Coffeeville Methodist Church Celebrates 200 Years
Coffeeville Methodist Church’s current building was dedicated in 1955.
Coffeeville Methodist Church will commemorate 200 years of ministry on Sunday, Nov. 3, in a Bicentennial Homecoming. Reaching two centuries of service is a rare milestone, and a great day of celebration and rejoicing has been planned.
At 10 a.m. there will be coffee and donuts for a “Meet & Greet” on the church lawn, weather permitting; in the event of rain, this will be inside the church. Morning worship will begin at 10:50 a.m. with current pastor Rev. Jim Petermann leading the service and former pastor Rev. Hal Hall bringing the message. Following the worship service, a church fellowship meal will be served in the Fellowship Hall.
The first minister appointed to Coffeeville was William Gwin in 1824. The first Methodist church building was erected in 1847; a frame building on a lot in Old Town running from Tennessee to Okahoma Street on the hill, where the town center was located. By 1873, the church on the hill was dilapidated, and church members decided to build a church near the new business section of Coffeeville which was moved from the hill closer to the Illinois Central RR in the valley below, where the town sits today.
This one-room white frame building was situated on the corner of Main and Court Streets, where the medial clinic is now located. In 1953, the current red-brick church was built under the leadership of Rev. Johnny Dinas on land donated by Miss Clyde Beadles, and the building was dedicated in 1955.
Over its 200-year history, Coffeeville Methodist Church has supported many ministries, missions, and local charities, including Camp Lake Stephens in Oxford where the church built two cabins in memory of Mrs. Ruth Beadles and Joe N. Bailey, Jr.
Coffeeville Methodist Church has been blessed to have a long history of dedicated servants who faithfully served the Lord as part of the “great cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us. We are grateful for this legacy of faith and service that still imprints our church and congregation today.
