How We Got to Be Who We Are: First United Methodist Church of Joshua

By Bobby M. Wells

This book attempts to tell of the significant events, places, and people that define us. During our journey, you will meet many of our ancestors. They are our church ancestors, and they all have an impact on making us who we are.

You will notice that sometimes on the journey, the road we traveled was a very good road, but even when things seemed to be going well, there were obstacles, road blocks, and detours. Fortunately, we were always found, rescued, and directed back on course. Thanks be to God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524501051

Bobby M. Wells

Bobby M. Wells is a graduate of electrical engineering and is now retired. With many years of volunteer service to the First United Methodist Church of Joshua, Bobby became intrigued by the history of not only his church but also of the Christian churches in general and the Methodist Church in particular. He used his writing skills developed in his career in engineering to share this interest with others.

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Copyright © 2016 by Bobby M. Wells.

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Rev. date: 08/12/2020

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 (AD 33 – 100)

Chapter 2 Growing, Getting Organized, and Documenting a

Formal Statement of Faith (AD 100-323)

Chapter 3 The Era of Constantine (AD 323–500)

Chapter 4 The Middle Ages (AD 500-1500)

Chapter 5 Church Reform (AD 1500-1650)

Chapter 6 Other Religious Movements (AD 1650-1760)

Chapter 7 Methodism Comes to America (AD 1760-1815)

Chapter 8 Methodism Comes to Texas (AD 1815 – 1874)

Chapter 9 Methodism Comes to North Central Texas

(AD 1874 – 1883)

Chapter 10 Our Joshua Church (1883 – Present)

Appendix I: The Formation of the United Methodist

Church In America

Appendix II: Figures 1-4, First Churches and Cross Timbers

Epilogue

Author Biography

INTRODUCTION

This book attempts to tell of the significant events, places, and people that define us and tell us how we got to be who we are. It begins with our birth and then proceeds through the long journey from then until the present. During the journey, you will meet many of our ancestors. They were for the most part Jewish, Catholic, or Protestants of many denominations, including many variations of Methodists. There were many very special people, great people who were dedicated followers of Christ and who truly wanted others to be dedicated followers of Christ. You will also meet some who were maybe not so dedicated, not so great. But either way, they are still our church ancestors and they all had an impact on making us who we are.

You will notice that sometimes on the journey, the road we travelled was a very good road: smooth, easy, and pleasing both to men and to God, but even when things seemed to be going well, there were obstacles, roadblocks, and detours. Each had to be dealt with. Unfortunately, you will also see that there were times when we simply made some wrong turns and headed down some bad roads. Maybe we were not reading, listening to, or understanding the directions, and sure enough, we got lost. Fortunately, we were always found, rescued, and directed back on course, thanks be to God.

CHAPTER 1

(AD 33 – 100)

The Christian church—our church—was born in Judea, in the city of Jerusalem. The birth occurred in (or near) the year AD 33. It was springtime: it was the time of the annual celebration of the Jewish holiday of Pentecost. The disciples of Jesus Christ were in Jerusalem, not only to celebrate Pentecost, but also because this is where they were when they were last with Jesus. Jesus told them to remain there until He sent them the help they would need to implement His plan for us.

We don’t know exactly why the disciples were at this particular location or specifically what they were doing, but we can certainly speculate. Maybe they were preparing a meal for the Pentecost celebration, or maybe they were just sitting around and talking about the amazing events that had taken place over the past few weeks. Jesus—their leader, their friend, the Messiah—was crucified, buried, and resurrected. They were certain about all the events leading up to the resurrection because they personally observed them. They were also certain of the resurrection of Jesus because, since the day of the cross, they had seen Him, touched Him, and listened to Him speak. They probably didn’t fully understand all of these amazing things that happened, but they could surely testify that the events had happened. I can imagine that there were some mixed feelings among the disciples. Some must have felt great joy because they knew that Jesus was no longer dead. Others must have felt great sadness because He was not with them. We can also imagine that some of them were still talking about Christ’s final instructions to them and of the help that He was going to send them. Some may have even been anticipating that the promised help would come on this day. If so, they were thinking correctly. This was the day that the promised help arrived.

It was a very dramatic arrival. First, there was the sound of a strong wind; the roar filled the room. Then tongues of fire appeared and settled on the shoulders of each of the disciples. The wind and the fire were announcing the arrival of the promised help. That help was, in fact, the Holy Spirit. How breathtaking! How exciting! How awesome it must have been for the disciples. Over the past three years, they had witnessed many amazing things—many, many miracles performed by Jesus—but they had never been a witness to anything like this. They were so amazed and so filled with the Spirit that it overflowed in the form of exuberant praise to the Lord.

Some of the people that were in the street—Jews from all over the world who had gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost—heard and understood this exuberant praise. They heard it in their own language. Peter and some of the other disciples were able to look out into the street and see what was happening. Some of this was probably now starting to sink in, to make sense. The disciples chose to go into the streets to talk to the excited but perplexed people and explain, as best they could, what had happened. Some of the people they approached thought that all of the exuberant praise they heard was the result of the disciples having had too much wine to drink. This did not bother Peter. He was able to convince them otherwise.

This was a totally changed Peter—a Peter truly filled with the Holy Spirit. As he explained to the people what had happened, they listened and many understood. Peter seized the opportunity and went on to explain all of the other amazing things that had happened over the past few weeks, the account of the crucified and the risen Lord. He then explained to the people about repentance, and of the divine offer of forgiveness. The message touched many hearts and many believed his story. They asked Peter what they should do. He invited them to turn to God, change their lives, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Approximately 3,000 accepted the invitation. That day of Pentecost dawned as a new age: the age of Christianity. That day of Pentecost was our birth day, the day our church was born.

Peter has been credited with preaching the very first sermon of our new church. Unfortunately, we do not have the names of those first 3,000 members, but they were almost certainly all Jews, the ones who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost.

The First Church Community

Many of the new believers chose to stay in Jerusalem because they wanted to be near others who had experienced the same joy. This large number of people presented a small logistics problem: they needed a place to stay and food to eat. A Christian solution developed. Resources were pooled and deacons were appointed to oversee their distribution. Those with homes provided housing; those with food provided food. The new community lived together in harmony and they committed themselves to the teachings of the Disciples. They prayed together, shared meals together, usually discussing the good news that Peter had told them, and their numbers grew. The 3,000 soon became the 5,000.

Peter was clearly the leader of this group of believers, this church in Jerusalem. At some point, he must have recalled what Jesus had earlier said to him: And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. So Peter was certain that the church was here and it was here to stay.

The Early Years

A new community of believers was quickly formed and Peter was clearly their leader. Peter was the rock, the solid foundation for the early church. He believed! He performed miracles! He preached and told the good news story of repentance, forgiveness, and eternal life for those who believed. As he told the story, still more repented and were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Peter and all the other disciples were doing exactly as they had been instructed: they were making disciples of Jesus Christ and they were doing it first in Jerusalem.

Some Opposition Appeared

Our church continued to grow, but it did not happen