Saint Mark United Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Saint Mark United Methodist Church in Tarrant County. Now settle in, because this is a story about rivers joining; not water, but people, and the kind of roots that take a long time to grow deep. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with folks who came from somewhere else and brought everything they had with them.

In 1883, the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church was organized right there in Fort Worth; twenty charter members, gathered under the leadership of the Reverend P. S. Juhline.

Twenty people. That's not a crowd, that's a promise. And for decades, Sunday mornings in that congregation sounded like the old country; services conducted in the Swedish language all the way until 1920.

Then, in 1924, the congregation changed its name to Broadway Methodist Episcopal Church, shedding the old identifier but carrying every one of those years of worship forward. Six years after that, another stream joined the river; St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church merged with the Broadway congregation.

Now St. Paul's had its own long story. Organized back in 1877, it had started with thirty charter members under the leadership of the Reverend Harvey Webb.

Thirty charter members in 1877; that congregation had been holding on and holding together for a good long while before it folded itself into Broadway. But there was a third thread in this braid, and it runs a little different. Mulkey Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church began in the late 1880s as a mission of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Fort Worth.

The church was named for the Reverend and Mrs. William Mulkey (and here's the detail the marker makes sure you know) they were the parents of George Mulkey, who was a charter member of that very new church. So the name on the building belonged to the family inside it.

The first pastor of Mulkey Memorial was the Reverend John M. Barcus. Three congregations, then; Swedish Methodist roots going back to 1883, St.

Paul's going back to 1877, Mulkey Memorial rising from the late 1880s. Each one with its own founding pastor, its own charter members, its own years of Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and all the ordinary holy work of a church community. And then came 1940.

At the Annual Conference that year, these historic congregations merged; all of them; to become the Broadway-Mulkey Methodist Episcopal Church, South. That was the name they carried out of the conference hall. But it didn't stay.

In 1945, the congregation adopted the name Saint Mark. Short, clean, and built on top of all that history like a capstone on a long stone wall. By 1960, the congregation had settled at the site where the marker stands.

One place. One name. One congregation; built from at least three, stretching back more than sixty years before they ever merged.

That's not just a church history. That's a whole lot of people deciding, over and over again, to keep going.

What the marker says

This congregation was formed in 1940 by the merger of several historic Fort Worth Methodist Churches. The Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1883 with twenty charter members under the leadership of the Rev. P.S. Juhline. Use of the Swedish language during worship services continued until 1920. In 1924 the name of the congregation was changed to Broadway Methodist Episcopal Church. Six years later, St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church merged with the Broadway Congregation. St. Paul's had been organized in 1877 with thirty charter members under the leadership of the Rev. Harvey Webb. Mulkey Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church began in the late 1880s as a mission of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Fort Worth. The church was named for the Rev. and Mrs. William Mulkey, parents of George Mulkey, who was a charter member of the new church. The Rev. John M. Barcus served as first pastor. At the 1940 Annual Conference these historic congregations merged to become the Broadway-Mulkey Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The name St. Mark was adopted in 1945. The congregation has worshiped at this site since 1960. [Now renamed Christ-Life Church]