From Church of the Year to Seizure and Sale In 4 Years: The Sad Story of a Methodist Church

From Church of the Year to Seizure and Sale In 4 Years: 

The Sad Story of a Methodist Church

In 2020, the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church selected the Joaquin United Methodist as the Best Small Membership Church in their District for its exemplary community activity and service to children, youth and the elderly.  That same year, the District named Bro. Robert Ortigo, the Pastor of the Joaquin United Methodist Church as Best Pastor of the Year.  Four short years later, Bro. Ortigo is with his Lord Jesus, and the Bishop of the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church has announced the imminent seizure and sale of the historic church.  The story behind this change demonstrates how large organizations, even when they are dedicated to Christian principles, can become vehicles of blind destruction.

The town of Joaquin is located as far East as you can go in Texas.  It sits just two miles from where the Sabine River makes a hook, turns west, and ceases to be the boundary between Texas and Louisiana.  Joaquin traces its origins to the period following the opening of Texas to Anglo settlement.  The earliest buildings were constructed on the high slope above the deep, narrow channel of the Sabine River.  This spot marks a natural ford where a ferry was built to bring settlers across.  It is located at the Sabine’s northern most navigable point, where Riverboats from the Gulf could dock.  When the first Railroad was built, connecting Shreveport and Arkansas with Houston and Galveston, a railroad bridge spanned the Sabine near the spot where the original settlement stood; but the town followed the railroad and moved a couple of miles west to the location of the Railhead and station.  

The history of the Methodist Faith in that part of East Texas parallels that of the community.  As early as 1825, Circuit Riding Methodist Ministers risked capture by Spanish-Mexican authorities, and held camp meetings and Methodist services in a Brush Arbor built where the Brookland Cemetery now stands just west of the Sabine.  The little Methodist church building constructed there was first named the Harmony Methodist Church.  When the town moved west to establish the town of Joaquin, the Methodist Congregation followed.  

The documented history of the Joaquin Methodist congregation dates to 1876 when the first building was opened and the church chartered.  Between 1894 and 1895, a church was built on the Joaquin lot across from the site of the present church.  In 1904-1905, the first church located on the present site was completed.  In 1951, the members of the Joaquin Methodist Church, assisted by friends in the community, tore down the old building and erected the little brick chapel that the United Methodist Conference plans to seize, close, and sell. 

Thus, the little brick church by the railroad in Joaquin is 199 years old (from inception); 148 years old (from charter); 119 years old (in the same site), and 73 years old (in the present building).  The important fact is that if the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church follows its current course, the historic church will never be 200 years old; 150 years old, 120 years old, or even 75 years old.  Instead, their Church will be sold or demolished and the congregation will cease to exist.

Why would a Church Conference take such action, and how would such a seizure be legal?  As readers of the Dallas Morning News know, the United Methodist Church Conference (founded in 1968) has recently adopted controversial polices regarding LGBTQ pastors.  These controversies led to many United Methodist Congregations disaffiliating with the Conference.  The Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church claims that all of the properties owned by local United Methodist Churches are actually the property of the Conference, and that the local churches are only allowed to hold these properties “in trust” for the Conference.  

However, rather than test their “Trust” ownership theory in the courts, the Conference allowed local congregations to disaffiliate with the Conference during 2023 without losing their properties.  Unfortunately, the pastor of the Joaquin United Methodist Church was desperately ill from cancer during this period and throughout most of 2024. The Texas Conference did not communicate with the Board of the Joaquin United Methodist Church or with its officers.  After the passing of their Pastor, the congregation of the little church voted to disaffiliate with the Conference and change their name from United Methodist Church to Joaquin Community Methodist Church.

The officers of the little church were then informed that they had missed the “window of opportunity” for withdrawing from the Conference, and that their church would be seized and sold by the Conference.  The little church does not have the resources to fight the powerful Conference.  They have deeds to the properties where the church stands, dating back to 1904 and 1905.  Most of the additional properties were donated to the church by members before it joined the newly formed United Methodist Conference in 1968.  Six property deeds are held by the church and filed in the Shelby County Courthouse.  The United Methodist Church Conference has failed to produce any deeds or titles, or agreements signed by the local church assigning their real property to the Conference.  However, without resources or legal representation, the congregation of the historic church has little hope of prevailing against the Conference.

