methodist Church. Today, the church continues to be a beacon of light, serving as a spiritual leader in a revitalized Bluff Dale community. (2008)