COMMUNITY NEWS
| Muscatine County, Iowa COMMUNITY NEWS | |
Source: Muscatine Journal & News Tribune, Saturday May 19, 1934 pg 7
Submitted by Lynn McCleary, June 16, 2013
Church Arranging for Anniversaries
Special Programs to Be Presented Sunday, May 27.The year 1934 is especially significant to Methodism because of six different anniversaries which are to be commemorated by Methodist churches throughout America. This year marks the ninety-fifth year of the organization of the Methodist church in Muscatine.
There were public services held previous to 1839 but the church was officially organized under the Rev. Mr. Bruce in May of that year. Mr. Brace was the first pastor of the church, which was the first religious organization in what was then Bloomington, now Muscatine.
Hundredth Anniversary. The second event, which has been celebrated at Burlington during the past month, is the one hundredth anniversary of the first Methodist meeting held in this section of the state of Iowa in April, 1834.
This year also marks the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Epworth league as a young people’s organization.
The fourth celebration is the centennial of the trek of Jason Lee, pioneer missionary to the Oregon country. Lee traveled in a covered wagon and made the trip in answer to a request of a committee of Flathead Indians who came from Oregon to St. Louis in search of what they called the “whiteman’s Book of Heaven.” This event will be commemorated by a one-act play on Sunday evening, May 27, given by the Drama league as part of this celebration plan.
Stated in 1784. The year 1834 marks the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the official organization of the Methodist Episcopal church in America. This took place in what is known as the Christmas conference at Lovely Lane, Baltimore, Md., held in 1784.
The sixth event to be celebrated this year is the sixty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Women’s Foreign Missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Special services are being planned in commemoration of these anniversaries Sunday morning and evening. May 27. Special speakers who will occupy the pulpit on that date include Dr. E. A. Bentzinger, district superintendent of the Burlington district and a former pastor of the church here, and Dr. John Wesley Potter of Mt. Pleasant, also a former pastor.
Page created June 16, 2013