First United Methodist Church of Giddings

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First United Methodist Church of Giddings, out in Lee County. Now settle in, because this story starts before the town itself even had a name on a map. The year is 1871.

There is no Giddings yet, not officially anyway, not platted, not plotted, not penciled in on any surveyor's paper. That wouldn't happen until 1872. But twenty-four people showed up anyway, signed their names, and said: we are a congregation.

Founded on faith and founded on nerve, in that order. The First United Methodist Church of Giddings was the first congregation organized in that community, and they beat the town's own founding by a full year. Think about that.

The church came before the streets did. The Rev. William C.

Lewis was the first pastor, standing before those twenty-four charter members in whatever shelter they could manage. And those early trustees, the names recorded on this marker, read like a roll call of the people who built that place from the ground up: W. H.

Cherry, Thomas Cox, R. D. McClellan, P.

H. Merchant, John W. Moore, S.

R. Mullen, H. Petway, W.

A. Rector, W. B.

Seay, and T. G. B.

Willard. Now, for years this congregation was part of a circuit, which means one preacher riding a wide loop of communities, spreading the gospel across the Texas countryside. They made do.

They gathered. And in 1879, they finally erected their first church building, eight years after those twenty-four souls had the audacity to organize before the town was even born. The congregation kept growing, kept holding, and by 1938 Giddings became what's called a station charge, its own dedicated post rather than a stop on a circuit.

A man named B. J. Fletcher served as lay delegate to the annual conferences of 1902 and 1903, carrying the congregation's voice to the larger body of the church.

Then in 1957, they built the present sanctuary. A community that started with twenty-four people meeting in a place that didn't yet have a proper town around it ended up with a sanctuary that would outlast the telling of this very story. The church didn't wait for Giddings to be ready.

Giddings had to catch up to the church.

What the marker says

Founded 1871 with 24 charter members; first congregation to be organized in community, before platting of town in 1872. The Rev. William C. Lewis was first pastor. Early trustees included W. H. Cherry, Thomas Cox, R. D. McClellan, P. H. Merchant, John W. Moore, S. R. Mullen, H. Petway, W. A. Rector, W. B. Seay, T. G. B. Willard. Lay delegate to 1902-03 annual conferences was B. J. Fletcher. First church building was erected in 1879. Originally part of a circuit, Giddings in 1938 became a station charge. Present sanctuary was built in 1957.