Methodism in Collingsworth

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Methodism in Collingsworth County. Picture the Texas Panhandle, late nineteenth century, early twentieth. The land is wide, the settlements are small, and most of them grew up around area ranchers.

That's the world this story lives in. Now, out across that country, Methodist congregations were forming. Not in grand stone sanctuaries with stained glass and pipe organs.

No, these folks were worshiping in private homes, in dugouts dug right into the earth, in school buildings, in open-air arbors where the sky itself was the ceiling, and in Union churches shared with other denominations. Whatever space was available, that's where they gathered. And the ministers who served them, they didn't wait for the people to come to them.

They rode. Circuit-riding ministers covering this whole county, moving from settlement to settlement, bringing the Word on horseback. It's a kind of devotion you don't see much anymore.

Now, the Panhandle is a hard place to put down roots. Communities rose, and communities faded. The smaller congregations, one by one, gradually disbanded.

They didn't disappear so much as they came together, joining larger churches, consolidating, pulling toward a center. That process took decades, working its way forward through the years, and by 1984 every one of those congregations had affiliated with the Wellington Church. All those dugout meetings, all those open-air arbors, all those circuit riders crossing the county in wind and dust, they all found their way to one place in the end.

What the marker says

Originally, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most Collingsworth County communities were small settlements that grew up around area ranchers. A number of Methodist congregations were formed throughout the county by circuit-riding ministers. Worshipers met in such places as private homes, dugouts, school buildings, open-air arbors, and Union churches with other denominations. The smaller congregations gradually disbanded and joined larger churches, and by 1984 they had all affiliated with the Wellington Church. (1990)