Marking 200 years

By Sam Luptak Jr.
New Castle News

MERCER, LAWRENCE COUNTIES July 24, 2008 05:47 pm

— Two hundred years and five traditions united into one.
That’s the focus of Sunday’s celebration by the Shenango Presbytery, which will mark its bicentennial with a 7 p.m. service in Westminster College’s Anderson Amphitheatre. Communion will be part of the service.
Covering Lawrence and Mercer counties, the Shenango Presbytery was organized in 1808 with 20 churches. Today, there are nearly 70 churches, some of which are a decade or more older than their umbrella organization.
“This is not exactly a bicentennial,” said the Rev. Dr. David Dawson, executive director of the presbytery. “There are several churches that predate the presbytery itself by years (most of which belonged originally to the Presbytery of Hartford, Ohio).
“The Scotch-Irish arrived here (in America) around the time of the American Revolution and began starting Presbyterian churches. These would join together, forming presbyteries. The Shenango Presbytery has eight or 10 churches that predate this presbytery.”
Those would include Mahoning Presbyterian in Mahoning Township and Bethel Presbyterian in Enon Valley, both in Lawrence County, the oldest churches in the presbytery, founded in 1798.
Representatives of these congregations will be joined at the celebration service by members of the presbytery’s 67 other churches, including its newest one, Word Centered Fellowship in Masury. The multi-ethnic, multi-racial church has been a presbytery member for five years.
The history
The Shenango Presbytery represents a blending of five separate Presbyterian traditions. According to Rev. Bob Dayton, pastor of Mahoning Presbyterian, these traditions demonstrate Presbyterianism’s diversity and represent its various passions through the years. Each will be represented at the celebration with the singing of a hymn that came out of it.
Of the five traditions, Rev. Dayton said, the Presbyterian Church (USA) — to which the Shenango Presbytery belongs — is the largest Presbyterian body in the country.
The others include:
ä The Free Presbyterian Church, which existed from 1847 through 1865. It was founded over members’ opposition to slavery. Most members, Rev. Dayton said, were involved in the Underground Railroad as well as other efforts to assist runaway slaves. The body joined others once the Civil War ended.
ä The Hungarian Reformed Church, one of the largest reformed traditions in Hungary and all of eastern Europe. As the immigrants from that region arrived, they brought with them their own traditions.
ä The United Presbyterian Church, which existed from 1858 to 1958. It was born from the Succedist and Coventer movements in Presbyterianism, followers of which would bow to no man or law but God’s alone. “We have no king but Jesus!” was their long-standing rally cry.
ä The Cumberland Presbyterian Tradition, a frontier church movement. Its rules were looser, and worship was much less formal. Because churches often were located in frontier areas, they did not require their ordained ministers to be able to read Greek, Latin and Hebrew, concentrating instead on knowledge of the Bible and the willingness to serve.
Celebration
The bicentennial service also will include a message from Rev. Dawson and a classic “Season of Communion.”
“The original Presbyterian Season of Communion was held only two to three times a year,” Rev. Dayton explained. “It was a week-long celebration and was the center of the church’s life. There were preparatory services all week long.
“Several ministers would preach, and church members were expected to attend. Saturday was traditionally a baptism service, and new converts were given the chance to join the church at that time.”
Those who attended most of the services, Rev. Dayton said, were given a small lead token, and a person had to have that token in order to receive communion.
“Church members, with tokens in hand, would then enter, so many at a time, and take a seat at a long narrow communion serving table,” Rev. Dayton said.
“Each person would then present his token and receive communion. That group would then exit, and the next group would enter.”
At the bicentennial celebration, the “Season of Communion” will not last a week, but those attending will enter and be seated at a newly reconstructed classic communion table. All participants will receive a souvenir communion token to keep as part of the observance.
A communion table could not be located, so a replica of the old-style communion table, based on a photo provided by a South Carolina church, was built, Rev. Dayton said.