Wilcox United Methodists to commemorate 175th birthday

On June 1, the Wilcox United Methodist Church will be celebrating 175 years serving the community.

The Methodist Church at Wilcox traces its beginnings to 1850 when preaching services were held and a church was organized in the home of Washington Griffith who lived 1-1/2 miles north and west of where Wilcox now stands. At the Fourth Quarterly Conference held August 3, 1850, Griffith was elected steward, Rev. Wm. Shaw as pastor, and Rev. Wm. Patton, presiding elder. Charter members included Griffith and his wife, Banner Brummett and wife, Mrs. Samuel Kennedy and daughter, Sara. They were later joined by Casewell Whitten, Morris Whitten, Melinda Whitten, James Erving, Celia Erving, Sylvester Heflin and wife, Melvin Heflin, Samual Hall and wife.

Records show that the newly organized church met in the Griffith home, at Griffith School House or at Griffith’s Grove until the outbreak of the Civil War, when it became impossible to hold quarterly conferences or to keep records because of the strong sentiment against the Methodist Episcopal Church South and especially against the preachers. Jesse Bird, the presiding elder at the time, was to have held a conference in Maryville but was given orders from the military commander in St. Joseph to leave the state and not preach anymore in the district. He did move his family out of the district for a while to prevent imprisonment.

After the Civil War, the church groups were again permitted to reorganize and attend Annual Conference. In 1866, the Rev. Davis preached from the text, “Fear not little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” – Luke 12:32.

The town of Wilcox was established in 1879 and a new school house was erected there. In 1881, the Griffith Church was moved to Wilcox and was then known as the Wilcox ME Church South, instead of Griffith Grove Church. Services continued in the school house until 1891 when the first church building was erected. It was a frame building just 28’ x 48’ with a vestibule in the front, built at a cost of $1500. Rev LR Loyal was minister at the time of the building and dedication.

By 1915, the church was in need of a great deal of repair, so at the Quarterly Conference on March 27, 1915, AJ Jenson, CC Hainline and Brice C. Hall were placed on a building committee to either remodel or rebuild. It was decided to rebuild and the last preaching service in the old church was held on August 29, 1915. The first preaching service in the new church was held on January 9, 1916.

That new church was dedicated on May 28, 1916, by Bishop ER Hendrix of Kansas City. Rev. George T. Rolston was pastor at the time. The new church was 45’ x 52’ with a full basement. A new parsonage was built in Wilcox in 1926.

In 1939, when Methodism in Missouri united, Wilcox Church became a part of this new merger and ceased being a ME South church. Former District Superintendent Dr. Glenn A. Baldwin upon retirement became the preacher for the Wilcox and Pickering charges. Wilcox at that time became the third church to accept the Lord’s Acre plan of finance in the year 1946. This plan strengthened the church’s understanding of stewardship of time, talent and money. The Lord’s Acre tradition has continued and a special event has been held at the church every fall since.

On May 28, 1950, the Wilcox Church celebrated its 100th anniversary with a full day program and basket dinner. The Rev. WH Allen was pastor at that time.

The second church building, 55 years old, was destroyed by fire on April 9, 1970. Rev. Bill Butts was pastor and the loss was estimated to be in excess of $35,000. The following day, concerned members and friends of the church met and voted without dissent that if funds could be raised, a new church would be built. A building committee was appointed consisting of Basil McIntyre, Eldon Jenson, ED Wiley, Jimmie Thompson, Lloyd Weir and Carl Winell as chair. In the meantime, the congregation met at the Ireland Community Center, the former Ireland Rural School and later at the parsonage in Wilcox.

Groundbreaking for the third and current church took place July 19, 1970. The new church of concrete and brick was erected just south of the previous church on the site of the first church building. The church board met on July 14, 1970, and the members of the church voted to incorporate. The first services were held in the new church on February 14, 1971, and it was dedicated on May 9, 1971. The church continues today with Erin Mullins serving as pastor.

A special church service to commemorate the 175th anniversary will be held at 11 am, Sunday, June 1 at the church at 22413 Galaxy Road in Wilcox. All community m