DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711130249

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: IDA KAY'S PORTSMOUTH 

SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan 

                                            LENGTH:   69 lines

PORTSMOUTH HAS CHURCH HISTORY LIKE IT HAS

Portsmouth has church history like it has naval history - more than anybody else around here and more significant than most.

On Sunday, one of its most historic congregations, Monumental United Methodist Church, will celebrate its 225th anniversary. Do a little calculation there and that tells you the church is a pre-Revolutionary organization.

It's the oldest Methodist congregation south of the Potomac River and one of the oldest in the nation.

The congregation started when a Methodist missionary, Robert Williams, came to town and spoke under the aegis of Isaac Luke, a prosperous Portsmouth citizen who invited him to preach from the porch of his house. The first chapel was built in the late 1770s at South and Effingham streets under the guidance of the Rev. Francis Asbury, the pastor who later became the first Methodist bishop in America.

The congregation then worshiped Glasgow Street, where it now maintains a park, in the 1790s. In 1832 it moved to a new building on Dinwiddie Street. The first Dinwiddie sanctuary was burned down during the Civil War and was replaced in 1876 by the present building. The church, originally called The Dinwiddie Street Church, was named Monumental as a monument to Robert Williams, the itinerant missionary who is buried here.

The church has been called ``the cornerstone of Southern Methodism.'' It has hosted many important Methodist leaders from John Wesley to those in the present day.

Furthermore, the church has continued to prosper downtown while spawning other congregations. Its earliest offspring was Emanuel A.M.E. Church, now on North Street. It started when Monumental gave the Glasgow Street building to black members, who wanted to form their own congregation.

Monumental like several other downtown congregations maintains a good music program, giving the city special attractions such as the noontime concerts once a month, and also a theater program that does one production a year. It has a history room. And it participates in housing the homeless and supports other programs for needy persons in Portsmouth.

In short, Monumental is one of downtown Portsmouth's real assets.

Monumental, like other downtown churches, has demonstrated faith in the future of the city. It purchased the former Catholic high school across the street from its education building, using part of the property for off-street parking. The congregation plans to use the building for additional ministries at some time in the future.

Most importantly, the congregation installed a wonderful new pipe organ in the sanctuary - another indication that it plans to stay put and grow downtown.

Monumental is one of several congregations that contributes to the artistic ambience of Olde Towne with its monthly noontime concerts and other arts activities.

Most of all, it has a place in Portsmouth's illustrious history. Like many of the churches, it has a past unique and important to the development of religious institutions in the region.

The minister, the Rev. Ray Edmonds, has invited everyone to come to the Sunday celebration of 225 years in Olde Towne. It certainly is an event worth noting. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

CELEBRATION

Monumental United Methodist Church, corner of Dinwiddie and Queen

streets in Olde Towne will celebrate its 225th anniversary Sunday.

Bishop Joe E. Pennel Jr. of the Virginia Conference of the United

Methodist Church will speak at the 11 a.m. service which will be

followed by a covered dish luncheon. The public is invited.

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