The first church established in Lewis
County was the Ebenezer Methodist Church at Palestine, about the year 1824.
During the Civil war, the
Methodist Episcopal Church was organized and
in 1886 was one of the leading denominations of the county. In 1893, Eliza
Smith donated a
lot to the M. E. Church South for erecting a church
building. In 1899, the local church membership was 206. On December 10,
1908, for $100.00 the same lot on which the present building is located was
purchased and a rough frame building was rected. In 1909, a lot was
purchased for the erection of a home for the pastor.
In 1915, J. W.
Gilbert was assigned to the Hohenwald Circuit and two Women's Missionary
Societies were organized. It later came to be called
the Women's
Society of Christian Service. About 1950, the ladies who had jobs outside the
home organized the Wesleyan Service Guild so
they would be able to meet
at night. This was later combined with the day group to become the United
Methodist Women.
During the depression years, it was very difficult to
collect pledges and meet the church budget. The Board of Stewards appointed
three
young men, called Junior Stewards, to assist in collecting the
pledges. These young men would contact every member who had signed a
pledge at some time each month to ask for their contribution. This plan
was followed for several years.
In 1947, the Fellowship Hall and
classrooms were added. the lot adjacent the Education Building was purchased in
1953 for the erection of a
new parsonage. In 1961, construction began
on a new parsonage. The building was dedicated on April 29, 1962.
In
March 1966, remodeling work was started in the sanctuary. The interior was
completly remodeled and the entrance moved from the front
on Court
Street, to the corner facing West Second Street. In 1973, four classrooms and
restrooms were added to the Education Building.
The church at Hohenwald
has always been blessed with talented and dedicated musicians and singers; and
has been noted for many years for
its excellent choir. The Hohenwald
congregation is a caring and committed people and has always responded to the
needs of the community
in every way possible. The pastor is the
president of the Lewis County Ministerial Association, which provides a food
bank for the needy and
gives financial help to transients, as well as
local needy.
The membership of the church is about 335. We hope to
continue to grow as our community grows and as memnbers of the church grow
spiritually.
The Christian Life Center groundbreaking was in the
fall of 1994 and the building was completed in the fall of 1995. We were
blessed to have
a new sound system installed in the sanctuary in the
fall of 2000.
Past and Present Pastors include: 1898-J. A. Patterson,
1902-J. T. Redman, 1908-C.E. Heriges, 1909-Edward Carson, 1912-Fred B. Cox,
1913-M. W. Charles, 1914-W. O. Largen, 1915-J. W. Gilbert, 1916-M. W.
Charles, 1918-W. J. Wilson, 1919-W. C. Folkes, 1921-J.L.B Cash,
1923-W.
F. Burden, 1927- O. W. Jones, 1932- L. F. Haley, 1935-C. S. Wilson, 1936- W. C.
Morehead, 1939-C. F. Belew (First "full-time"
minister), 1943-Frank
Hawkins, 1944-Clair Suddath, 1945-J. E. Jones, 1951-H. H. Bixler, 1955-Hugh
Ferguson (This church broke from the
circuit to be a separate
appointment), 1958-Thomas DeRamus, 1961-Jack K. Sides, 1962-Joe Frazier,
1967-Paul E. Allen, 1971-Robert
Mansfield, 1973-Ben H. Wakefield,
1976-Joe Moore, 1978-Neil Dobson, 1981-Carleton Thackston, 1984-Harry V. Agee,
1986-William Redding,
1991-Gary Wedgewood, 1997-S. Stephen Smith,
2001-Chip Hunter, Steve Blackwell, Drew Brewer.