A journey of faith : the Memorial Baptist Church, Greenville, North Carolina, 1827-2002

188 Pages·2002·12.2 MB·English

by  Wease, Hugh

Digitized by the Internet Archive
2013
in
http://archive.org/details/journeyoffaithmeOOweas
A
Journey of Faith
The Memorial Baptist Church
Greenville, North Carolina
1827-2002
Hugh Wease
Baptist History and Heritage Society
Brentwood, Tennessee
AND
Fields Publishing, Incorporated
Nashville, Tennessee
Copyright 2002 by The Memorial Baptist Church,
Greenville, North Carolina
All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from
the publishers to use or reproduce any part of this book, except
for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.
Cover photograph by John Artois
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
Library of Congress Card Number: 2002104820
ISBN: 1-57843-017-8
Published by
IBAPTIST
HISTORY&HERITAGESOCIETY
Baptist History and Heritage Society
RO. Box 728 • Brentwood, Tennessee 37024-0728
800-966-2278
e-mail:[email protected]
and
Fields Publishing Inc.
917 Harpeth Valley Place • Nashville, Tennessee 37221
615-662-1344
e-mail: [email protected]
Contents
Preface 4
,
Chapter 1: Before the Journey - 7
Chapter 2: The Journey Begins (1800-1880) 14
Chapter 3: Journey from Surviving to Thriving (1880-1910) 26
Chapter 4: Journey from Crisis to Maturity (1911-1970) 59
Chapter 5: Journey from Reluctance to Resurgence (1970-2000) 108
Chapter 6: Epilogue: Pressing Toward the Mark 138
Notes 142
. ^
Appendices
Appendix One: Covenant and Rules of Decorum of 1828 158
Appendix Two: Members in the Armed Forces in WWII 162
Appendix Three: Church Statistics 164
Bibliography 172
Index 175
About theAuthor 184
Preface
The purpose ofthis congregational history is to tell the story ofthejour-
neyoffaithofTheMemorial BaptistChurch, Greenville, North Carolina. The
book also meets the need to have a published history for the 175th anniver-
sary of the church. EntitledA Journey ofFaith: MemorialBaptist Church,
Greenville,North Carolina, 1827-2002, thebookfollowsachronologicalpat-
tern oforganization and is divided into six chapters.
The first chapter is the introduction. This briefoverview ofBaptistbegin-
nings in North Carolina describes the emergence ofGeneral, Particular, and
Separate Baptists. Much ofthe eighteenth centurywas devoted to the union
ofmost ofthese Baptist groups. The account ofthe interactions ofthese dif-
ferent Baptist churches is important in the developmentofBaptists in North
Carolina, but readerswho are interested in only the history ofThe Memorial
Baptist Church can skip over the story.
Chapter two opens at the dawn of the nineteenth century with the out-
break of revivalism and moves quickly to the conflict between the mission-
ary-minded Baptists and the anti-mission Baptists. In the struggle between
these two groups, the Greenville Baptist Church was born as a missionary
Baptist congregation. Chapter two traces the history ofthis church through
its first fifty years.
In chapterthree, the Greenville Baptistcongregationbuildsanew church
and takes a new name in commemoration of the founding of the Baptist
State Convention ofNorth Carolina in Greenville. The church also builds up
its membership and organizes a number ofchurch programs. The growth of
the church mirrors the "vigorous expansion" of Greenville over the thirty-
year period from 1880 to 1910.
The range ofchapter four is from church schism to the church's decision
to relocate from its downtown site, a span ofsix decades (1911-1970). Major
markings of Memorial's journey include the unpleasant split in the church
with the departure of37 members who organized Immanuel Baptist Church
and the unsuccessful effort nearly 30 years later to reunite the two Baptist
congregations. Also, the addition ofa modern educational building and the
agonizing decision to abandon the downtown location rather than enlarge
the sanctuary on the church's homeplaceare significantetchings. Twoworld
wars, a coldwar, and a decade ofdepression did not make for a safe and easy
journey for the pastor and people ofMemorial.
Preface 5
Thestoryline ofchapterfive is church construction. Duringthe lastthree
decades of the twentieth century (1970-2000), the church relocated to the
suburbs and built a new sanctuary and educational building. Within two
decades, amajorrenovationwiththeadditionofachildren'swing, fellowship
hall, and an office suite provided space for a growing congregation.
Inchaptersix, theepiloguepointstotheongoingstoryofMemorial'sjour-
ney offaith in the twenty-first century.
