Saturday, October 29, 2016
This Week in Texas Methodist History October 30
Texas Conference Passes Resolution to Change Date of
Jurisdictional Conference, Nov. 4, 1943
The unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist
Episcopal Church South and the Methodist
Protestant Church
was accomplished in 1939. Although
unification had been discussed for several decades and representatives from the
denominations had spent thousands of hours in deliberation, they could not
foresee every circumstance that would arise after unification.
One of the main changes after unification was the method of electing
bishops. Both the MEC and the MECS
elected bishops at their quadrennial general conferences. The MP Church did not have bishops. The annual conferences met as committees of
the whole in what they called “stationing committees” to make the
appointments.
Under both the MEC and the MECS, since bishops were elected
by the General Conference, the newly-elected bishops might be assigned to
preside over any annual conference in the respective denomination.
If General Conferences continued to elect bishops after
unification, it would be possible for an African American bishop to be assigned
to preside over a conference in the South.
Such a possibility was anathema to the MECS delegates. A compromise was devised in which the power
to elect bishops was taken away from the General Conference and moved to a new
entity, the Jurisdictional Conference.
The United States
and its territories were divided into 5 regional jurisdictions. The African American churches in the MEC
would be grouped into the “Central Jurisdiction.” Methodists in the South were assured that no
African American bishop would preside over their annual conference—segregation was
enshrined in church law.
At the 1943 Texas Annual Conference some of the preachers
who had served as General Conference delegates before unification, tried to
recapture some of the spirit of the old system.
Before 1939 the most exciting feature of many General
Conferences in both the MEC and MECS had been the election of bishops. Some of the elections continued through
scores of ballots. Adjournment was often
delayed became the episcopal elections dragged on so long, as at the 1902 MECS
General Conference in Dallas. Delegates often had to extend hotel stays,
change their railroad tickets, and miss appointments back home.
But there was a tradeoff.
General Conferences concluded with the consecration service as the
newly-elected bishops received their formal induction into office. Such consecration services served as a
unifying feature after the contentious election.
On Nov. 4, 1943 J. W. Mills, Paul Quillian, Guy Jones, O. W. Bradley, and F. M.
Richardson presented a resolution to petition the 1944 General Conference to
move the dates of Jurisdictional Conference so that they would meet BEFORE General
Conference instead of AFTER.
Jurisdictional Conferences would still elect bishops, but
their consecration would occur at General Conference. The conference passed the resolution, but it
was ignored by the General Conference.
The resolution makes an important point—that is that
Methodist bishops are “General Superintendents.” If consecration had been moved to General
Conference, that point would have been reinforced.
Sunday, October 23, 2016
This Week in Texas Methodist History, October 23
Missionary Couple Arrives in Europe, Missionary
Voice Flubs Story October 1926
Ninety years ago this month, Charles T.
and Ruby Dunn Hardt arrived in Europe to begin
their work with the Polish Mission of the MECS.
Unfortunately, the Missionary
Voice, identified the couple as the Henry G. Hardts. Henry G. Hardt was actually the father of
Charles and three other sons who became preachers and a daughter who also
became a missionary.
The 4 preachers and one missionary all
grew up in the church at Yancey in Medina
County. Dan,, the oldest, joined the German Mission
Conference. Louis and Charles joined the
West Texas Conference. Wesley joined the
Texas Conference. Alice
worked in several Mexican mission schools, both in Mexico
and at Lydia Patterson Institute in El
Paso.
Ruby Dunn grew up in McKinney
and met Charles at Southwestern University where she had attended with help from a
scholarship from the McKinney
chapter of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Service.
Both Charles and Ruby educated
themselves for mission service at SMU and Vanderbilt. Charles was fluent in
German, English, and Spanish he later learned Polish and Czech. Ruby wrote her master’s thesis on Women in
the New Testament.
Funding for missions was devastated by
the Great Depression so Charles and Ruby Hardt returned to Texas
where Charles served a series of appointments in the West
Texas and Southwest Texas Conference (after the name change).
They both lived long lives and never
lost the idealism that inspired them to volunteer for the mission field. It was that idealism that made me love them
all the more. I admired their life-long
work for peace and justice which was
institutionalized with the Charles and
Ruby Hardt Peace Fund administered by the Rio Texas Conference.
Friday, October 14, 2016
This Week n Texas Methodist History October 16
Danny Parker Organizes Union Primitive
Baptist Association, Oct. 17, 1840
One of the dangers of writing church
history is a denominational myopia.
There is a tendency to focus on our own “branch of the vine,” and ignore
the larger context. Such myopia is
perfectly understandable. Many
denominational historians are linked through family tradition, personal
history, and friendship networks to the denomination. Our interest in Methodist history is often a
voyage of self-discovery.
On the other hand, if we really want to
understand one denomination, we have to learn the religious context in which in
which that denomination operated.
A good example is the Methodist focus
on the events of the Jacksonian Era that resulted in the formation of the Methodist Protestant Church
and the Methodist Episcopal Church South from the Methodist Episcopal Church.
We have concentrated so much on the
cycles of division and reunion that we often overlook the fact that other
denominations were experiencing similar processes.
Presbyterians were divided along creedal
boundaries, with members aligning themselves with different “confessions.” Revivalism helped create a new branch, the
Cumberland Presbyterians. Lutherans
created synods based on linguistic (and therefore ethnic) groupings. Baptists faced not only regional North-South,
but also doctrinal splits.
