180 Years of Central United Methodist Church

Celebrating 180 Years of Central United Methodist Church / www.centralumc.org / 1837 - 2017

180 YEARS OF CENTRAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH REACHING INTO THE FUTURE FROM A FOUNDATION OF FAITH

1837 - 2017 | ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

CELEBRATING 180 YEARS OF

CENTRAL UMC PAST Historical Prologue ................................ 2 Reverend Lynnette Sills Historical Narrative ................................ 3 Bob Terrell edited by Rachel Harris Those Who Have Served ......................... 10

PRESENT EFFORTS Current Outreach ................................. 11 Rachel Harris Calendar of Events ................................ 14

REACHING INTO THE FUTURE Reaching Into the Future ................................. 15 Reverend Lynnette Sills Epilogue ................................ 17 Reverend Dr. Robert Blackburn

180th Anniversary Planning Committee: Ed Towson - Co-Chair Bonita Weidenhaupt - Co-Chair Heather Abernathy - member Jeff Joyce - member Patty Joyce -member Lee Loy - member Susan Maffett - member 1

Gar Ragland - member Suzanne Brown - staff Rachel Harris - staff Amy Leachman - staff Ed Schneider - staff Lynnette Sills - staff

HISTORICAL PROLOGUE:

A FOUNDATION OF FAITH

BY REVEREND LYNNETTE SILLS

1837 is only a number. It is only the measurement of time used to mark early days of a church that was formed by people who had begun to meet in a place that had an ancient though mostly unknown history. The church began only as a small group of people with a longing to know the meaning of the words on the pages of that book called the Bible.

They wanted soil that would sustain them. They wanted soil that would offer a sanctuary for them and for those who would someday come to this place and who would stay because they would find their home here, too.

180 is only a number. It only measures a relatively small amount considering that numbers have no end. For this group of people, it is the number of years in which they have been meeting together as a family of faith on a small spot in the heart of a city that lies in the valley of a chain of mountains. These people and those who have found their way here over those 180 years held tight to this soil. They believed then, and continue in that belief, that what God has given them is not soil that is worn out and lifeless.

Rather, it is ground that remains in the care of those who still seek to hold it, nurture it, and offer to others what has been and is still given to them in abundance.

1837 was a number that would mean different things to different people. But, for this small group of people who called ancient mountains their home, it meant a time when they would grow in their faith through the study of Holy words. These words had been passed down for thousands of years by those who could not have fathomed that these same words in a different language would find their way to people in another place and time. These people in this small group in 1837 would be inspired by those who sacred words and by those who envisioned their mission as one that would inspire others in a renewed sense of what it meant to be part of a body of Christ.

180 years is only a brief moment. But, it is the moment this group of people has had. It contains the seeds and roots, the heart and soul, of these people who call themselves children of God, followers of Christ, and part of the family of faith that has become known as Central United Methodist Church. Our time in this place is part of what defines us. We humbly thank God for this brief moment, these 180 years of being this family. And, we pray for God’s continued guidance, grace, and love in all of our remaining days.

1837 is only a number. But, that number became a milestone for this small group when they were given a place to build a church home. Taking divinely-inspired words whose truth still resonated in richness and wholeness that only God’s truth can have, these people wanted to plant their roots in a soil that would offer a foundation to keep them firmly grounded.

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CENTRAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

ASHEVILLE'S OLDEST INSTITUTION

BY BOB TERRELL, EDITED BY RACHEL HARRIS In the year of 1824 the Reverend David B. Cumming, a 28-year-old native of Mooresburg, Pennsylvania, who had recently joined the Holston Conference of the Methodist Church, set out for a small town called Asheville. Asheville was situated on high ground overlooking the river and the turnpike under construction. Within four years, the turnpike would accommodate the movement of hundreds of thousands of hogs, cattle, horses, mules, sheep and turkeys to markets in South Carolina and Tennessee.

The turnpike stretched from Paint Rock on the Tennes see line to Saluda Gap at the South Carolina border. In Asheville, Reverend Cumming would organize a Methodist Society which the Holston Conference would serve. via the turnpike. with circuit-riding preachers.

Cumming found Asheville to be a growing town of several hundred people who were trying to rid the community of its backwoods image.

At around 1781, Cumming and the other circuit-riding preachers began to cross the Blue Ridge from the safety of Old Fort, building log cabins and lean-tos along the way in the Swannanoa Valley. Ten years later, in 1791, there were enough settlers that inhabited the area to justify the establishment of Buncombe County.

