First Christian Church of Longview

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Gregg County, in the city of Longview, there's a congregation with deep roots and a story worth sittin' with for a minute. The First Christian Church of Longview got its start in 1875, organized by exactly twelve charter members.

Twelve. Not eleven, not thirteen. Twelve people decided that was enough to build something lasting, and history would bear them out.

In those early days the congregation gathered in a schoolhouse, which was the practical thing to do. But practical wasn't going to be the whole story. Later that same year of 1875, a frame sanctuary went up on land that had been deeded to the church by the Texas and Pacific Railroad Company.

Now that's a detail worth turning over. A railroad company handing over land for a house of worship. The marker doesn't explain the why of it, so neither will I, but it's the kind of thing that makes you wonder.

Serving as the congregation's first pastor was James P. Holloway, described as a prominent area landowner. A man with property and standing, choosing to lead a brand new church of twelve souls.

The frame sanctuary served its purpose, and then in 1906 a new church building was erected to carry the congregation forward. That building in turn gave way to a brick sanctuary, built at this very site in 1936. Three buildings across six decades of growth.

And through all of it, the church kept building something harder to measure than brick or timber. A long tradition, the marker calls it, of supporting numerous ministries, offering worship and outreach programs and activities to the community. Twelve charter members in a schoolhouse.

A railroad deed. A pastor who was also a landowner. A frame building, then a proper church, then brick.

That's not just a congregation survivin'. That's one decidin', year after year, to stay.

What the marker says

This church was organized in 1875 by 12 charter members. The congregation met in a schoolhouse until a frame sanctuary was built later that year on land deeded to the church by the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company. James P. Holloway, a prominent area landowner, served as first pastor. A new church building, erected in 1906, was replaced with a brick sanctuary at this site in 1936. The church continues a long tradition of supporting numerous ministries by offering various worship and outreach programs and activities to the community. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845 - 1995