First Methodist Church of Whitewright

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it the full treatment it deserves. Way out in Grayson County, before there was a Whitewright, before there was even a proper town to hang a name on, there was a home. Christopher and Mary Sears were early settlers in that country, and sometime in the late 1850s their place became something more than a homestead.

It became a Union Church, a gathering point for folks of different persuasions who needed a place to worship more than they needed to argue about which persuasion was right. They called it Sears Chapel, and it stood about one mile southeast of where we are right now. Now, time has a way of sorting things out.

By 1876, the Sears family deeded the land on which that chapel stood, and two congregations stepped up to share it: the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Two denominations, one piece of ground. That's either a recipe for trouble or a testament to neighborly grace, and from what the record shows, it was the latter.

Then 1878 rolls around, and the village of Whitewright gets established. A real town, taking shape in the post-Civil War Texas prairie. The Methodist congregation tied to Sears Chapel looked at that new village and saw the future.

In 1882 they organized the First Methodist Church of Whitewright, and they got to work. By 1885 they had completed a sanctuary and a parsonage, and they had a preacher to fill it, the Reverend W. M.

Robbins, a circuit-riding Methodist preacher. Now, a circuit rider didn't just serve one flock. He traveled, he covered ground, he showed up where he was needed.

Reverend Robbins was that kind of man, and this congregation was one of his stops. The next year, 1886, they organized a Sunday School, and it caught on. About fifty pupils on average in those early years, which for a young congregation on the Texas prairie was something to be proud of.

Then came 1895, and the congregation built a brand new sanctuary right here on this site. That building served them for over one hundred years. One hundred years.

Let that settle in. Generations were baptized there, married there, mourned their dead there, and came back the next Sunday anyway. A new parsonage was completed in 1930, and in 1942 the church erected an education building, because a congregation that takes the long view knows you have to tend to the next generation.

By 1968, the church had been renamed the First United Methodist Church, reflecting changes in the broader Methodist world. And they kept building. Major renovations to the church and education buildings were completed in 1979, and through all of it, the congregation kept reaching outward, supporting special annual events, staying active in local outreach and foreign outreach programs both.

It all started at a farmhouse, late in the 1850s, with two people named Sears willing to open their door. That's the kind of seed that, if you tend it right, is still growing well over a hundred years later.

What the marker says

This congregation traces its history to Sears Chapel (one mile southeast), a Union Church established in the late 1850s at the home of early settlers Christopher and Mary Sears. In 1876 the Sears family deeded the land on which the Sears Chapel Church building stood to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The village of Whitewright was established in 1878. The Methodist congregation associated with Sears Chapel organized the First Methodist Church of Whitewright in 1882. By 1885 the congregation had completed a sanctuary and a parsonage and was served by the Rev. W. M. Robbins, a circuit-riding Methodist preacher. A Sunday School, organized in 1886, averaged about 50 pupils during its early years of operation. A new sanctuary, built at this site in 1895, served the congregation for over 100 years. A new parsonage was completed in 1930, and in 1942 the church erected an education building. Major renovations to the church and education buildings were completed in 1979. The church, renamed First United Methodist Church in 1968, supports a variety of special annual events and continues to be active in many local and foreign outreach programs. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845 1995