In tellingthe story ofMemorial'sjourney of175years, the authorsenses
the need to comment on two issues. One is the capitalized article "The"
used in the name of the church. The historical record is clear on the
change ofname in 1890 from the Greenville Baptist Church to the Memo-
rial Baptist Church. The record, however, is not clear on the capitalized ar-
ticle "The." The "Rules and Covenant" (1920) omitted the word "The" on
both the cover and title page and showed the name as "Memorial Baptist
Church." This same wording appeared in the church minutes and on
church bulletins.
In 1971, the congregation adopted a church constitution in which arti-
cle I stated "The name ofthis organization shall be known as The Memor-
ial Baptist Church." Subsequent revisions of the constitution-bylaws used
the same name for the church. Also, the Articles of Incorporation docu-
ment uses the capitalized article "The" in the name of the church. The
churchbulletinfor Sunday, March24, 1974, carried thearticle "The" inthe
name ofthe church for the first time.
The second issue concerns the tradition that Memorial is the mother
church ofSycamore Hill Baptist Church, anAfricanAmerican church. The
history ofthatchurch shows that in thewinter of 1865 twenty-one persons
began to meet in homes forworship. Twoyears later in 1867, the group ac-
quired a lot on Greene Street and erected a church. In that same year on
June 8, the Greenville Baptist Church authorized "letters ofdismission" to
be granted to the "colored members desirous to sever their connection
with us,"when they "organized, formed, orjoined another [church] oflike
faith and order." Who these members were and the exact number who left
are unknown. Also the written record is silent on which church they or-
ganized, formed, or joined. Therefore, it can only be conjectured that the
AfricanAmericans who left the Greenville Baptist Church were among the
group oftwenty-one who started Sycamore Hill Baptist Church.
InPlaces ofWorship, James P. Wind cautions the congregational histo-
rian to avoid an overload ofnames, lestthe history becomes ayearbook. To
reduce the number of names in the story of Memorial's journey of faith,
some names have been listed in descriptive endnotes. Other names have
been painfully omitted altogether because it has not been possible to ac-
knowledge every person's contribution to the church.
6 Memorial Baptist Church, Greenville, North Carolina
Acknowledgements
The names of the people who contributed so much to the research and
preparation ofthis book must be mentioned, however. I am indebted to the
Research and Publications Committee of the Department of History, East
Carolina University for a research grant from the Herbert R. Paschal, Jr.,
Memorial Fund to begin the research phase of this study. I wish to express
my appreciation to John R. Woodard, Director ofthe Baptist Historical Col-
lection, and his staffat the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest Univer-
sity, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, fortheirassistance and kindness to me
as Iworked in the collection. I alsowant to thank Donald R. Lennon, Direc-
tor, East Carolina University Manuscripts and Special Collections, and Mary
Boccaccio for their help and insights with the sources in the collection. A
special thanks is accorded Maury York, Director.ofthe North Carolina Col-
lection, for his assistance and encouragementwith this congregational his-
tory project. A special note ofthanks goes to Pat Guyette ofthe Interlibrary
Loan Services ofJoyner Library, East Carolina University. She located books
in distant libraries for me and graciously extended return dates when I re-
quested more time.
Also, I want to acknowledge the help and kindness ofRev. Ellis Fulbright
and Linda Franks of the office of the South Roanoke Baptist Association.
They gave me access to the proceedings and reports of the association and
found a quiet, comfortable place for me to work. Thanks also go to Pastor
Larry Hovis, Rev. Rick Bailey, Peggy Vaughan, Nell Godley, Terrie Bibb, and
William Spell ofThe Memorial BaptistChurch.All ofthemallowed meto get
in their way as I searched for records in the offices and file cabinets and in
the boxes stored in the attic ofthe church.
Withoutthehelpofpeopleknowledgeableinthewaysandmysteriesofthe
computer, this congregational history would be lost somewhere in the re-
cesses of my desktop. I am grateful to Barbara Wilson, Cathy Collins, and
AimeeRigsbyfortheirassistanceandamenviousofwhattheycangetacom-
puter to do. Although DelanoWilson did not lend computerassistance, I ap-
preciate his persistent reminders for me to finish the project.
IamdeeplyindebtedtoCharlesW. Deweese, ExecutiveDirector-Treasurer,
BaptistHistoryandHeritageSociety, andtopublisherTimFieldsfortheirin-
valuable assistance in moving the manuscript to a finished book.