On Nov. 5, 2024, the citizens of Joaquin voted, possibly for the last time, in the Fellowship Hall of the Joaquin Methodist Church. Local voting has taken place there for as long as most can remember.  In a normal Nov., the Hall would now be stacked high with cans and boxes of food waiting for the ladies of Joaquin to pack Thanksgiving Baskets for those in need of help during the holidays. The men and the youth of the Church and town would be beginning their deliveries.  After Thanksgiving, the tradition has been for toys to replace the food, as members worked to bring Christmas to children of the Community, whose families are having “hard times.”  A school bus sits forlornly in the parking lot, no longer being used to transport local children to Sunday School or Vacation Bible School.

During the area Fall festivals, the pork rind frying machine belonging to the Youth of the church would normally be in demand. almost every weekend.  The little Church sells pork rinds at area gatherings to fund projects, including their scholarship program.  For at least 40 years, Joaquin Methodist Church has given higher education scholarships to graduates of Joaquin High School These are based on Christian leadership, potential, and need, not membership in any specific church.  In recent years, the little church has annually funded $6,000 to $18,000 in such scholarships, with less than 1/3 going to Methodist youth.  Most scholarships are used at local colleges, but some help students in career training programs.  This spring, the 2025 Joaquin High School graduates will be the first class in almost 50 years not to be honored by a graduation luncheon hosted in the Fellowship Hall by the Methodist Women.

Other programs that were initiated by the little church are now broadly supported and hosted by other churches and the community.  These include the Senior Citizens Center and the Food Bank.  Imagining the community without its oldest, and one of its most giving Churches, is difficult.  The sadness of church members is shared by many, who, while not members, feel a connection to the congregation.  Many have expressed hopes for saving the Church, and prayer services have been organized.  The little congregation has asked for prayers that their church may be saved.

In the meantime, preparations are being made to move services from the 73 year old Sanctuary to the Brush Arbor in the Memorial Garden beside the Church building.  There the congregation plans to worship as their forbearers did 200 years ago (at least until the Conference banishes them from the grounds). 

A LIFELONG MEMBER OF THE JOAQUIN METHODIST CHURCH REMEMBERS by Bro. Charles C. Freeman (age 86, Retired Local Pastor of the United Methodist Church)

A LIFELONG MEMBER OF THE JOAQUIN METHODIST CHURCH REMEMBERS

By Bro. Charles C. Freeman (age 86, Retired Local Pastor of the United Methodist Church)

The background story for this Letter can be found at:

https://communicatinglife2.blogspot.com/2024/11/stealing-church-ending-tradition.html

My earliest memories are of sitting on the back pew of the Joaquin Methodist Church with my Mother, Britt Annie Nunley Freeman and my four older brothers Travis, Billy, J.C., and Dale (and when I was older my baby brother, Dennis).  My Mother taught Sunday School there for almost 40 years and worked in every Vacation Bible School.  Children all over the town (many now old people like me) called her “Mama Shug.”  

My Dad wasn’t a member when I was a child, but my Mother (and all the preachers) kept praying for him, and when I was thirteen and was baptized, he was baptized  with me and joined also.  All of these memories took place in the old frame Methodist Church that stood on the lot at 105 Faulkville Rd. from 1905 until 1951.

That year, 1951, my Dad, a carpenter, my brothers Billy, Dennis, and I helped the other men of Joaquin Methodist Church tear down the frame church building and erect the brick building that stands there today.   My other three brothers didn’t build because they were in the armed forces (Air Force and Army) serving our country during the Korean War.  They weren’t able to work, but they sent money to help pay for supplies.  Many Joaquin men, who were not Methodists, gave their labor or special expertise to help us.  Many in the community donated to the building project.

First ,we tore down the old building.  We saved every piece of wood and other materials from that structure.  My first job was pulling nails, so both nails and boards could be reused in the new building.  Women of the church prepared meals and served on the work site.  They also brought big jugs of fresh, cold water to the workers.

My brother Billy was the youngest and most agile of the men on the site, and he clamored to the highest point in the Sanctuary ceiling to hoist up the big exposed beams.  He also laid the shingles on the highest points of the roof.  When he later served as pastor of the church, he loved to tell funny stories about his building experiences, and remind us he was the only person who knew what the Sanctuary looked like from the top arch.

I remember so many holidays, weddings, and funerals at our church.  My brother J. C. was serving as a military policeman in the Army when we built the church.  He came home safely, but died in an accident not long after his return.  In 1955, his coffin stood at the altar under the stained-glass portrait of Jesus, as his funeral sermon was preached.  Four years later, my Grandmother, Mattie Thompson Freeman’s coffin occupied that same position in the little church.

My oldest brother Travis survived combat missions in Korea to become a Master Sargent, directing the photography team that developed photos from U-2 surveillance flights over the Soviet Union.  He was stationed in Germany and France during the Cold War.  When he died in 1964, the U.S. Air Force flew him home so he too could lie in state in our little Methodist Church, and be memorialized there.  