A settler named John Burton built a grist mill in 1793 just west of Swannanoa Valley, and a year later he laid out a 21-acre tract near the mill for Buncombe's County Seat. He called the settlement Morristown. Although no roads served the settlement, the North Carolina state legislature incorporated a town here in 1797 naming it Asheville to honor Samuel Ashe, governor of North Car olina. Burton's community dropped the name of Morristown and accepted the legislatures name of Asheville.

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Methodism had been founded by John Wesley in England in 1738 and several Methodists were numbered among Asheville's early population.

By 1800 Asheville contained about 350 settlers, though the center of town still consisted of a dozen log buildings constructed along a north-south street which would eventually become Broadway running north and Biltmore Avenue running south.

Francis Asbury and Samuel Edney had ridden the circuit into the countryside surrounding Asheville from 1788 on, but no one had as yet Methodized Asheville.

As David Cumming rode into Asheville that summer day in 1824, he knew he was not blazing a trail.

Bishop Francis Asbury, most famous of all the early circuit-riders, had already done that. Asbury had ridden into northwestern North Carolina as early as 1789, but he did not get to Asheville until 1800.

Upon his arrival, he found Methodists, but no organized group of them. "Local preachers" and "exhorters" upheld Methodism preaching in the evenings after farm chores were finished.

John Wesley open-air preaching

There were no church buildings in Asheville.

Meetings were held in local homes. or in the open in camp-meeting style. Methodists held camp meetings for several years on Reems Creek, Turkey Creek, Hominy, and at other Buncombe locations. Cumming was familiar with the work Francis Asbury had done here and in other places. In Asbury's 45 years as a minister he never had a home or even a rented room. All he owned, he carried in his saddlebags. He rode the rough trails, forded creeks and swam swollen rivers. He preached in homes, schoolhouses, courthouses and in the open air. Bad weather never halted him on his rounds to tell the scattered settlers in the hills of the God who loved them and who cared for their well-being. He never married. One of the rules he followed was, "Converse sparingly and cautiously with women - especially young women."

When Asbury came to America. there were probably a thousand Methodists and a half-dozen preachers.

When he died 45 years later there were 215,000 Methodists, 700 ordained preachers. and 11 annual conferences. He had ridden 270,000 miles on horseback and had preached 18,000 times averaging a sermon a day for 45 years. He held 224 conferences.

Portrait of Francis Asbury

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The mountain area around Asheville was not one of Asbury's favorite places. Once, after riding down Saluda Mountain into the flat open country of South Carolina Asbury wrote in his journal: "Once more I have escaped from the filth, fleas, rattlesnakes, hills, mountains, rocks, and rivers: farewell, western world, for a while." In 1804, the Swannanoa District including Asheville, was des ignated a part of the South Carolina Conference of Methodism, though there was no organized church or Methodist activity in Asheville. By 1816, still without organization, Asheville Methodism was a part of the Upper French Broad Circuit in North Carolina's Catawba District.

David Cumming brought the first organization to Asheville Methodists on that ride in 1824, forming them into a society as a part of the Holston Conference of Tennessee. The French Broad Circuit of the Holston Conference reached from Maryville, Tennessee, to Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Francis Asbury, Circuit Rider

Cumming worked here for a year, and when he left there was enough organization among Methodists to make them want to find a meeting place. For several years they worshipped regularly in a small building on the farm of Colonel James M. Alexander a few miles north of Asheville. The building became known as "Alexander's Chapel."

By the 1830s, with no church building in Asheville, the Methodists were hard at work planning to build one.

The same Colonel Alexander agreed to donate three-fourths of an acre of land about 200 yards west of Asheville's main north-south artery, and upon this property Asheville Methodists erected the city's first church building in 183 7.

David Cumming had moved on to do mission work among the Cherokee Indians and was succeeded by the Reverend Joseph Hasquew, who was then assigned as the ride to Asheville and he helped build the church.

The building was a small frame, one-story structure with a basement that was used for a female academy, a place of higher learning for young women. Another building stood on the property which was used for a Sunday School building.

The importance of this little building to the religious and educational life of Ashevilleans of various faiths was apparent from the start. A hundred years later on July 11, 1937, the Asheville Citizen published an article on the I 00th anniversary of Central Methodist Church. which read in part: The Central Methodist Church is Asheville's oldest institution in unin terrupted existence and unbroken service. A full hundred years ago a Methodist Church was erected on the present Church Street site and in all the years since then - in war and in peace, in adversity and prosperity - a Methodist church has stood there, calling the religious to worship and ministering to the spiritual needs of the community.

