{"id":2,"date":"2008-09-29T16:29:22","date_gmt":"2008-09-29T21:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2024-04-25T09:08:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T14:08:52","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/a-community-church\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The History of the Chilmark Community Church<\/strong>
Methodism was formally introduced to Chilmark through a circuit preacher, *John Sanders, a fugitive slave who found refuge on the island, in about 1787. By 1810 a “class” of twenty members of the Methodist Episcopal Society met in homes and later in school houses.\u2028\u2028In 1827, land was offered by John & Mary Hancock on Middle Road,  near Meetinghouse  Road in Chilmark, then the center of town. Edgartown sold a small church to Chilmark, which was moved to the donated site just west of Meetinghouse Road on Middle Road. The Reverend John “Reformation” Adams, a Methodist minister, was pastor. This building was moved to the north side of Middle Road.  In 1843 it was replaced  larger church which was dedicated on January 25, 1843.   This, our present church was moved to the Menemsha Crossroad in 1910. You can see the seam in the siding on the front where it was “flaked” or cut into sections to be moved.  In 1928 the Oddfellows of Oak Bluffs gave a bell to the Chilmark Ladies Aid. The bell was hung in the new steeple in 1931.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to appeal to all people, the name was changed to the Chilmark Community Church in 1982. With the encouragement and vision of the pastor, Arlene Bodge, and the architectural skills of church member, Clark Goff, in 2002 a Parish\/ Education building was built behind the historic church providing Sunday School and meeting rooms, a kitchen, bathrooms and a Pastor’s Study. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


For many decades Chilmark and Edgartown shared a “circuit” preacher.  In 2006 Chilmark shared two pastors with the other three Methodist churches on the island as part of a “Cooperative Ministry”.  On January 1, 2009, Chilmark chose to leave the co-operative and to remain open serving our community, as it has for over 200 years.  In December 2023 the Chilmark Church officially separated from the United Methodist Church denomination and is now an inclusive, independent community church. Currently we have a halftime pastor supported by members and friends, the summer Flea Market and Lobster Roll sales.  Everyone is welcome here!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kim Manter has this photo of the church on Middle Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*See article below, scanned from a Souvenir History of the New<\/em> published by  Rev. Rennetts C. Miller in 1897.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Souvenir<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Souvenir<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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MORE HISTORY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

List of Pastors through the years<\/a>
Notes from “100 Years on the Crossroad”<\/a>
Notes from old trustees documents<\/a>
Post Cards<\/a>
Gladys Flanders History Notes<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The History of the Chilmark Community Church Methodism was formally introduced to Chilmark through a circuit preacher, *John Sanders, a fugitive slave who found refuge on the island, in about 1787. By 1810 a “class” of twenty members of the Methodist Episcopal Society met in homes and later in school houses.\u2028\u2028In 1827, land was offered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7415,"parent":214,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7823,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/7823"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}