From brush arbor to bricks and mortar

Methodists began worshiping 150 years ago in Cochran under a brush arbor on what’s now the northeast corner of East Dykes and Third streets.

On Sunday, members of the First United Methodist Church of Cochran will celebrate its seven original members forming the church. During the 11 a.m. service, there will be special speakers, recognition of young men called from the church to ministry, a hand bell choir performance, dinner and displays of historical records and memorabilia as they consider their past and look to their future.

But there’s more: the day will also be the 100th anniversary of the building the congregation has been meeting in since 1916.

“In circumstances like this, you can’t help but be aware of the long tradition of faithfulness to the Lord and it really ties you to generations past,” said the Rev. Bill Woodson, who has pastored the church for just over a year.

“It adds a certain gravity to what you’re doing to realize so many have been faithful to the Gospel and to reach others for Christ in this place. It makes you careful for every word you say. It says a lot that the church is still here by remaining relevant to the community and by being true to the Gospel, to God’s word. We may change methods, but we can’t change the truth.”

According to church records and histories, 150 years ago the community was known as Dykesboro. Back then, Methodists, Baptists and Episcopalians all took turns meeting under a great tree and brush arbor on the corner then owned by David Q. Dykes. The brush arbor was removed and a building erected in 1868 to serve all three denominations and the land was deeded to them jointly by Dykes.

The Methodist group bought the property in 1879 from the other groups who moved and built elsewhere — the Baptist just catty-corner across the street on the southwest corner of the intersection.

The Rev. A.M. Williams represented the Methodists at the time in buying the property.

Through the years, the congregation has been known as Methodist, Methodist Episcopal and, since the 1968, United Methodist to reflect their denomination’s various historical associations.

Following use of the open brush arbors and the unified church building shared by Methodists, Baptists and Episcopalians, the church constructed a wood-frame building in 1890 and then the present brick facility in 1916. A parsonage was built in 1950 and the Harris-Meadows Annex/Education Building was added in 1960.

As Woodson said, there are advantages to having a long, faithful history. So are there disadvantages to meeting in a 100-year-old building, despite it having a modern-classic look?

“Well honestly, the bathrooms,” he said. “It’s not that they’re not functioning well as modern bathrooms, but 100 years ago bathrooms were almost an afterthought and they’re small and not placed where we’d put them today. They’re not as big and comfortable as what would be designed today, either, and that’s the big thing. And 100 years ago they built things solidly with three-foot-thick walls in places. You don’t just knock those out to remodel and expand a bathroom. But still, it’s all a blessing.”

While appreciating the building along with the congregation’s past, long-time members Jim Rambo and Lauren Farrell stress it’s not 100-year-old mortar and bricks that they appreciate.

They said it’s the people and what God has done.

“I grew up in this church,” Rambo said. “My parents brought me and I have to say I wasn’t aware of all the history and the dates and how it started. I do think it’s one of the most beautiful sanctuaries I’ve ever been in, and I know I took it for granted as a kid. But what I was aware of as a kid was the names and the people my mother, Rancis Rambo, who’s 91 now, and my grandmother, Ona Love, would talk about as real leaders in the church, and women’s circle meetings and children’s work and other things. And now I realize I’m in that place of being part of the history here and carrying on what the church is. It’s quite a realization.”

Farrell said the church has played an important role in people’s lives and in the community.

“Through all those years as a church and the years in this building, people have been married here, babies born to families and baptized here, gone through confirmation, grown up and been loved here,” she said. “People have been honored at funerals here. The events of life take place in these walls and lifetime relationships are built here. It’s so much more about what happens inside than it is about the building itself. I think one of the strongest ministries of the church is the play school that’s been here since the 1980s. Now we have children who went here who are parents of children going here. In my case, my daughter went through play school and one day I’ll send my grandchildren. It’s a continuum. Everything changes around us, the world shifts, but on this corner you can still find a little bit of sanity — things that are true and eternal and people who care.”

It’s all part of the gravity Woodson spoke about.

“It’s true. I preach to generations,” he said. “Jim Rambo will have four generations in the service Sunday, his mother through his granddaughter. That in itself represents a great deal of history and we see it all around us and we’re thankful. I know I’m standing where some great men of faith have stood and it’s a privilege to do so.

“The greatest thing is that Christ loved us and gave himself for us in such love and we are a family here. We love and support each other when the chips are down. In time — more time — this building won’t matter at all. It’s to us what a hammer is to a carpenter — a necessary tool but just a tool to do a more important work. That work is to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ and that doesn’t change. That’s for eternity.”

Remarkably, as the congregation and guests gather to remember a slice of history they’ll also have the opportunity to see on display a slice from the trunk of the original great tree those congregations worshiped under so many years ago as part of the old brush arbor.

Woodson said the public is “invited, welcomed and encouraged” to attend the anniversary service.

This story was originally published October 14, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "From brush arbor to bricks and mortar."