Green Hill United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania
A late 1800’s church building.
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Picture by Author
When I pulled up to this church to take a picture I knew one thing. It was built by a Methodist or “Plain People” congregation in the late 1800’s. The Plain People were various sects of the United Brethern In Christ church. They ascribed to a “plain” life something like the Amish but not nearly as strict. They shunned bright colors and fancy items and the design of their churches reflected that. Most were wooden or brick rather than the stone edifices that many other denominations were building. Unlike the Amish they drove cars but the chrome was painted black along with the rest of the car. This was done by the dealer before they took possession of the car. Dress and hair styles were plain and jewelry was frowned upon. No matter how you look at them, they had a firm desire to please God and they cut a middle of the road between the extreme of the Amish and what they called, ‘following the world’. Many of the churches they built are United Methodist today, having made the transition by joining with the Evangelical United Brethern and then becoming United Methodist when the Methodists and EUB merged. Some of the individual churches had concerns about both mergers. My grandfather helped build a similar but smaller church near Carlisle PA called Mt. Victory. Originally it was Mt. Victory UB, then EUB and now United Methodist. The original building is gone, it was too small to support the larger congregation. Another small congregation, Gardners, was merged into the Mt. Victory in the early 1960’s.
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Picture by Author
The close-up of the date plaque confirms my guess, United Brethern, 1887. The date and the denomination are as expected. If you want to see the similarity in construction, look at the picture below. It can be seen on the bell tower below the vent on the full shot of the church.
Historic Mt. Airy Chapel – United Methodist Churc
is included in this colleciton. It is near Ski Roundtop and is quite similar in construction and time.
Picture by Author
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The service board is a usual feature of many churches. This church has a female pastor. I was not able to be there but I would have considered hearing the sermon she preached on September 13, “The Middle of the Road, a Risky Place.” As a bible teacher I would like to see how she came to this conclusion. Understand, I agree. I want to see how she comes to that place.
Picture by Author
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I found this memorial a little interesting. It was erected in 1962. For those who don’t have a perspective of that time, this was before the Johnson got us into the Vietnam War with the contrived Gulf of Tonkin affair. It was also just before the EUB/Methodist merger.
Picture by Author
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The cemetery next to the church is a wealth of information about the area. Many of these have been inventoried and the information is on the web. I haven’t checked if this one is or not.
Other Articles by Ralph Brandt
Obama and Kennedy: BHO and JFK Aug 30, 2008
Churches That Get Government Money
Financial Help in These Trying Times
Anonymous and Irresponsible: the Radical Left
The Comparison of the Assassinations of Kennedy and Lincoln
Relationship of Church and State
I’m Going on
Compromise in the Church
Come Away My Beloved
Communion
Contradictions – Science and Religion
Christian Perspective On Hatred Feb 20, 2007
Liked it
I enjoyed reading this article with it’s facts that kept me spellbound.
Good article, I loved the pic of the church, it seemed like the kind of church one would feel comfortable in. The article was very informative, I enjoyed reading.
February4, 2010
I continue to be surprised as to what I find posted on the internet. The pictures of the Green Hill United Methodist Church are quite familiar to me since I was a member of the church from 1936 until 1966, met my wife there and was married in the church in 1952. For our 75th Anniversary Celebration, I wrote a 101 page history of the church from the early formation of a small group that met as a Sunday School as early as 1868 in the Green Hill Schoolhouse east of the present church and organized with 14 members received into membership on April 8, 1887. They affiliated with the United Brethren in Christ Church from the very beginning and were part of the Manor Circuit which included the Highville and Stehman Memorial Churches. The bell tower was added about 1914 and the church was enlarged to its present size in 1933. Although some of the early members were descendants of Mennonites, the members were never known as “plain people.” Their lifestyle was simple and strict but not of the Amish or Mennonite faith. Although the congregation is small, it has an active ministry to the community under the leadership of Pastor Marjorie Harris, thus continuing the Christian vision the founders had almost 125 years ago.
