“


A Long Era of New Leanness After the pastorate of J. M. White (1889–1899), the pulpit was vacant for nine years, and then two very brief pastorates were followed by those of C. B. Betts, W. T. Simpson, H. B. Blakely, M. T. Ellis, and J. L. Boyd. W. L. Latham was stated supply in 1949, before a one-year pastorate in 1950. Equaling the longest pastorate at Hopewell, Rev. T. L. Wilson served from that time to 1972, followed by P. Missick and then W. C. Chartrand (1982–1990). During this time, mem- bership declined to just seven.


200 Years of God’s Grace 2


By Rev. James Hakim, pastor of Hopewell ARP Church


00 Years of God’s Grace.” That was the title of the conference that Hopewell ARP (Culleoka, TN) hosted October 2–4, 2020, to celebrate its 200th anniversary.


A Half Century of Struggle for a New Church Plant In 1806, the Baldridge, Hannah, Henderson, and Matthews families moved to


Middle Tennessee from Mecklenburg County, NC. By 1810, six ARP households now gathered for worship. With occasional preaching from riding ARP preach- ers, the young congregation was known as “the Mission Station in the West.” In the fall of 1820, Rev. Isaac Grier of First Presbytery organized 35 charter members into a particular church under ruling elders Michael Baldridge, James Leech, Robert Matthews, and Samuel Scott. Hopewell’s first meeting house was a log structure, and they continued to receive occasional pulpit supply. Finally, in 1825, Robert M. Galloway was installed as minister, serving until his death in 1839. That year, a new meeting house was erected, but the congregation wouldn’t


call a new minister until J. K. Boyce in 1844. He served until 1848, when they again received occasional supply until calling Rev. J. H. Bryson in 1854. This was the year that construction began on the present structure.


A Season of Growth in the Midst of National Struggles Still at only 51 members in 1851, these ARPs remained committed to the doc-


trines of the Westminster Standards, the ordinary means of grace as the Lord’s appointed ministry, and public worship consisting only of what the Lord has commanded in Scripture. It was a great mercy of the Lord’s grace that had kept them so, even in an age of increasing innovation in American churches. In a different work of the same grace, membership grew to 120 by the begin-


ning of the war in 1861. Rev. Bryson served as an army chaplain, then resigning in 1866. The pastorate of J. H. Peoples (1867–1889) saw membership peak at 150. During this era, Hopewell hosted the 1859, 1867, and 1874 meetings of the


Synod (they had previously hosted Synod in their new building in 1839, with Rev. Galloway being buried the day before it convened). On April 21, 1882, Hopewell hosted the first meeting of the Tennessee-Alabama Presbytery.


28


Great Growth and Great Grief In 1991, the Session invited


Charles W Bradley to preach and pastor. Those here at the time remem- ber their telling him, “We have six months’ pay in the bank; the rest is up to you and God.” God was pleased to bless, and on September 11, 1994, Dr. Calvin Todd moderated a congregational meet- ing in which the rejuvenated con- gregation called the newly ordained (Sep. 6) Rev. Bradley. A year later, Hopewell celebrated its 175th Anni- versary with a special afternoon ser- vice of commemoration. The congregation continued to


grow under Pastor Bradley, whom the Lord took suddenly from them by heart attack on Thanksgiving Day, 2011. This was a great shock to a con- gregation, nearly all of whom had been gathered under their late pas- tor’s ministry. By January of 2012, Pastor Buddy


Roberts was serving Hopewell regu- larly, and the congregation called him to be their new minister in October of that year. He pastored Hopewell until July of 2017, and his ministry was a season of comfort and healing for the hurting congregation.


200 Years of God’s Grace… in 2020? Many may find it odd to hear of


a congregation hosting a conference in October, 2020. But the Lord had uniquely prepared the Hopewell con- gregation to respond to the challeng- ing theological questions that faced American churches in the past year.


The Associate Reformed Presbyterian


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