China Grove at 141: Church is celebrating anniversary on Easter

Saturday, April 30, 2011
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alt — Shirley Hill, foreground, and Wyvet Benning place pastel Easter flowers around numerals representing the 141 years of China Grove Baptist Church’s history.

By W. WINSTON SKINNER winston@newnan.com Members of China Grove Baptist have been even busier than most Cowetans during the past week. Across Coweta County, churches have had events for Holy Week, the days leading up to Easter, when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. China Grove’s members have been getting ready for Easter, too. But this year the holy day has fallen on the fourth Sunday in April, when China Grove celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year.

Earlier this week, men were getting the yard in first class shape for Easter and the church anniversary. Inside the sanctuary, Shirley Hill and Wyvet Benning placed large crepe paper flowers — in pastel colors for Easter — around large silvery numerals spelling out “141” — the number of years since China Grove was founded. Like many other churches, the Turin congregation will hold a sunrise service today at 7:30 a.m. The anniversary service — with the theme “Vessels Filled With God’s Holy Glory” — will start at 10 a.m. “It’s the same day as Easter,” Benning noted — an occurrence that is rare. Easter is determined based on phases of the moon. For Easter to coincide with the fourth Sunday celebration of China Grove’s heritage, the holy day must take place on April 22 or later. That has happened only seven times since the church was founded — in 1886, 1905, 1916, 1943, 1973, 1984 and 2000. In addition to celebrating its anniversary and remembering the biblical teachings about the resurrection, China Grove will be kicking off “Free In Three,” a stewardship program aimed at eliminating debt owed from the construction of the current church — a modern, brick meetinghouse with windows that let lots of bright Georgia sunlight illuminate the sanctuary’s varying shades of green. “It’s a blessing that all of it falls on Easter,” Benning observed. “We’re going to retire the mortgage on the church — through pledges from each member,” explained Vivian Hill, who has been attending China Grove since 1982. The church was already the spiritual home of her husband, Cornelius, who is one of China Grove’s deacons. China Grove Baptist Church was organized in 1870. The original site was on Neely Road, and Ruby Simmons, Cornelius Hill’s sister, said there still is a cemetery there. As the congregation grew, there was a need for a larger church building. Some of the members went to Sharpsburg and started Pleasant Grove Baptist, while the others came to Turin and built a meetinghouse on the current site in 1893. Although the congregation left the Neely Road site more than a century ago, a natural phenomenon at that location gave the church its name. “There were a whole bunch of chinaberry trees,” said Eugene Elder, a deacon at the church. China Grove’s 1893 building was remodeled a couple of times before it was replaced by the current edifice, which was completed in 1995. The church has had a number of pastors over the years. The first, Harry Dickerson, served the congregation for 23 years, and the current pastor, Harold Kilgour, has been at China Grove for nine years. Much has changed over the decades. “At the old church, we had Sunday school and worship services once a month when I was little,” Simmons said. She also remembered that when she was a student at the adjacent Walter B. Hill School, which now houses Turin’s town offices, pupils would come to China Grove for a service after school each day. Cornelius Hill said the church went from monthly services to twice a month and then began meeting every week about 20 years ago. “Going full-time helped a great deal,” he said. Vivian Hill said the church has “a lot more ministries” than it once did. The Sunday school, Mother Board, Ushers and choir have been around a long time, but new needs have created projects. “Now we have more ministries that are able to reach people through different forms of worship,” Vivian Hill said. There is a dance ministry and a 20/20 program “for the young people,” she said. Warriors In Training is aimed at children, and China Grove’s couples meet every other month for fellowship. The church has always reached out to those in need with food and other necessities, and groups now visit nursing homes in the area. There also is an outreach to Southwest Christian Hospice in Union City. Sara Brooks said she works with a ministry that seeks to “feed the elderly people.” “We try to do as much as we can with the resources we do have,” Cornelius Hill said. There are more than 150 people on the roll at China Grove. Like most Baptist churches, there are some who have not attended in years, but about 100 are active in some facet of church life. “This is the most loving church I have ever been associated with,” Vivian Hill reflected. “It’s like family. The people are so willing to give and to advance the kingdom.” The members at China Grove “are working for the cause of Christ” and want to see “lives changed for the better,” she added. “That’s what blesses me so much.”

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China Grove at 141: Church is celebrating anniversary on Easter

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