United Methodist Church of Geneva celebrated its 185th anniversary Sunday.
Reverend Rob Hamilton, pastor, delivered “Where Two or Three are Gathered,” his first sermon in a four-installment “Happy Anniversary” series. The celebration culminates with a weekend of events Friday, Sept. 27-Sunday, Sept. 29. Included is an evening of homecoming and history, from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27; a community block party and open house, noon to 4 p.m. Sept. 28; and celebration worship service and reception, 9 a.m. to noon, Sept. 29.
The public is invited. Admission and parking are free.
To launch his sermon series, Rev. Hamilton quoted Jesus. He said “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” According to the pastor, Geneva UMC was born in 1839 when the first Methodist class met with three unidentified people. Rev. Hamilton said, “From these humble beginnings, a movement grew that would eventually lead to the establishment of The United Methodist Church of Geneva.”
Church history, he noted, reflects both growth and challenge. By 1850, 79 members erected the first Methodist Church in Geneva, a modest 30-feet by 40-feet structure. As the church grew, so did its influence and reach. By 1872, construction of a new church building started at Second and Hamilton streets, the church’s current location. It featured 12 stained-glass memorial windows.
Additions in 1958, 1982, and 1999 increased sanctuary capacity to over 450 seats. Growth wasn’t always steady. There were times when the church struggled—financial difficulties in 1877, and more recently, a decrease in membership from the heights of the late 20th century.
He explained, “For 40 years, we were a large church with three packed worship services each Sunday, 600 or more on Sunday and 1,300 or more on Christmas and Easter. Today, our numbers are smaller. It’s easy to feel discouraged and to long for the days when the sanctuary was full. But just as those early Methodists didn’t let small numbers hold them back, neither should we.
“From the first Methodist class meeting of three people to the construction of multiple church buildings, to the merger of the
First Methodist Church and the Swedish Emmanuel Methodist Church in 1949,God has continually worked through our congregation, regardless of its size.
“When traveling preacher Hiram Eatner first arrived in Geneva in 1837, he didn’t find a large congregation waiting for him. He found a small, scattered community. But it was in this small gathering that the Spirit moved powerfully, planting the seeds of a church that would grow and thrive for 185 years.
“The same is true today. God’s presence among us doesn’t depend on how many people are in the pews but on the faithfulness of those who are here.”
According to the pastor, his next sermon will explore “how all that worldly power that got us so big, so fast. What started as three Methodists in a settlement of about 100 people, became in the 1870’s a settlement of about 1,000 people, including 70 Methodists, and the county seat.”
For more information, call (630) 232-7120 or visit genevaumc.org.
—Al Benson