This was Asheville's first church and the lineal ancestor of the present Central Church. There were then Baptist and Presbyterian congregations but they lacked individual houses of worship. Until they were able to build their own churches, they were permitted to use the wooden structure which the Methodists had erected...

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At first the building was lighted by oil lamps, but this was later changed to gas and then to electricity. A furnace replaced the stove and a fence was erected in front of the church in 1870.

Music was provided by a small organ which was later replaced by a "Feglemaker," which was pumped by hand. The only problem with this was that the aged sexton would fall asleep during the sermon and have to be awakened before music could be furnished for the closing hymn. Available records for Central Church say little about music or choirs in the early days, but Methodists from the first encouraged hymnsinging. Not only did Charles and John Wesley write many hymns, but John once admonished his followers with these words: "Sing lustily with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead and half asleep. Sing in time. Whatever time is being sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before it or stay behind it. but attend close to the leading voices and move therewith as exactly as you can: and take care not to sing too slow."

The church built in 1857 was the church in use when the railroad finally came to Asheville in 1880. This was the church in use by the Methodists when Colonel Frank Coxe built the Battery Park Hotel atop Battery Porter Hill in 1886 causing Asheville to become a vacationing place for the world's elite. This was the church in use when George W. Vanderbilt constructed his Biltmore House and Estate from 1890 to 1895.

Because the railroads linked Asheville with the world, Colonel Coxe made the Battery Park Hotel the most modern in the nation. Visitors came in such droves that. that several other major hotels went up here in quick succession: Sulphur Springs Hotel in 1887, Kenilworth Inn in 1890, and The Manor in 1900. Even the huge Swannanoa Hotel which had been in operation on South Main Street (now Biltmore Ave.) since 1880, found new life. A Board of Trade and volunteer hook-and-ladder fire companies were organized in 1882. The city installed minimal waterworks and opened the doors of the Flower Mission Hospital in 1884.

A new brick courthouse went up on the square in 1887 and the square's name was changed from Public Square to Court Square. It later became Pack Square. named after George W. Pack, one of the city's biggest benefactors. Artificial gas was introduced in Asheville in 1887, and in 1888 the city's street railway was built.

Second structure. Central Methodist Episcopal Church. Built in 1857

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Electric lights flicked on in 1888 around Court Square. Brick paving replaced mud on Court Square and several of the city's streets leading to the square in 1890. During the 1880s, Asheville took on the aura of a real city. As the city expanded and the population grew - 800 persons in 1850; 1,100 in 1860; 1,500 in 1870; 2,610 in 1880: 10,237 in 1890; and 14,694 in 1900 - the need for more churches of the Methodist faith became apparent. Dr. W.W. Bays. pastor of Asheville Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as Central was then known, took the lead in the establishment of these satellite churches. Dr. Bays served the church from 1883 to 1887, and during his ministry small Methodist churches were erected in other parts of town.

In 1887 Dr. Bays reported to the District Conference that one mission had been erected and the lot for another bought for $475. Several more were added before he left Asheville and he did most of the planning and much of the work with his own hands. He also contributed one-fifth of his salary one year toward the building of a church in West Asheville. It was at that time Asheville's pioneer Methodist Church became known as "Central Methodist Episcopal Church, South" to designate it from the other Methodist churches of the city. After the Civil War, the name of the church became simply "Central Methodist Church." The first mention of this church as "Central Church" is in the Asheville District Conference minutes of 1888.

The Civil War years were trying times for both the church and for the community. From 1861 to 1865, Central had five ministers: E.C. Wexler, A.D. Stewart, John D. Wagg, William C. Bowman, and James S. Kennedy. As the church was a stern instituion in those days, in 1860 it is recorded that one brother was expelled from the church for"telling a falsehood." The church made it through the Civil War in fairly good shape. In 1867 it was reported that the state of the church was "tolerable good."

Things went downhill in the next few years, for in 1875 a pastor made the following report: "I regret to be compelled to say that I find the church to be in a state of sad and unaccountable indifference." In 1890 Central Church had a membership of 475, which was beginning to tax the size of the building, and in that year Central moved from the jurisdiction of the Holston Conference to the newly-formed Western North Carolina Conference. Dr. J. H Weaver was appointed pastor of Central Church in 1899 at a time when the church's need for a new house of worship was most obvious. Dr. Weaver soon began a vigorous campaign for a new church building.

