and week out, season by season, and where they were eventually funeralized and interred.
But more than just a geographic gathering of folks, the church represented what theologians call“ the beloved community,” that invisible church comprised of all those Christians who really are trying to live by the teachings of Jesus, trying to live according to what the Apostle Paul called“ The Law of Love,” speaking and acting in love, treating other people as you would want to be treated, clinging to a foundational faith in God through all the struggles and accomplishments of everyday life.
There in these small simple buildings, a great social experiment was and is underway— to see whether people can put aside their petty differences and annoying issues, put others’ interests above their own, and live in harmony and unity of spiritual practice.
By the way“ Harmony” and“ Unity” are the names of two of these pioneer Brown County churches— one in the northern part of the county between Bean Blossom and Spearsville, the other in the southern part, down near Bellsville. When I was younger, they were sister churches, both belonging to the same association, the Mount Zion Association of the same denomination, American Baptist Churches.
Just those names give you a glimpse into the thinking of the folks who founded them, over 150 years ago. They valued harmony. They valued unity.
One of the great things about little country churches is the congregational singing. Although the hymnal typically contains over 400 songs, most congregations have
Unity Baptist congregation( date unknown). photo by Frank Hohenberger
a scant few, 20 or 30, that they love and sing over and over again.
Singing is good for you. Just standing up with 30 or 40 other people and lifting your voice in song, whether or not you are technically a good singer, is not only good for us physically, as can be proved scientifically— it is good for the soul.
People grew up in the same church together, sharing all the high and low points of everyday life— weddings, funerals, the birth of a child, the death of a parent. Aside from their personal relationships elsewhere, they had a formal, Sunday morning relationship with their fellow congregants, and in many cases had family and social connections reaching back through several generations.
In my father’ s day, when one of the saints passed on to their eternal reward, the funeral was held at the church.
Funerals usually happen in some commercial establishment in town today.
Out behind a little country church, there’ s usually a cemetery, rows of headstones of varying sizes and shapes, and a lot of the history of that little church and the community around it is in that graveyard— if you know how to read it.
Sometimes, a whole family tree is laid out neatly side by side. In my own case, my family antecedents lay spread out in a number of different small cemeteries in and around Spearsville, ranging on up into southern Johnson County.
In an era of“ mega-churches” and supreme mobility, it is surprising how often people from urban or suburban communities seek out the Sunday morning experience of a traditional little country church. •
Jan./ Feb. 2017 • Our Brown County 19