The United Methodist Church of Hope

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about The United Methodist Church of Hope, out in Lavaca County. Now, before we talk about what this church became, let's talk about what it started as, because that is a story worth slowing down for. German pioneers founded this church before 1845.

Before 1845. That means before Texas was even a state in the Union, before a whole lot of things we take for granted out here, there were German settlers gathering together in a log hut on Scarborough's Branch to hold worship. And they were doing it in German.

That was the language of their faith, the language of their prayers, and this congregation was part of a German missions circuit that connected communities like theirs across the region. By the 1850s, that little congregation had twenty-three members. Not a huge number, but consider what it took to be one of them.

Now, the story picks up in 1855, when Christoph and Christina Hornburg did something that tends to get remembered. They gave a two-acre site on Clark's Creek, and on that land, a second log meeting house was erected. A gift of land is a gift of permanence, and this one held.

The congregation kept growing, kept worshiping, kept gathering through the decades. Then came 1889. The present church was built that year, on a newly-purchased site, in the community of Hope.

And Hope proved to be the right word for it. By 1890, membership had reached about one hundred. Then in 1892, the Sunday School was organized, and here is the detail that really lands, that Sunday School remains active.

Something built in 1892 is still going. And for a stretch of time, up to 1894, this was the only church in the Hope community. One congregation, holding the whole thing together, the way a single log hut on Scarborough's Branch once held a handful of German pioneers together before Texas was even Texas.

What the marker says

German pioneers founded this church before 1845. It met in a log hut on Scarborough's Branch, had 23 members in 1850s, used German language in worship, and was in German missions circuit. Christoph and Christina Hornburg gave a 2-acre site on Clark's Creek in 1855, and the second log meeting house was erected. The present church was built in 1889 on newly-purchased site in hope. By 1890, the membership reached about 100. The Sunday School was organized in 1892, and remains active. Up to 1894 this was the only church in hope community.