He appointed a building committee and began a subcription campaign among the memebership for building funds. By 1900 enough money had be subscribed that the buiding committee engaged a firm to prepare planse for the new building. The plans were ccepted and paid for during Dr. Weaver's pastorate, but he did not remain here to see the building completedÂ

Third structure of Central UMC (photo dated June 28, 1902)

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At first, building plans were scrapped, but later resurfaced in April of 1902 and a new building committee headed by Captain W.T. Weaver began moving ahead. Captain Weaver soon announced that deeds to additional land had been secured and $36,500 subscribed. The old church had to be torn down to make way for the new one, and on Sunday, June 8, 1902, the last services were held in the old brick building.

Before the end of the year the old church had disappeared and the foundation for the new church was laid. The next three years were a trying period for the people of Central. They saw the most beautiful edifice they had ever seen going up on their property on Church Street, but they saw it going up slowly... too slowly some thought, to meet the 1904 deadline on a necessary property donation. Two members of the church had deeded valuable and needed property to the church. and part of the new sanctuary would rest on that property. However, there was a stipulation in the deed that if construction of the church was not finished in the year 1904, the property would revert to the owners.

Structure of Bedford Limestone

With the City's blessings, the congregation moved its services to the City Auditorium which burned down in the fall of 1903. The fire destroyed valuable church property and all church records except the membership rolls, which were kept at the parsonage. From that time the congregation worshipped in the YMCA and the Buncombe County Courthouse until the new Sunday School rooms were completed. On March 27, 1904, the first service was held in the Sunday School department, but construction on the sanctuary drifted on into and almost through 1905. It was not until November 5, 1905 that Dr. Siler was able to preach his first sermon in the new building. He preached on the subject of "The Gate of the Temple Which is Called Beautiful."

Those who gave the land were able to legally waive the reversion clause in the deed that transferred the land to the church and within a matter of months that obstacle was surmounted. The new church was built of Bedford limestone, and the sanctuary was immediately called "one of the handsomest in the South and the finest Methodist church building in North Carolina." Indeed, Central's members were proud. The city gave its old fire bell to the church to install in the tower. This was the same fire bell that was rung on the square when fire broke out or when disaster faced the community.

During that time period, Asheville contained upward of 18,000 residents, 15 restaurants, several hotels, 18 livery stables, 20 churches, and 16 saloons - most of them on South Main Street just two blocks from Central Church.

In 1908 Central was influential in helping Asheville vote itself dry and all the saloons closed their doors.

The women of the city were so convincing in their campaign against John Barleycorn that one saloon owner voted with the drys and put himself out of business.

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The people of Central enjoyed their new church. The interior of the auditorium was pleasing to the eye. It had a heavily-beamed ceiling and the altar was in the southwest corner. The building was heated by steam and lighted by electricity. A John Brown organ provided music but it was later replaced by a Pilcher organ pur chased from Grove Park Inn. That was some time away though: Grove Park Inn was not built until 1913.

Folks came from far and near to see the beautiful picture windows in the church. They were of art glass, each with a message of its own: the Good Samaritan, Eastern morn, Christ on the road to Emmaus, and so on.

When the 1857 church was built, an organ was installed and church historians have stated that they believe Central "has always had a choir." The first time the choir wore vestments was in 1926. Ladies of the church made the robes.

In May of 1919, nine years after the Boy Scout program came to America from England, Troop Four of Central Church received its first charter. The troop has been going now for 68 years and has turned out numerous Eagle Scouts and certainly its share of good citizens.

Through the teens and into the 1920s, Central had a large and active membership. The rolls carried more than 2,000 names, and Sunday School listed 1,500 members. In 1924, two years after Dr. Chappell came as minister, the congregation decided to conduct a quarter-million dollar renovation of the church. No greater proof of the church's stamina could have been found than the fact that the necessary $250,000 was pledged by the members one Sunday "between meals."

Sunday School was moved to Asheville High School and church services were held first in the Plaza Theater on Pack Square and then in the Imperial Theater on Patton Avenue while remodeling was underway. By June of 1925 the job was completed, and on June 14 an overgrown crowd heard Dr. Chappell preach on "The Model Church," the first service held in the new sanctuary - the one the church uses today.

The front of the church was untouched and it is today just as it was when the church was constructed in 1905. But the pulpit end of the sanctuary was torn off and extended 30 feet to give the church additional seating capacity. It also provided for enlarging of the choir area and for moving the pulpit from the southeast corner to the center of the altar area. The organ was expanded. The most visible addition. however. was the balcony which enlarged the church's seating capacity by several hundred.

Today Central is thriving with a plentitude of ministries and service opportunities to impact the community. With the continued support of a visionary congregation, plans are in place to expand the playground of the Central Weekday School, expand accessibility to the church and to enhance signage to communicate location and direction for friends of Central UMC.

