Decatur First United Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the voice carrying it down the road. Now, when you talk about the oldest congregation in Decatur, you're going back to 1862. And that's not a small thing.

The Civil War hadn't even run its course yet. Other churches in the community wouldn't come along until after that war was done, which means this congregation was out here on its own, finding a way. The Reverend J.

R. Bellamy conducted those first services not in any proper sanctuary, mind you, but in a vacant store sitting on the south side of the town square. You work with what you've got.

Now, two names you want to hold onto when you're telling this story are Stephen M. Gose and his wife Mary. Charter members, both of them.

Stephen was a blacksmith and a farmer who'd migrated down from Missouri, and together he and Mary opened up their home and rolled out their pump organ so the congregation had a place to gather and a sound to sing to. That kind of thing doesn't show up in official records the way it ought to. It should.

The first real sanctuary (an actual building constructed for this purpose) went up at this very site in 1881. The county government deeded the property to the congregation. That sanctuary was built during the pastorate of the Reverend E.

D. Dejernet, and then, sometime in the early 1890s, it was destroyed by fire. Just like that, gone.

But the fellowship didn't scatter. A second church structure went up at the same location and served the growing membership until something more permanent could be done. That something more permanent came under the Reverend A.

R. Nash; a brick sanctuary, built right here, and dedicated at Easter services in 1914. Then in 1940, an educational wing was added.

From a vacant store on the square in 1862 to a brick sanctuary dedicated on Easter morning in 1914. That's not just a church's history. That's the whole stubborn, organ-singin', fire-survivin' story of a community refusing to quit.

What the marker says

Organized in 1862, this congregation is the oldest in Decatur. The Reverend J. R. Bellamy conducted the first services in a vacant store on the south side of the town square. Other churches were not started in the community until after the Civil War. Instrumental leaders in the development of the young church were charter members Stephen M. Gose and his wife Mary. A blacksmith and farmer, Gose had migrated to this area from Missouri. Their home and pump organ were used for many of the early services. The first sanctuary was constructed at this site in 1881. Property for the congregation was deeded by the county government. Built during the pastorate of the Reverend E. D. Dejernet, the edifice was destroyed by fire in the early 1890s. A second church structure for the fellowship was soon built at this location. It served the growing membership until the present brick sanctuary was completed. Constructed under the leadership of the Reverend A. R. Nash, it was dedicated at Easter services in 1914. An educational wing was added in 1940. (1980)