I express my deepest appreciation to mywife, Cynthia. With patience and
unlimited understanding, she found things to do as I worked in the Baptist
Historical Collection. With greater patience, she read drafts, made correc-
tions, and read the final manuscript. Her giftednesswith language made the
book much more readable. Any errors in thevolume, however, are mine.
Hugh Wease
.
Greenville, North Carolina
Chapter
I
Before the Journey
—
hen the—Greenville Baptist Church now The Memorial Baptist
Church ^was organized in 1827 as the first Baptist congrega-
W W tion in the small town of Greenville, the Baptist movement in
North Carolina was one hundred years old. This century-long period of
Baptist beginnings in North Carolina is beyond the scope ofthe story of
Memorial'sjourney through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and
its entry into the new millennium. However, a c—ursory look at t—he emer-
genceandunion ofBaptistgroups in the colony laterthe state during
the eighteenth century will form a backdrop for the Baptist beginnings
and growth in Greenville.
Settlers in North Carolina during the era of the Lords Proprietor
(1663-1729) migrated from Virginia. By 1700 approximately five thou-
sand resided in the colony, mostly in scattered settlements along the
shores ofAlbemarle Sound. By the end of Proprietary rule in 1729, the
population had increased to approximately thirty-five thousand. Reli-
gious groupings found in the populationwere Quakers; supporters ofthe
Church of England; a third group of people "something like Presbyteri-
ans"; and a fourth group characterized by one Anglican clergyman as a
"sort" who have no religion. While the advocates of the Church of Eng-
land believed in andworked to erect an established church inAlbemarle,
Quakers and the "something-like-Presbyterians" were the religious dis-
senters. These "something like Presbyterians" included Baptists. The
eighteenth-century historian Morgan Edwards claimed that the colony
had Baptists as early as 1695, but there is no historical evidence to sup-
8 Memorial Baptist Church, Greenville, North Carolina
port his assertion. The first written documentation of the presence of
Baptists in the province was found in a letter written in June 1714 by
John Urmstone, a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts, established in 1701 by the Church of England.
He reported two of his vestrymen in the Chowan Precinct of the Albe-
marle Colony were "professed Anabaptists," a sixteenth-century term
used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to characterize Bap-
tists.i
Paul Palmer, thefoundingfatherofGeneral Baptists inNorthCarolina,
moved fromVirginia to theAlbemarle section ofthe colony in early 1719
and two years later began an evangelistic career of''preaching, baptizing,
and laying his hands on the newly converted." In 1727, near the end of
the Proprietary era. Palmer organized in the Chowan Precinct the
colony's first Baptist church for which records exist. Although some au-
thoritiesarguedthatthisfirstchurchsurvivedforonlyafewyears, Shiloh
Baptist Church in present-day Camden County claims 1727 as its birth-
day. Whether Shiloh's date ofbirth is 1727 or two years laterwhen seven
religious dissenters, including Palmer, petitioned the precinct court to
use the home ofWilliam Burges, located in northeastern Pasquotank, as
a place for Baptists to worship, Shiloh is the oldest Baptist church in
North Carolina that is still in existence today.2
The growing presence of Baptists in the colony and the evangelistic
work of Palmer caught the eye of Governor Richard Everard, the last of
the Proprietary governors. In 1729, he reported to the Bishop ofLondon
that "Quakers and Baptists flourish amongst the North Carolinians." The
dissenting Quakers and Baptists, intoned the Governor, "are very busy
making proselytes and holding meetings daily and by the means of
. . .
one Paul Palmer[,] the Baptistteacher, he has gainedhundreds."^ Despite
the Governor's alarm. Baptists increased and spread through the colony
during the period of royal rule from 1729 to the time of the American
Revolutionary War in the mid-1770s. Over this span, the province's pop-
ulation grew to more than a quarter of a million. By the 1750s, sixteen
General Baptist churches dotted the eastern Carolina landscape from the
northern shores ofAlbemarle Sound, west to Warren County, and south
to Craven and Sampson counties. General Baptist leaders Palmer, Joseph
Parker, William Sojourner, Josiah Hart, and other itinerant preachers
"gathered," or formed, these churches. The General Baptist congrega-
tions followedanArminian theologybased on theviews ofthe Dutchthe-
ologian, JacobArminius, who lived in the sixteenth century. Transmitted
to the English colonies in North America and adapted to colonial condi-