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THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED "The maximum tenure of ministers in the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was two years until 1864, three years until 1888, and five years until 1890, when the time limit was removed."

REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV. REV.

DAVID B. CUMMING (1824, CIRCUIT RIDER) G.F.PAGE & L. WILSON (1836-37, CIRCUIT RIDER) JOSEPH HASQUEW (1837, CIRCUIT RIDER) E.K. HUSTELL (1838, CIRCUIT RIDER) G. RUSH (1839, CIRCUIT RIDER) F.M. FANNING (1840, CIRCUIT RIDER) D.R. MCANNALY (1841, CIRCUIT RIDER) JOHN S. WEAVER (1842, CIRCUIT RIDER) MILTON ROWLEY (1843, CIRCUIT RIDER) JACKSON S. BURNETT (1844, CIRCUIT RIDER) JACKSON S. BURNETT (1848-49, REGULAR PASTOR) WILLIAM A. KERR (1849-50, REGULAR PASTOR) GEORGE W. ALEXANDER (1850-51, REGULAR PASTOR) DAVID SULLINS (1851-52, REGULAR PASTOR) E.W. CHANCEAULME (1852-53, REGULAR PASTOR) E.E. GILLENWATTERS (1853-54, REGULAR PASTOR) JOH H. CARLISLE (1854-55, REGULAR PASTOR) COLEMAN CAMPBELL (1855-56, REGULAR PASTOR) E.E. GILLENWATTERS (1856-57, REGULAR PASTOR) W.H. BATES (1857-58, REGULAR PASTOR) WILLIAM H. KELLY (1858-59, REGULAR PASTOR) WILLIAM S. SUTTON (1859-60, REGULAR PASTOR) E.C. WEXLER (1860-61, REGULAR PASTOR) A.D. STEWART (1861-62, REGULAR PASTOR) JOHN D. WAGG (1862-63, REGULAR PASTOR) WILLIAM C. BOWMAN (1863-65, REGULAR PASTOR) JAMES S. KENNEDY (1865-66, REGULAR PASTOR) R.N. PRICE (1866-68, REGULAR PASTOR) L.K. HAYNES (1868-70, REGULAR PASTOR) W.H. BATES (1870-71, REGULAR PASTOR) W.C. BOWMAN (1871-73, REGULAR PASTOR) JOHN BORING (1873-74, REGULAR PASTOR) C.T. CARROLL (1874-76, REGULAR PASTOR) E.E. HOSS (1876-77, REGULAR PASTOR) JAMES ATKINS (1877-79, REGULAR PASTOR) J.S. BURNETT (1879-81, REGULAR PASTOR) J.H. KEITH (1881-82, REGULAR PASTOR)

REV. G.C. RANKIN (1882-83, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. W.W. BAYS (1883-87, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. G.C. RANKIN (1887-90, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. C.W. BYRD (1890-92, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. H.F. CHREITZBERG (1892-96, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. C.W. BYRD (1896-99, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. J.H. WEAVER (1899-01, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. FRANK SILER (1901-05, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. G.T. ROWE (1905-09, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. G.H. DETWILER (1909-10, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. C.W. BYRD (1910-12, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. J.C. ROWE (1912-14, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. J.H. BARNHARDT (1914-16, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. C.W. BYRD (1916-18, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. E.K. HARDIN (1918, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. E.K. MCLARTY (1918-22, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. ASHLEY CHAPPELL (1922-28, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. H.K. TRIMBLE (1928-31, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. WILLIAM A. LAMBETH (1931-33, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. C.C. WEAVER (1933-35, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. LOY D. THOMPSON (1935-37, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. WALTER A. STANBURY (1937-40, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. WILLIAM A. LAMBETH (1940-44, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. LEE F. TUTTLE (1944-49, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. EMBREE H. BLACKARD (1949-61, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. WALTER J. MILLER (1961-66, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. J. HERMAN NICHOLSON (1966-70, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. TOM STOCKTON (1970-75, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. ORION HUTCHINSON (1975-79, REGULAR PASTOR) REV. ROBERT J. RALLS (1979-83, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. J.B. GOLDEN (1983-87, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. EDGAR H. NEASE, JR. (1987-1989, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. HAROLD BALES (1989-1992, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. MICHAEL B. BROWN (1992-1998, REGULAR PASTOR) DR. ROBERT BLACKBURN (1998-CURRENT, REGULAR PASTOR)

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PRESENT EFFORTS CURRENT OUTREACH RACHEL HARRIS As "A Community for Christ in the Center of the City," Central UMC has a rich history of not only reaching out into the local community to make a difference, but has reached out globally to impact lives for the better in the name of Christ.