The divisions of the Methodists,
Baptists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans all had some part in shaping the
religious landscape of Texas. One of the most interesting features is that
four of the religious bodies created their denominational organization within a
few months of each other, from April to December, 1840.
The Cumberland Presbyterians organized
their first presbytery in 1837, but then in 1840, others followed.
The Regular Presbyterians organized the
Brazos Presbytery on April 3, 1840 at Chriesman’s School House on the La Bahia Road in
northern Washington
County. On October 8 the Union Baptist Association
was formed at Travis in northern Austin
County. On October 17 Danny Parker organized the Union
Primitive Baptists Association at Douglas. The following Christmas the Texas Conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church was formed at Rutersville, also on the La Bahia Road, but
in northern Fayette
County, less than a day’s
ride from both Travis and Chriesman’s.
Although the Parker name is one of the
most famous in Texas
history, (Danny was Cynthia Ann Parker’s uncle), modern readers are probably
less familiar with the doctrine that Parker espoused.
The larger split was between Regular
and Primitive Baptists. Primitive
Baptists adhered strictly to their vision of the New Testament Church. The New Testament Church did not have Sunday Schools,
Missionary Societies, Tract Societies, so the Primitive Baptists also eschewed
such modern accretions. The flashpoint accretion was missionary
societies, and that issue provided the name Anti-Missionary Baptist
Church. The name “Missionary
Baptist Church”
one still commonly sees in Texas
is a relic of that 19th century dispute, and one sometimes
encounters the pejorative “hardshell” to refer to the Primitive or
Anti-Missionary Baptists.
Danny Parker split from most Primitive
Baptists when the adopted the doctrine of “Two Seedism.” They believed that human were made both in
the image of God and of Satan and adopted what has been called
hyper-Calvinism. Although Parker did
not believe in missionary societies, he did believe in establishing
churches. At one time there were 9 in
East Texas, including the oldest, the Pilgrim
Predistinarian Regular
Baptist Church
near Elkhart.
Yes, Methodists were not alone in
church disputes. This author believes
that the best interpretation of the era is to see them as the ideas of
Jacksonian Democracy being applied to the religious sphere. An expanding democracy was not confined to
politics. Religious life was transformed not just in Texas, but throughout
the nation.
Saturday, October 08, 2016
This Week in Texas Methodist History October 9
Pioneer Pastor, Founder of Fort Worth Church, J. W. Chalk, Dies at Pilot
Point, October 10, 1907
The organized of Methodism in Fort Worth and
Farmersville, Rev. J. W. Chalk died on October 10, 1907. Here is a 1912 account of his life.
Rev. J.
W. Chalk, one of the organic members of the North Texas conference, came from
Maury County, Tennessee, in 1851; was admitted on trial in the old Texas conference, and
sent to the frontier work. He organized the church in Fort
Worth in 1855 or 1856; transferred to the East
Texas conference, and was a pioneer preacher when it took grit and
grace to do the work of a Methodist itinerant preacher. In those days, it was
necessary to protect himself from the marauding bands of Indians, and he had to
carry his gun, as well as his Bible. He had seen service in the Mexican war,
and learned to face danger, and trust in God. He was a most honorable man, and
was popular with all the people. His work on this circuit was crowned with
great success, and many were added to the church. After more than a half
century in the ministry, he fell asleep in Pilot Point. Many will rise up in
the judgment and call him blessed.
Among his
other appointments were Red Oak, Honey Grove, Bonham, Jacksonville,
Bonham, and the Dallas
and Denton Districts.
Sunday, October 02, 2016
This Week in Texas Methodist History October 2
Tennessee
Conference Meets in Huntsville, Alabama, Four Members Transfer to Texas, Oct. 3, 1838
Tennessee was
one of the main source regions for immigrants coming to the Republic of Texas. There were constant rumors that Mexico would
try to retake its former province. In
1842 two separate incursions by Mexican forces came all the way to San Antonio. The Comanche were emboldened by the weakness
of Texian defenses. Although they were
usually residents of the High Plains, they made at least one raid to the Gulf
of Mexico town of Linnville. The wealth of Texas was in land, but that land was not
worth much if it was not producing agricultural products.
A solution to these military and
economic problems was an increased population.
Incentives in the form of land grants existed until the cut off date of
January 1, 1840. Any settler arriving
before that date received a generous land grant.
Meanwhile, Tennessee was one of the states hardest hit
by the economic difficulties of the late 1830s.
Ironically, at least some of the economic woes were the result of the
policies of Andrew Jackson, the most famous Tennessean of them all. All over Tennessee,
the letters GTT (Gone to Texas),
were scrawled on the doors of abandoned cabins.
It is not surprising that some of the
immigrant stream consisted of Methodist preachers. On October 3, 1838, the Tennessee Annual
Conference met in Huntsville, Alabama
(northern Alabama was part of the Tennessee
Conference.) and four of its members transferred to Texas.
Actually Littleton Fowler was already
there. He had come in 1837 and was now head of the missionary efforts in
the Republic. Ike Strickland, Jesse
Hord, and Samuel Williams were the other three.
Isaac Lemuel Gillespie Strickland (b.
1809) and Jesse Hord (also b. 1809) left for Texas together on Oct. 21. Strickland died the following July 2 at Bell’s Plantation on the Brazos. There is a
bronze marker in his honor at Bell Cemetery at West Columbia. Hord lived much longer, dying in Goliad in
1886.
Littleton Fowler served courageously
until his death in January 1846. As you
know, he is buried under the pulpit at McMahan’s Chapel. Williams lived until 1866 when he died at the
age of 56. He is buried at San
Augustine.