In
the summer of 1884 a young man, Rev. Sidney Saeger, journeyed to
Sharpsville to visit the lady of his choice. While on the visit he
decided to deliver a sermon. The service was held at the home of Mr. P.
W. Frye. Planks
were carried
from the Nickles barn on High Street and arranged in the yard as
temporary seats. Lanterns were borrowed from neighbors and hung on
posts and house corners to provide illumination. A fairly large
congregation assembled to listen to the message taken from the 11th
chapter of Hebrews, verses 24-25. This was the first sermon delivered
in Sharpsville by a Free Methodist preacher. In the fall of 1885 Rev.
L. S. McGary delivered a sermon in Park Hall.In the early winter of
1886 Rev. R. H. Bentley coming to Sharpsville to visit relatives
decided to hold a series of evangelistic services. An old storeroom on
High Street owned by Sam Dunham was secured for this purpose and
planking for seats was installed. The success of the meetings was
gratifying. A number of souls were converted, among them being brother
and sister Mattox, whose home was offered and used for the continuance
of these meetings for some time.
During the
summer of 1886 Brothers Bentlv and Miller, the latter known as the boy
preacher, erected a tent on
Furnace Street, holding a series of evangelistic services. Here the
Free Methodist Society was organized and the foundation of a permanent
work was laid. An old house on Mercer Avenue, later the property of
Mrs. Nelson, was secured as a place of worship and the tent meeting
services were discontinued. The Reverends Mr. Bently and Berlin
preached on alternate Sundays until the fall of 1886. By this time the
evangelistic tent meetings had captured the interest of people in
neighboring towns and a good sized circuit including Sharpsville, Big
Bend, Charleston, Prospect, and Neshannock had been established and was
being conducted under the district supervision of Rev. J. T. Michels.
In
the early fall of 1887 the Annual Conference appointed Rev. W. P. Roupe
to the Sharpsville Circuit. He found the people in Sharpsville very
much enthused and deeply interested in the new Society. Under his
leadership a new church building was erected on Furnace Street in 1888.
That fall the congregation entertained the regular session of the
Annual Conference at which time the dedication of the new church took
place with Bishop E. P. Hart presiding.
Regular
services were conducted in the church on Furnace Street until Rev. A.
J. Beattie became the pastor in 1904-06. During this period the
building was partly dismantled and moved to 934 Ridge Avenue near Tenth
Avenue.
During
the pastorate of Rev. F. W. Parks, 1925-28, he, with the help of some
of his members, built the parsonage on 934 Ridge Avenue.
As
is often the case with small churches, the pastors of Sharpsville Free
Methodist Church were subjected to numerous inconveniences in looking
after the spiritual needs of their members.
Extremely
cold weather during the winters of 1932, 33 and 34 never cooled Rev.
Inez Hill’s fervor for the work of the Lord.The Reverend and Mrs. W. M.
Aiken were outstanding in their calling from house to house, covering
the whole town once and almost completely a second coverage.
Rev.
B. D. Lambert and Mrs. Lambert won many friends both in and out of the
church. They also made extensive repairs to both church and parsonage.
The Magees
were devoted, humble, sincerely Christian. They set a precedent in
serving for five years.
During
the two years Rev. Ronald Logan was pastor needed improvements were
made on the church and a basement was put under the greater part of the
sanctuary.
Rev.
John Brown was faithful in his pastoral duties, preaching to the few as
well as to the many. He was like a father to all.At the time of this
writing, May 31, 1959, no appointment has been made to the Sharpsville
charge for the current year. In the meantime a supply minister, Rev.
Clifford Duncan, journeys from New Castle, Penn., to Sharpsville from
week to week to do the preaching.
Mrs.
Flora Reichard, now [1959] in her ninety-first year, is the oldest
living member of this congregation. She has been a continuous member
since 1890 or earlier, having joined the church during the pastorate of
Rev. R. H. Bentley.
Source: 150 Years of Methodism, The
Story of the First Methodist Church, Sharon, PA, compiled by Roscoe C.
Wilson, 1959
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The
Free Methodist Church congregation was organized in 1885, by Rev. J. H.
Bentley, although a farmer named Davis, from Prospect, Mercer County,
was the first one to begin active agitation of the subject.
The
present [1888] structure was built in 1887, at a cost of $1,200, and is
a frame, neat and convenient. The church is weak in
membership,
numbering only twenty-two, but the outlook is promising.
Following Rev. Bentley is the present [1888] pastor, Rev. W. B. Roupe.
- History of Mercer
County 1888, page 454
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