As years have come and gone, Central has erected and modified churches, has reached out a helping hand to our unhoused brothers and sisters and has had a tremendous impact on our world's children and families.

Here are some of the wonderful ministries and programs that Central UMC has currently enacted or currently partners with: Local, Regional International Missions Haywood Street Congregation (Local) Central United Methodist Church (UMC) and Haywood Street United Methodist Church merged in the Fall of 2006. This merger resulted in the creation of two campuses under the name of Centra UMC. After the merger, Central UMC committed to maintaining the historic Haywood Street Church building and set the intention to use Haywood Street Campus for missional ministerial activities.

In 2009, the Reverend Brian Combs came to Asheville. Reverend Combs was called to be in ministry with folks living in the margins of life. Following this call, Reverend Combs spent his first four months downtown intermingling on the edges of poverty, keeping a listening ear for the voice of Jesus among the disenfranchised. Reverend Combs heard, “Offer me a congregation of absurd grace, a meal of scandalous abundance, a kingdom glance of heaven on earth,” and this was the beginning of the Haywood Street Congregation. Haywood Street Congregation was formally established as a UMC mission congregation in the Spring of 2010.

Room in the Inn (Local) The Room in the Inn (RITI) is a Homeward Bound program. It provides shelter for 12 women who, are unable to stay at a shelter. Central UMC is one of the faith communities that partners with Room in the Inns to host the women for a week, providing all meals, shelter and activities. This community program gives women who might not be a good fit for a shelter environment the opportunity to have a safe place to rest while they await a permanent housing solution. Not only has Central UMC offered housing space to these women, but members and volunteers of Central have cooked, driven vans, stayed the night with these women and have served as dinner and activity hosts.

Congregations 4 Children (Local) Congregations 4 Children (C4C) is a state-wide initiative of The United Methodist Church that focuses on transforming the lives of children and families impacted by poverty through collaboration with public schools. C4C's Primary Focus Areas are: Poverty Awareness/Advocacy, K-3 Literacy, Basic Needs and Family Engagement.

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Central UMC has been chosen to partner with Emma Elementary School in West Asheville. While partnering with Emma, Central has been able to provide winter coats, a new playground and meals for these children.

Vanderbilt Apartments (Local) Vanderbilt Apartments is a low income older adult apartment community in Asheville, North Carolina.

The community provides efficient floorplans and are beneficial for those who are on a fixed income or who have some sort of impairment. Central UMC has worked with the individuals of this community by providing living necessities such as paper towels, toilet paper, kleenex, low-sodium soup and small cans of soup.

Habitat for Humanity (Local) Historically, Central UMC has partners with other local churches and community organizations to build homes with Habitat for Humanity. In February 2015 two Habitat houses that were built by local United Methodist and Presbyterian churches, were dedicated to Kelvin Rouse and family and Candice Crump and family.

Kairos Prison Ministry "The mission of Kairos Prison Ministry is to share the transforming love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ to impact the hearts and lives of incarcerated men, women and youth, as well as their families, to become loving and productive citizens of their communities."

Central UMC is very active in prison ministry and currently members and volunteers frequently serve at the local Asheville jail as well as five prison facilities in Western North Carolina.

Camp Tekoa Camp Tekoa is a United Methodist summer camp and conference center in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Hendersonville, NC. Central UMC hosts its annual church picnic at the end of summer at Camp Tekoa. Central also provides the opportunity for youth to attend a Vacation Bible School Camp Day at Camp Tekoa.

Wilderness Trail The mission of Wilderness Trail is to provide the opportunity for amazing things to happen by taking people out of their comfort zone and placing them in the beauty of God's creation. Each year Central UMC takes a group of youth up to Wilderness Trail for a week of backpacking, fellowship and communion with God on the Appalachian Trail.

Reconciling Ministries The Reconciling Ministries Network is a growing movement of United Methodist affiliates working for the full participation of all people to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in the life and ministry of the church. A Reconciling Ministries Group has existed at Central UMC since 2008. Our purpose is to build relationships, knowledge, and understanding that can lead to a more inclusive church, by offering opportunities for dialogue through education, ministry, advocacy, and witness.