After almost half a century of Christian service, My Dad followed his two sons and his mother, in being buried from the little Methodist Church.  He took great pride in knowing his loved ones would bid him farewell in a church he helped to build.

My brother Billy Rae met his wife to be, Mary Lou Nixon, in Sunday School at the Joaquin Methodist Church.  They were married there in 1950, one of the last marriages in the old building.  Anne was buried after a memorial service in the church in 1989.  Billy was a teacher and coach for many years, but in 1991, he was called to the Methodist Ministry and after training as a local pastor, served the Joaquin United Methodist Church from 1992 till 2001. 

My Mother was the oldest, longest affiliated, member of the Joaquin United Methodist Church when her funeral sermon was preached to a standing-room crowd in 2005.  Her service was conducted by her nephew, the Rev. Lee Gaines Nunley of Louisiana, assisted by her two sons, Charles and Billy, both local pastors of the United Methodist Church Conference.  For much of her life she had prayed that one of her sons would become a minister.  Her prayers were not answered until late in her life, but she had two sons, not one in the ministry, before her death.

Under Billy’s ministry, four people were called from the little Joaquin congregation to become local pastors in the United Methodist Church.  These included my wife Frances and myself.  We retired from our original careers in medicine, research, and teaching, and became local pastors of the United Methodist Church, serving in both the Texas and Louisiana Annual Conferences.  

I was 13 when I joined the Joaquin Methodist Church, and 30 when I affiliated with the United Methodist Church.  Over the subsequent 55 years my wife (who became a Methodist after our marriage) and I attended and served in United Methodist Churches in five states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.  We have served as Sunday School Teachers, Youth Group Leaders and Sponsors, Trustees, Board Members, and Local Pastors.  After so many years in the United Methodist Church, I did not vote for disaffiliation, but our church is a democracy, and the will of the majority prevailed.  I cannot believe that the United Methodist Conference that I served and love, would seize and sell an historic Methodist Church, and end a Methodist tradition of almost two centuries.

I am now 86 years old.  For many years, I have assumed that my funeral would be held in the little church I helped build when I was 13.  I thought my casket would sit where my Grandmother’s, my brothers’, and my parents’ caskets had stood, before the altar and under the Jesus window.  I now face the prospect of having no home church from which to be buried.  

I only know that if the United Methodist Church seizes and sells our little church, that they have lost the spirit of John Wesley, and are unfaithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE JOAQUIN METHODIST CHURCH CAN BE FOUND AT:

https://communicatinglife2.blogspot.com/2018/05/first-united-methodist-church-of.html

Stealing A Church; Ending a Tradition

Stealing A Church; Ending a Tradition

    

    Bishop Cynthia Fiero Harvey of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church has notified the congregation of the Joaquin Methodist Church that it is seizing their church building and all their property, and will be offering these for sale to the highest bidder. 

    The original property for the Joaquin Methodist Church

was purchased by the congregation in 1904 with deed issued and filed in 1905.  Members donated additional properties to the church in 1944, 1962, and 1980.

    In 1905, the congregation built a frame church building on the property, which they used for services for almost 50 years. In 1951 members of the congregation tore down the wood building and with their own hands built the brick building where they have worshiped for the past 73 years.

    In total, the Methodist Church of Joaquin has occupied the property at 105 Faulkville St. for, 120 years. As a Congregation, the Methodist Church of Joaquin is at least 148 years old, having been chartered in 1876. However, their history traces back to the earliest days of Anglo settlement of East Texas when Circuit Riding Methodist Ministers broke Mexican law and held services on the bluff above the Sabine River where the Brookland Cemetery now stands. In a brush arbor at that location, Texas Methodists worshiped as early as 1825, almost 200 years ago. Thus, the Methodist tradition in Joaquin is 11 years older than the Republic of Texas, and 20 years older than the State. In fact, the recognized oldest Methodist Congregation in Texas. at Pecan Point, dates to 1822, only three years earlier. The Methodist congregation is the oldest in Joaquin.

    For the first 92 years after its was chartered, the Joaquin Methodist Church operated as a local church, but in 1968, when the United Methodist Church Conference was formed, the local church joined the Conference and became the Joaquin United Methodist Church.

    The claim of the Texas Conference to ownership of the local church property and buildings dates to a 2016 action by the Conference. Nine years ago the United Methodist Church Conference decided to place all real property of all the member churches under the ownership of the Conference. The local churches were only to hold their property “in trust” for the United Methodist Conference. This action apparently did not require signatures from local church officials nor any transfer of deeds or titles. Titles and deeds to the Joaquin Methodist Church are still filed with Shelby county as belonging to the local church.

