Camp Photos

Nineteen-ninety-nine marks the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Unionville Church of Church, Unionville, Indiana. Celebrating one hundred and fifty years of church history and heritage is, indeed, noteworthy. But more importantly, we celebrate God's providence evident within each successive generation of church members, and His power in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this community and beyond. James Mathis, a pioneer evangelist who was instrumental in helping to organize the Unionville Church of Christ, recorded a prophetic statement about the founding of our congregation in the January 1849 Christian Record, a Christian journal edited by Mathis. "We know of no church in the country which has a fairer prospect of success than this infant congregation. May the Lord bless them abundantly, and add to them daily the saved!" It is without question the Lord has caused this congregation to succeed, and He has blessed our congregation abundantly throughout her first one‑hundred‑and‑fifty years, adding countless souls to the Lord's keeping through the preaching of His Word.

An excerpt from that January 1849 Christian Record provides some detail of the organization of the Unionville Church of Christ: "CHURCH CONSTITUTED ‑ Brother Perry M. Blankenship of Morgan County, and myself cooperated in a meeting which commenced on Saturday night before New Year's Day, on Young's Ridge, near Unionville in this county. The meeting continued till Wednesday, and was held in private houses, for want of a meeting house... The meeting was well attended, and much interest manifested throughout, and we must say for our Baptist (Little Union) friends generally, that they treated us with much courtesy, were with us most of the time, and joined with us heartily in singing the songs of Zion. On New Year's Day we constituted a church upon the Bible alone, at the house of brother Abraham Young, composed of twenty‑four members. Among them was elder James Blankenship... Brother Blankenship was unanimously chosen to labor in the Word and doctrine...

Some sixteen others were added to this church before we left them...Some ten of them by confession and baptism ...This church is known as 'The Church of Christ on Young's Ridge, Monroe County, Indiana'." (Editor James Mathis).

Local family names included among those original twenty‑four members were Alexander, Blankenship, Davidson, Flynn, Johnston, Luets, McClung, Richardson, Spencer, Stark, Thomas, Williams, and Young. The first elders to serve as overseers of the congregation were William Alexander, James Spencer, and Abraham Young. The early congregation conducted worship services in the private homes of members until 1851, at which time Lot #24 in Unionville was purchased by the congregation's trustees for $12.00 from Henry and Elizabeth Gorlick, and the church's first meeting house was constructed. This building was remodeled in 1889, which included a decision to turn the building from its originally east‑facing position to a northerly facing position. The original structure served the congregation for one‑hundred years. During this period of time, our country witnessed and endured the Civil War, World War 1, The Great Depression, and World War II. And throughout many of these uncertain times Unionville remained a self‑contained, agrarian‑based community, sustained in great measure by faith in God, and the Lord's blessings. The Church was also central to the lives of many throughout this period, and continues to be a significant influence in this community.

Arriving late for worship was a less than desirable experience for those members worshipping in the original meeting house. It meant that one entered the sanctuary at the front of the building at a location either side of the pulpit. The late arrival escaped no one's notice. The sanctuary was also "graced" with the presence of a long stove pipe extending along the length of the ceiling. The men generally sat together in the pews occupying the right‑side of the meeting house, and the women and small children sat together to the left. Across time many of the old wooden pews noticeably sustained the carved initials of pocket knife‑bearing worshipers, who presumably became bored during some sermons.

Under the supervision of Donald H. Christy and Henry Robertson, a second structure was completed in 1951 to accommodate the growing needs of the church. Most of the labor was furnished by able members of the congregation; and the first worship service conducted in the new building was convened on January 7, 1951. Other construction and remodeling has also taken place in recent years. A church office was added to the new structure in 1966; a parsonage was built in the nearby Danny Smith Addition in 1975; a baptistery was installed on the sanctuary's west side in the mid 1970s; and a fellowship hall was constructed on church‑owned property directly across the highway from the church in 1982, which now includes the church offices, a large fellowship hall, kitchen facilities, and other amenities. Commonly known as The Family Center, the church's fellowship hall also serves and hosts other community functions.

It is unknown the number and the identities of all the preachers who have delivered sermons from the Unionville Church of Christ's pulpit. May it be sufficient to express thanksgiving to God for the preaching of sound doctrine from all those men, who dedicated themselves to the preaching of God's Word. Since the mid‑1960s, however, the Unionville Church of Christ has been blessed by the work of ministers in full‑time employ of the church. These ministers include Cletis Ellett, Tommy Williams, Larry Branum, Rick Lewis, Odell Farr, and Allen Ketchersid, who serves as our current minister.

The mission of our congregation has not deviated, nor diminished from the mission that was clearly in the sight of those original twenty-four members who congregated in the home of Abraham Young, on New Year's Eve, 1848. We today, as then, worship and serve the Risen Lord. "All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." (II Cor. 5:18; NIV). May the Lord continue to bless the Unionville Church of Christ, that, in turn, we may be a blessing for others.