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Here is a listing of some of our additional Community & Ministry Partners:

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS 180TH SPECIAL EVENTS SEPTEMBER 10, 2017 - CELEBRATING OUR HISTORY SEPTEMBER 17, 2017 - LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR FUTURE SEPTEMBER 24, 2017 - MINISTRY FAIR OCTOBER 1, 2017 - WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY OCTOBER 8, 2017 - CHILDREN'S SABBATH OCTOBER 29, 2017 - CELEBRATION SUNDAY & FALL FESTIVAL

SPEAKER SERIES & DISCUSSION PANELS SEPTEMBER 22 & 23 - DR. MICKEY EFIRD OCTOBER 15, 2017 - DR. ELAINE HEATH JANUARY 29, 2017 - BUILDING BRIDGES (9 WEEK PROGRAM) FEBRUARY 11, 2017 - STORYTELLERS SESSION AT CENTRAL UMC

DR. ELAINE HEATH, DEAN OF DUKE DIVINITY SCHOOL

MUSIC CELEBRATION SERIES OCTOBER 6, 2017 - JOE LASHER JR. IN THE SANCTUARY OF CENTRAL UMC DECEMBER 3, 2017 - A CEREMONY OF CAROLS BY BENJAMIN BRITTEN FEBRUARY 17, 2018 - RECITALIST ALEXANDRE THARAUD, PIANO GOLDBERG VARIATIONS BY J.S. BACH FRIDAYS IN MARCH, 2018 - UPCOMING MUSIC PERFORMANCES THROUGHOUT THE MONTH OF MARCH

SPECIAL EXHIBITS (PARTNERING WITH UNC ASHEVILLE FOR DIVERSITY EDUCATION) NOVEMBER 8, 2017 - WWII MOUNTAIN MEMORIES: HOME-FRONT TO HOME LINES JANUARY, 2018 - WITH ALL DELIBERATE SPEED: SCHOOL DESEGREGATION IN BUNCOMBE COUNTY FEBRUARY, 2018 - COMING TO THE MOUNTAINS: IMMIGRATION IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA MARCH, 2018 - FROM THE SHOAH TO THE MOUNTAINS 14

REACHING INTO THE FUTURE REVEREND LYNNETTE SILLS As children, we are often asked by well-meaning adults what we want to be when we grow up. It’s kind of a silly question because we cannot really expect a young child to have a real answer for that. How does a child answer that question with any kind of certainty when so much of their world consists of merely focusing on their immediate wants and needs?

Teenagers also get those kinds of questions. They are the predictable questions about which college they plan to attend and what they plan to major in when they have only just begun to live and their brains have not yet fully developed.

Once they have figured out the college thing, then these children who are now young adults have other questions to ponder. How do I know if this is the right job to accept? How do I make or accept a proposal of marriage, or make a decision to bring a child into the world with confidence and commitment? And, on into the adult years, how do we answer the questions that face us in later life that require us to make life altering or end-of-life decisions?

As a church, a body of Christ, we have our own questions that are not dissimilar to those asked throughout our lives as human beings. Central United Methodist Church has its own questions to ask.

The time has come for us to not only ask them but also to start answering them.

We have 180 years of history. We have established a foundation as a community of Christ. We have asked ourselves what it means to live as a Christian. We have said aloud and kept within us the core belief that our faith is grounded in being followers of Christ. We have celebrated the growth and experienced the excitement, the gains, the losses, the challenges, the certainties, and the uncertainties that come with our growth and change.

Every person who takes up the cross and follows Jesus is asked by him to choose to do one very basic thing as a cornerstone of their faith: love one another as Jesus has loved you. There are few words in this commandment, but there are endless ways in which we will be asked to do this and there are equally endless ways in which we will struggle to love.

In this span of 180 years we have committed ourselves to being a church, to being part of the community, and to being servants of both. We have demonstrated that we are people who desire to minister to and serve others who need care, grace and love.

But, we are not finished. There is more for us to live into and be both as a body of Christ and as individuals.

We have a past and a present, and as a congregation we have the responsibility to honor these, to reflect on who we have been, who we are, and who we wish to be. We have questions that need asking. And, these questions are not just questions confined to the walls and ways of Central United Methodist Church.

These are questions that require discernment in search of wisdom that can continue to guide us on the path that is before us now.

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God knows the plans God has for us. And, God has known us all along. Paraphrasing Pastor Rob Blackburn, God is waiting for us to say our “yes” to God’s “yes.” In our best moments, we have said our “yes” to God. But, because we are imperfect humans we have also said “no.”

It is time to stop saying “no” to God. God is calling us to look forward now. We can celebrate our past and present but we cannot stay there. The universal church is at a crossroads and so is Central United Methodist Church. And, now is the time when those of us who follow Christ must ask ourselves questions that will determine how or if we move forward.