    This fall, the Joaquin United Methodist Church differed with Conference policies with respect to acceptance of LGBTQ ministers, and withdrew from the Conference, again becoming a local Methodist Church. The Conference then notified the local church that they would seize the church and all its property and offer these for sale in November of 2024.  To back their claim, the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church has sent the Joaquin congregation a copy of Chapter Six of the rules of the

United Methodist Church which state that the Conference has taken all real property of all the local congregations, but permits the local congregations to hold the property “in trust” for the Conference. No information is provided as to when or how the local congregation agreed to, or assigned their real property to this trust. No signatures on trust agreements nor any transfer of deeds or titles were provided; nor are any to be found among the records of the local congregation.

    The controversy is compounded by the fact that the pastor of the Joaquin Methodist Church, Bro. Robert Ortigo, passed away in the fall of 2024 after a five year battle with cancer. The congregation had not received guidance or even information from the Conference for two years prior to their taking action to withdraw.

    It is unclear whether the little local congregation will have the resources to fight the seizure and sale of their property by the Bishop of the Texas Conference. This may well mark the end of a chapter in the religious history of East Texas, as a Methodist tradition of two centuries is ended by actions of a Methodist Conference.

A follow-up letter relating to this Blog can be found at:

Charles Freeman's Memories

BOONE FAMILY INFORMATION -- FOCUS ON JOHN BOONE, SR

ARTICLE IN THE DAVIE COUNTY NEWSPAPER ABOUT THE DANIEL BOONE FAMILY

By Gordon Tomlinson

HOW OLD IS THE JOAQUIN METHODIST CHURCH

HOW OLD WILL THE JOAQUIN METHODIST CHURCH BE IN 2025?

200 Years (1825)? 149 Years (1876)? Or 130 (1895) Years

Two Earlier Histories of the Joaquin Methodist Church have been published on this Blog at: 

https://communicatinglife2.blogspot.com/search?q=Joaquin+United+Methodist

https://communicatinglife2.blogspot.com/search?q=Joaquin+United+Methodist

The exact age of the congregation of the United Methodist Church of Joaquin depends on your historical perspective.  In 1821, Mexico, newly independent of Spanish rule, invited settlers from the United States to enter Texas and receive land grants.  The invitation precipitated a mass immigration to Texas, with many settlers crossing the Sabine River near the bridges (then a ferry) linking Joaquin and Logansport.  There was one restriction, which the new settlers bitterly resented, and broke from the very beginning — Mexico’s proscription against Protestant ministers and Protestant worship in Texas.

On the high rise of land on the Texas side of the River, the new settlers began to hold informal, and illegal, worship services.  The location allowed ministers to escape back across the River into Louisiana if Mexican authorities should arrive on the scene.  Methodist circuit riding preachers were among the first to offer worship services at this location, approximately 200 years ago (1825).  This was only three years after the Arkansas circuit riding Rev. William Stephenson was appointed as the first Texas Methodist Minister in “Peecon” (Pecan) Point (1822), and eight years before the oldest recognized, continuing Methodist congregation in Texas opened their doors at McMahan’s Chapel near St. Augustine (1833).

Long before churches were built, the traditional locations for Methodist preaching, praying, and singing services were “Brush Arbors,” open shelters providing shade from the son, and some protection from rain.  In memory of these earliest religious “meeting” places, the First United Methodist Church of Joaquin has constructed a “brush arbor” built in the authentic style of the Texas frontier in the park adjacent to the church.  Anyone interested in history is invited to visit the brush arbor, and view the memorial plantings in the park.  Children, accompanied by an adult, are invited to enjoy the playground the Church maintains in the park.

Methodism grew rapidly after Texas won their independence in 1836.  By 1840 there were 1,878 Methodists in Texas, with 17 Methodist preachers. Circuit riding Methodist preachers continued to hold now-legal services in homes, and brush arbors in hospitable locations, including Brookland community bluff on the western side of the Sabine.  The community took its name from the Brook family. The bluff and surrounding land was the property Henry I. Brook, and after his death in 1871, he was the first to be buried in what is now Brookland Cemetery.  

We know from historical records that a Methodist Church was built in the Northeast corner of the modern cemetery in 1876 (40 years after Texas Independence and 31years after Statehood).  Legend has it that the church was built on the site of a brush arbor that had sheltered some of the earliest Protestant worship in Texas.  The Reverend George Hughes, a Methodist Circuit River, was the first Pastor of the church.  This date,  1876 which marks the opening of the first building (although the congregation was older) has traditionally been considered the “Founding Date” for the First United Methodist Church of Joaquin..

