Union Church Celebrates 150 Year Anniversary

Two thousand and three marks the 150-year anniversary of the beginning of Union Church. Founded by John G. Fee in 1853, the church was known as a "free church of Christ" and was very liberal for the time period in which it was created. The church was liberal because it accepted all followers of Christ, including blacks and all denominations, something that was quite rare for the times, especially in this part of the United States.

Two years ago, a sesquicentennial committee was started with the tasks of researching church history and planning events for commemorating the anniversary during the 2003 year.

Picture courtesy of Union Church Web Site

This spring, the events kicked off with an opening celebration on April 27th in which three banners were displayed and Berea College organist John Courter played special organ music. Then on June 8th, church Reverend Kent Gilbert "became" church founder John G. Fee, complete with costume and an entrance on horseback, for a service commemorative to those that Fee ran at the beginning of the church. Thirty of Fee's descendants were able to attend, along with many others and the service was held outdoors.

Then on Sunday, June 29th, the Union Church family invited in members from traditionally black churches from the Berea community to Union for a hymn sing and potluck lunch. African-Americans were among the original members of Union Church, until the Day Law was passed that banned interracial education, and Union decided to switch to all-white Sunday school. This move prompted the creation of several black only churches, which Rev. Gilbert said were already in the works before the Day Law was passed.

More events are still on the horizon as part of the celebration. On Sunday, August 10th, John Courter performed a community carillon concert on the carillon in Berea College's Draper Building. Then on September 28th during the church's regular 10:45 worship service, there was a "celebration of the arts" which included a play by church member Mandy Chao.

The week of October 3rd will bring the Kentucky Council of Churches Annual meeting. The meeting will bring at least 400 people from around the state. On Thursday of that week, Union Church will hold a church service with a special speaker. The service will be done to reflect the values the church has always had towards other churches.

October 24th will bring the final ceremony, which will include a Sunday morning worship with time set aside for a congregational meeting to discuss the church wants for a mission in the next 150 years.

Also during the summer, the church will take part in the Berea Arts Council's Show of Hands event by placing decorated hands in the front yard of the church.

Research was done through the archives of the church and Berea College. Among other things, early church letters were found. Reverend Gilbert said that in 1860 church leaders burned some documents while fleeing an ambush on the church by a group of people from Richmond. Other research has been done by Union Church member Dick Drake, who wrote a book on the church's history entitled One in Spirit: The Liberal Evangelical Witness of Union Church in Berea, Kentucky, 1853-2003. The book is expected to be released in December.

Here are some historical tidbits that might interest you about the church. There have been 14 Head Pastors, and 13 assistants and youth ministers. There have been four different buildings that the church has housed itself in, with the current one being planned for in 1919 and then built in 1922.

Reverend Gilbert commented on Union Church and its history. "This is obviously not the same congregation as the people who started it, yet the same inquiry, spirit and openness are still prime values of the church, and the call of God is still a main part of the church. The same faith and spirit is still there as we head towards the future," Gilbert stated.

"An unusual facet of what we have done as a church during this anniversary has been to not only celebrate what we've done right, but to also look at the problems we've had. It has been a period of evaluation; what decisions seemed right then and then turned out to cause problems have been looked at as well as the ones that seemed accidental that led to positives," Gilbert continued. "Having the committee helped a lot, and they were led by Les and Mary Lou Pross. We're looking to see what we can do to make things better in the future from our evaluation," Gilbert concluded.

Written by Evan Bolster