Do we want to move forward as a living, vibrant, healthy, seeking, giving, guiding, leading, and loving body of Christ? Or, will we sit quietly and wait for someone or something else to fill that void while the Good News is hushed and unlived by our complacency, stubbornness, pride, ignorance, narrowness, and exclusiveness? Will we step back and disengage or will we step forward and answer the call that was heard in Isaiah?

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And, I said, “Here am I! Send me!” Isaiah 6:8 -Our future is not about being a church that cares only that we maintain traditions and systems. It is not wedded to nor does it hinge upon the existence of our beautiful building or our bank accounts. Our future as a church is not one that places all it has on a belief that everything we did in the past will sustain us in the days ahead. Nor are we to rest quietly in the present, as if that is the end of what we have been called to do and be.

-Our future is in the hope of a risen Christ whose death was and will never be the final ending. We believe in new life and the abundant life that has been offered to us by One who gave his life so that we could share in an abundant life with Him. This is the Good News we are compelled to share. With kindness and compassion and in truth we must tell others about the love and grace of God. -Our future is in the peace that comes in knowing the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will lead us and walk with us in the uncertain days ahead along the unknown paths of life. The world is desperate for peace and we must be people committed to living in peace so that all will know this peace as we do.

-Our future is seen in the joy of knowing that we are God’s children and God takes great delight in us. We are invited to know the hope and peace of this God who created us and to experience and share the joy of what it means to be a child of God. We must be a people, a church that joyfully commits to a life of service to others, a life of obedience to God, and a life that reflects the love and ways of Jesus.

-Our future is rooted in the abundant love and grace given to us by God. It is founded in the acceptance of and sharing of that love and grace with all. There is no other way to be. There is no other way to live. Our very lives depend on this foundation remaining firm and tightly held.

We are being asked to look at ministry, at church, at service, at giving, at grace, at life, and at love in new and radically different ways. We are being asked to keep the very best and most essential parts of who we are and what we are, and, then, use these to seek out new ways of knowing, being, and doing life together as God’s people. We are being asked to obey the fundamental commandments that God gave us to live abundantly. We are being asked to step out in faith with all that we have been given to share the bread of life and the cup of salvation with all who would take it. We are called to a future of hope, peace, joy, and love.

Will your answer be, “Here I am! Send me!”?

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EPILOGUE REVEREND DR. ROBERT BLACKBURN

Hello Friends, As we are trying to figure out what it means to be a church for a new day, we would be wise to let the past speak to the present and the future.

Central UMC has a rich past founded as "A Community for Christ in the Center of the City." And while it’s an honorable thing to have distinguished ancestors, the honor belongs to them.

Francis Asbury, was sent by John Wesley to the Americas to be a part of a little fledgling movement of Methodist societies that were just beginning to form. He traveled more than any man in his generation, was widely known to many, and was a welcome visitor in the home of thousands of common folks. For almost 54 years he had no home other than the road, and in his journals he wrote, “I ride or I die” and referred to his address with one word - "America."

He was a prolific preacher, traveler, and innovator who documented his journey and life conquests in journals.

From Francis Asbury, founding members of Central and other prominent individuals who have passed through these doors have taught us that we are part of a divine human conversation that began a long time before we arrived, and this is a conversation that will continue on long after we are gone. It's quite a conversation. It not only offers us roots, stability and order, but also inspires us to imaginative options.

The people who came before us never lost sight that we are called to be pioneer pilgrim people. We don’t follow just a God of the past; we follow a living God who is forever out in front of us calling us forward. There was a relentless Spirit in these pilgrims. It was a Spirit whose message was simple and clear. Get up. Go on.

Keep moving.

As it is with the careful construction of our bodies, God carefully formed this body of Christ. God put eyes on the front, not the back of our heads. Our hands face the task in front of us. And, our feet face one direction forward.

Just as earlier followers heard the small, still voice of God, we can also continue to hear God calling us to something new, something radical, something only God could imagine. God calls us to move beyond old boundaries, to give up the inclination to put the tent pegs in too deep, and to disregard the notion that we have come to a stopping point.

Central Methodist has never been satisfied with the idea that we are museum keepers. We are not content to simply maintain and polish the treasures laid up by the people that came before us. We have continued to run the race and persevere with what Jesus put before us. And, we will continue to move into the future with faith, vision, perseverance, and a pioneering spirit.

Blessings, Rob Blackburn 17

CENTRAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 27 CHURCH STREET ASHEVILLE, NC 28801 828-253-3316 WWW.CENTRALUMC.ORG