However, a few years after its founding, the church, known as the Brookland Methodist Church, was moved.  Brookland had a small population, and the church was relocated south, to a larger community, and named Harmony Methodist Church.  This location was relatively short-lived.  In 1884, the church was returned to the original site at the Brookland Cemetery.  The Brookland population had grown because the train depot for the Houston East and West Texas Railroad (HE&WT) had been built there. 

When the train depot was relocated to what is now the town of Joaquin, the Methodist Church moved too.  The new Methodist Church building in Joaquin was completed between 1894 and 1895, and was located across the street from the present church building and behind the railroad depot.  A row of cedar trees were planted, and some still stand, 125 years later.  The first wedding ceremony in the new church building was that of Dr. William Allen Ramsey and Miss Clara Short on August 8, 1895.

In Joaquin, the Methodist Church attracted many new members, and within 10 years had to have a new and larger building.  Located on the site of the present day church, the new church building was 300 yards north of the town square, and opened its doors in the fourth year of the 20th Century.  The road, which now runs in front of the church, was, at that time, the main road to Logansport. The new church had a steeple which housed the new church bell, a source of great pride to the whole town.  Fourteen years after it was raised into the steeple, on Nov. 11, 1918, this bell rang out the good news of the Armistice.  The bell pealed while Joaquin and the rest of our nation celebrated the end of World War I.  The historic bell is now mounted on a stand beside the present Church, where members and visitors are invited to remember the American veterans who have died to protect our freedoms.

Seventeen years after it was consecrated, the church building sustained wind damage in the 1921 tornado that brought much destruction to the area.  In January, the Rev. John E. Green of Houston held a housewarming revival.  In spite of the weather, the house was filled each night and crowds overflowed into the aisles and along the walls.  Every available space, including the choir was filled.  The building was heated by wood heaters, and sermons were occasionally interrupted by parishioners stoking the fires.  The pastor at that time was R. C. Goens.  The official dedication of the new church was Sept. 24, 1922.  The recorded cost (principally for materials) was $1,500.

When first organized, the Joaquin Methodist Church was part of, “The Methodist Episcopal Church, South.”  The original Methodist Church in America split over the question of slavery  In 1939, the three main branches of the Methodist Church throughout the United States united into, “The Methodist Church.”  

In 1939, when it became the Joaquin Methodist Church, preaching took place every-other-Sunday. The same was true at the Joaquin Baptist Church, so the two churches staggered their preaching dates so there would be a service at one of the churches each Sunday.  At that time there was a road on the north side of the railroad track that led from the railroad depot to the Baptist Church.  Every week after Sunday School, there would be a line of people going from one church to the other for preaching.

In 1945, at the climax of the second World War, and with the boom that accompanied the return of our fighting men, the Joaquin Methodist Church became a full-time church, for the first time having services every Sunday.  The change was attended by the church’s 27th pastor, Rev. R. Eugene Jonte.

The existing church building was constructed and consecrated in 1951, but it was not dedicated until 1961 when the debts incurred in the building were paid in full.  To raise the money to finance the building project, the church issued and sold Church Building Bonds.  Most of the construction of the church was carried out by the members.  Billy Freeman, pastor at the church during the 1990’s, told of how the men sent him, along with the other light-weight and agile boys, into the ceiling to set and attach the rafters and roof of the building.

In, 1962, a year after their new building was paid-off, the Methodist Church officially became “United.”  The union was formed between the Methodist Church and the Church of the Brethren and the Evangelical Church (two branches of Methodism which had remained separate because of language barriers).  The Brethren Church originally spoke German, and the Evangelical Church spoke Dutch.  The new organization was called the “United Methodist Church.”

When a church has served a community for over a century, it becomes impossible to list all of its achievements.  A few of these however, should be recorded because of their importance to the community.  JFUMC is proud to have started Joaquin Christian Services, and to have operated the program for many years.  They operated the Meals for Senior Citizens for a period, and continue to support the program.  They have played leading and supportive roles in ecumenical programs including Singing Services, Community Thanksgiving, Community Christmas, Men’s Prayer Breakfasts, and Revivals.  For many years, they have hosted the annual luncheon for all graduating seniors, and given thousands of dollars in scholarships to Joaquin High School students.

The First United Methodist Church is known as, “the Church of second chances.”  The members are dedicated to ministering to the entire community, bringing God’s Love to ALL of God’s children.  They are committed to sharing the Gospel and their lives through commitment to the welfare of others.  They strive to be a church where “love” is an active verb.