West New Hope United Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. Out here in Titus County, there's a congregation with a story that starts not with a cornerstone laid, but with a whole church on the move. The year was 1886, and the Methodist sanctuary over in Tranquil, just two miles to the east, picked up and came west.

Moved to this very site. Now that is a congregation with conviction. Before the first hymn was sung in the new location, somebody had to give the land, and that somebody was two charter members, E.

J. and E. M. Killingsworth.

Donated it. Just like that. That kind of generosity has a way of setting the tone for everything that follows.

And West New Hope, well, it followed through. The congregation grew. Kept growing.

By 1909, the membership had gotten large enough that the old building simply would not do anymore, and so they razed it, made room, and raised up a new structure built to meet the needs of what they were becoming. Not what they had been. What they were becoming.

That's a different thing entirely. Over the years, they kept that same open spirit, making their building available for other community churches to use when needed. A house of worship that serves more than one flock.

And somewhere along the way, out of this congregation, several members answered a deeper call and went on to become ordained Methodist ministers. One church, moved from Tranquil in 1886. Land given freely.

A new building raised in 1909. Doors opened wide for neighbors. And ministers sent out into the world.

West New Hope earned every word of that name.

What the marker says

This congregation began in 1886 when the Methodist sanctuary in Tranquil (2 mi. E) was moved to this site. The land was donated by charter members E. J. and E. M. Killingsworth. In 1909, the building was razed to make room for a new structure that would better serve the needs of a growing membership. Over the years, the congregation has made its building available for use by other community churches. Several members of the fellowship have become ordained Methodist ministers.