My Faith is Rooted in Church's History

     Text and image by Rick McVicar

     Mansfield First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), like many mainline Protestant churches, struggles to keep the doors open with dwindling membership after enjoying a hay day of packed pews in the 1960s and 70s. 

     I first joined the church in 1968 when my family moved to Mansfield from Marion, Ohio. I took part in the church’s robust youth programs, which met in a stone two-story building next to the church. The building had been erected as a parsonage for the pastor. It now serves to house an evangelical ministry separate from the church that offers transitional housing for those who are unhoused.        

                                    Click on image to go to First Christian Church's website.    

     The PrayGround, a small park with fruit trees and benches, then sits on the next lot over from the stone building. Behind those properties, a 6-foot fence overlooks a cliff, as the church sits on a steep hill. The church’s ground floor, housing Fellowship Hall, opens to a parking lot next to a retaining wall holding up the stone building and PrayGround. 

     Much of the retaining wall with an adjacent parking now displays art memorializing Mansfield residents who have lost their lives to drug addiction. The wall is called Jericho Wall and is owned by a separate ministry. While the church building will never meet ADA requirements, it remains an engineering marvel. How that retaining wall has stood the test of time is beyond me.

     In my youth, the Rev. William Newman served as First Christian’s senior minister. He was a balding scholarly man who preached on historical criticism of the Bible from the pulpit. When I later went to college and divinity school, my classmates all complained that they had never heard of historical criticism in their churches. Historical criticism looks at the cultural context of biblical writers and explores how they used human sources to compile their work. Having listened to the Rev. Newman’s sermons, I was well familiar with historical criticism when I went to college. In fact, I was especially prepared for a divinity school class on the Apostle Paul, as the Rev. Newman was a devout Paulinist.        

     That does not mean he was opposed to women speaking in the church. No, in fact, the Rev. Beth Schwed served as an associate pastor. She spoke her mind freely and fervently, especially when someone else acted unfairly or unjustly. Beth had a good sense of humor and took a lot of ribbing from a bunch of us kids. She led the Christian education and youth programs.        

     The leadership of the reverends Newman and Schwed left a lasting influence on my faith throughout my life. I earned the Boy Scout God and Country award under their direction. My project for the award was to change the sign in front of the church each week to display an uplifting message. The Rev. Newman provided the words. I changed that sign each week for a year, no matter the weather.

     The current sign in front of the church has a permanent message about the Son rising today. It no longer offers a message that changes each week. I am sometimes tempted to scribble a new message on it for old time's sake.