Within three months Mr. J. N. Hutchinson, Licentiate, was engaged by
Rev. Jackson to provide monthly services during the summer of 1869. Joseph M. Wilson was obtained to continue semi-monthly services beginning in November of 1869, with Rev. Sheldon Jackson preaching occasionally. Private residences served as meeting locations since there was no church building. The number in this group of listeners is unknown, but Mr. Christensen’s writings cite the homes “proved adequate,” and preliminary discussions for organization of the church took place at one such residence on August 13, 1869.
Pastors Wilson and Jackson completed final organization of the Presbyterian Church and the first service took place on January 20, 1870. It is fitting to note that the formal inauguration of the Presbyterian Church took place at the Congregational Church, whose congregations would conjoin in a federation in the next century. With the election, ordination, and installation of Ruling Elder G. W. Brown proceeding, services closed with the administration of the Lord’s Supper.
The Presbyterians were without a church building for several years after their organization, unlike the Congregationalists who had a building within four months. Records of the church mention holding meetings in different denominational churches who shared their own facilities. Among those listed were the Nebraska Avenue Church, the German Church, the Methodist Church, and the Congregational Church.
The spirit of sharing also extended to pastors. When one or more churches were without clergy on a temporary basis, congregations would attend a church where services were available. Thus, unity and cooperation were practiced among churches in the community in their earliest foundations.
Five years after its organization in 1875, steps were taken to acquire a site at the corner of 14th Street and 28th Avenue for the first Presbyterian Church building. However, it would be three more years before an old school building used by District 13 was purchased and moved to the lot as a temporary place of worship for some months. When necessary funds were secured to begin construction of a new building, the school building was moved again and ground was broken on the same location for a new church in late 1878. Although it was anticipated the building would be completed in ninety days, it was the summer of 1879 before it became occupied. Finances and problems over a smoking stove caused much tribulation for the building program.
Early church records show membership growth was slow, but steady through the early 1900s for both congregations. Membership in the Presbyterian Church in 1876 when building plans were taking effect was listed at 21. By 1896 it numbered 90, and in 1909 the figure had reached 122. From the meager, but determined, six who founded the Congregational Church in 1866, membership totals in 1898 were 114, and by 1907 they had reached 202.
Church services, social gatherings, and carry-in meals provided members of both congregations with happy occasions for fellowship with one another. Such stories attest to the good times members enjoyed being together. Those events must have been a source of satisfaction in their social lives, as well as fulfilling their spiritual needs.
Church life, none the less, was not without its struggles and conflicts as early records indicate. According to accounts written by Mr. Christensen, both church denominations “assumed responsibility for the moral lives of their members and did not hesitate to call them to account for conduct which failed to meet the approval” of governing bodies of the congregations and their pastors. Reports of charges, the rules of procedure used to determine guilt and punishment, and the results of such trials are laid out in the minutes for anyone wishing to view them. As early successes and camaraderie of fellow congregants brought much enjoyment and fulfillment, the times of conflict both churches underwent during their growing pains brought divisiveness and embarrassment. Such accounts only indicate that growth “was not always easy or marked by harmonious relations between pastor, session, and laymen.” At times, troubled events marked the end of service for a pastoral relationship and the invitational call for a new pastor.
Much of the information presented in this history, written by Donna Augspurger, comes from documents and historical writings from the church. Donna also relied heavily on the book, In Such Harmony, written by William E. Christensen, especially for the historical account in the early years.
A more in-depth study of these and other historical supporting information, such as The Constitution, Mission Statements, Vision Statements, and annual reports, will provide a complete historical account for persons interested in research.
In Such Harmony covers the first fifty years and provides the reader with many anecdotal details of early church successes and struggles, as well as events taking place in the community of which they are a part.
Similarly, another publication compiled by Betty Grant contains the same and takes up years between the 50th and 75th anniversary of Federated Church. They may be viewed at the church office, located at 2704 15th Street in Columbus, Nebraska.
