This Week in Texas Methodist History August 15

Free Methodist Church Retains Ban on Instrumental Music, August 1935

 

 

The Free Methodist Church was organized in Pekin, New York, in 1860.  The denomination was staunchly abolitionist and also apposed pew rents which were common in MEC churches of the era.   The organizers of the denomination were also against formalism in worship, which  had become a problem in some MEC churches.  Like many religious reformers, the organizers wished to return to a time when expressions of the Holy Spirit were central to the worship experience than liturgical formality.

 

In the latter years of the 119^th century the Free Methodist Church became one of the most important expressions of the Holiness Movement that fostered the growth of Pentecostal denominations which continue to this day. 

 

One of the evangelistic techniques of several of the Pentecostal groups was unavailable to the Free Methodists.  That was sidewalk musicians because Free Methodism did not allow instrumental music. 

 

Free Methodism had a hard time in Texas because of its anti-slavery origins, but eventually Bishop B. T. Roberts organized the Texas Louisiana Conference at a campground near Corsicana in July 1881.  The first appointments were to Ennis, Corsicana, Waxahachie, Milford, Waco, Salado, Belton, Christmas Creek, Longview, Fort Worth, and Terrell.  There were also three appointments in Louisiana. 

 

The next generation saw enough growth to allow Louisiana to be severed from the conference and new churches established in settlements attractive to immigrants from the northern states.  By the World War I era there were Free Methodist churches in the new cities stretching west from Fort Worth along the rail lines, in East Texas sawmill towns, and on the coastal plains.  A Free Methodist seminary was created at Campbell.    By 1914 Milford, Waco, Salado, Belton, Christmas Creek, Longview, Fort Worth, and Terrell.  There were also three appointments in Louisiana. 

 

The next generation saw enough growth to allow Louisiana to be severed from the conference and new churches established in settlements attractive to immigrants from the northern states.  By the World War I era there were Free Methodist churches in the new cities stretching west from Fort Worth along the rail lines, in East Texas sawmill towns, and on the coastal plains.  A Free Methodist seminary was created at Campbell.    By 1915 there was enough growth to split the conference into eastern and western branches. 

 

The ban against instrument music hurt evangelistic efforts and an attempt was made to remove that clause from the Discipline.  A referendum was held at  the General Conference of 1935.   The vote was 43 to 112 and the prohibition against instrumental music continued for another two decades.

 

This Week in Texas Methodist History August 8

 

Texas Young Adults Complete Two “Caravans”, August 1941

 

Summer programs for youth and young adults have been one of the most common features of Methodist life in Texas for the past 100 years. 

 

The best known of these activities are the summer camps. Young Methodists, organized into the Epworth League, had an encampment near Corpus Christi and were instgrumental in the creation of Mt. Sequoya in Fayetteville, Arkansas.     Eventually each of the annual conferences acquired rural property and constructed facilities to host summer youth encampments.  Many readers of this blog would have pleasant memories of Mount Wesley, Ceta Canyon, Lakeview, and so on.  In the late 20^th century UM Army provided an opportunity for youth to engage in service projects such as minor repair of housing, painting, constructing wheelchair ramps and so on.  After working all day, the youth would spend the evening in recreational and devotional activities.  

 

Another type of young adult activity popular in the 1930s was the Caravan.  Participants were usually college students who would travel in a group and help local congregations.  Some of the most popular activities were neighborhood canvassing and conducting vacation Bible Schools and Youth Revivals. 

 

The teams were largely recruited from Methodist groups on colleges and universities, and naturally some of the participants were considering devoting their lives to some form of Christian vocation.

 

As the summer of 1941 ended, the Southwestern Christian Advocate highlighted two of Caravan teams that had been working in Texas and were now planning their return to their usual fall activities.

 

The first Caravan was headed by Mary Louise Rector of San Antonio.  They began in Weslaco on June 14, and moved on to San Benito, Harlingen, Brownsville, Edinburg, and McAllen.  They finished in Raymondville on August 1.  The Caravan members included Louise Jarratt from Stephenville, Rowena Wisenant from Altus, Oklahoma,  Mary Lee Smith from Greenville, Tennessee, and Hyman McCarthy, Jr. from Shubuta, Mississippi.

 

The second Caravan was led by Mary Meredith who was also from San Antonio.  Elwyn O. Thurston of Manford, Oklahoma, Doris Nelson of Audubon, Iowa, Dorothy Palmer of Springfield, Missouri, and Greta Carter of El Reno, Oklahoma were the other members.

 

They also started on June 14 in Freer and then travelled to Ingleside, Crystal City, Yoakum, San Antonio Denver Heights, South San Antonio Brooks Memorial, and finished in Seguin on August 1.  

 

When I read this article I was disappointed at the SCA did not include all the Caravans in Texas in the summer of 1941.  My mother, Martha Carson, a member of the Methodist church at Malakoff had finished her two years at Lon Morris College and was about to begin her studies at SMU.  She was in a Caravan that spent the weeks listed above in the near north side of Houston, mainly at St. Mark’s Methodist church.  Very close to St. Mark’s were several other Methodist churches, Grace, Fulbright, Collins, etc.  The large concentration was due to fact that both the MECS and MECS established churches on the near north side of Houston.  St. Mark's was in fact the result of a 1938 merger of a MECS church and a German heritage MEC church    A very productive field for the young adults.