Salute to New Fairview
Today I was honored to attend the 100th Anniversary of New Fairview Church of the Brethren in York, PA, the church I attended through my youth and early twenties.
It was interesting to find out that a few families, one with eight children, birthed the church since it was quite a distance between nearby Brethren Church, today 20 minute drive one way! Only having “church” once a month, they had “Sunday School” every Sunday afternoon until they grew in numbers.
Those who started the church dressed plain, women sat on one side of the church, the men on the other; everyone sang accapella, four part harmony. They had the free ministry, raising ministers from within the congregation who were not paid but called to serve for life.
They have come from a church plant from the Codorus congregation, to birth their own congregation, to maintain it, and watching it develop and grow into the congregation of about 300 that it is today.
One question that arose during the sermon was do we live with the history of the past, or do we move on with the future. As we sang the closing him, the line “taught by the Bible, lead by the Spirit, I will follow Him.” How will the Spirit lead in the future, and will we be willing to lead by Him? Can we trust the Holy Spirit, or should we hang on to history, on to tradition? A question we will be asking throughout our blogs.