First Christian Church of McKinney

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along to you just the same. April 1, 1848 — and before you say anything about the date, no, this is not a joke. About twenty people gathered at the home of Nancy and Joseph Bryson Wilmeth, way out on the Texas frontier, and what they had in mind was nothing short of bold.

They worshiped together first, right there in the Wilmeth cabin. Then, as the story goes, they sat down for a picnic lunch. Now, I don't know what was on the menu that afternoon, but I do know what came after it changed things permanently for McKinney, Texas.

Because after that meal, those twenty souls got up and journeyed about two miles south to the new county seat. They had a conviction — a real one — that the very first institution in that brand-new town ought to be a religious body. So they gathered at the present site of the courthouse square and formally organized the First Christian Church of McKinney.

Collin County was barely a notion at that point, and these folks were planting something in its soil before the town had much else to offer. And when I say much else, I mean it literally. For a good while, the congregation worshiped in an unfinished barn.

Let that settle. Not a finished barn. An unfinished one.

Wind finding every gap, dirt floor, maybe some livestock with opinions about the whole arrangement. Later they moved into Collin County's log courthouse, which at least had walls with a purpose. The men who stood up to preach in those early days were lay preachers — no full-time pastor yet, just men of conviction stepping forward.

Two of the most prominent were Wilmeth himself and James Sanford Muse, born in 1804 and gone by 1878. Both of them had studied under Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of the Christian Church — so the theological roots here ran deep, all the way back through Campbell's teaching into the very bones of the movement. By 1858, the congregation had done something remarkable: they erected their first actual church building.

A small frame structure, and they shared it with other denominations, because that's what frontier life required — you made room. Inside that little building, tradition held firm. Men sat on one side of the sanctuary, women on the other.

That's just how it was done. Now, the years that followed were not gentle. Frontier hardship had a way of grinding on people, and then came the Civil War, which brought its own particular kind of chaos to everything it touched.

But this fellowship — and the marker uses that word deliberately — grew and flourished anyway. In 1872, the Reverend R.C. Horn became the congregation's first full-time pastor.

That's nearly a quarter century after those twenty people stood up from their picnic blankets and walked toward something they believed in. The congregation erected their second church building in 1897, and then, more than seven decades after that, in 1970, they dedicated the present facility. From an unfinished barn in 1848 to a dedicated building in 1970 — that is a long, stubborn, faithful arc.

And it all started with a picnic lunch and twenty people who thought the first thing a town ought to have was a place to gather and mean something together.

What the marker says

This congregation was formed on April 1, 1848, when about 20 persons gathered to worship at the home of Nancy and Joseph Bryson Wilmeth (1807-1892). After a picnic lunch, the group journeyed about two miles south of the Wilmeth cabin to the new county seat of McKinney. Desiring that the first institution in the town be a religious body, they met at the present site of the courthouse square and formally organized the First Christian Church. Members worshiped first in an unfinished barn and later in Collin County's log courthouse. Lay preachers who conducted services included Wilmeth and James Sanford Muse (1804-1878), both of whom had studied under Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of the Christian Church. Members of this congregation erected their first church building in 1858 and shared the small frame structure with other denominations. In the tradition of the day, men sat on the side of the sanctuary and women of the other. Despite the hardships of frontier life and the chaos of the Civil War, this fellowship grew and flourished. In 1872 the Rev. R.C. Horn became the first full-time pastor. Members erected their second church building in 1897 and in 1970 dedicated the present facility. (1978)