This is an historical marker in front of Moore's Chapel located in southern, Ohio indicating that it was on this site that the first Methodist Episcopal Church building (a log cabin) was built in Ohio and the Northwest Territory in 1800.I took the above picture of this marker during my visit to Moore's Chapel as part of last week's annual sermon planning retreat.
There's some "splitting of hairs" with Methodist history as to the oldest Methodist church since this is referring to the first Methodist church building and not to the first Methodist congregation or class meeting. I believe that distinction belongs to Francis McCormick in Milford, Ohio.
Those of you who are Ohio Methodist history buffs can sort this all out!
This does raise a question regarding the proper dating for church bicentennials. I would say that the official beginning of a congregation is when it became an organized "society" which is a specific early Methodist term rather than when a church structure was built. The only problem is that it's often easier to date a building than to find a date for a decision to become a society.
Just think how many West Ohio United Methodist churches have or will be celebrating their bicentennials! I wonder how many of our conference churches have celebrated this milestone already.
Lancaster First UMC in Lancaster, Ohio will be celebrating a bicentennial in 2012.
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