A look at the history of religion in Jackson, Madison Co.
As the Bicentennial Celebration continues for Jackson and Madison County at the First Friday Forum, the month of December’s focus is on the history of religion in the county.
So as Rev. Claude Bass and Ray Van Neste were set to discuss part of that history at the forum, it seemed fitting that their discussions happened in Clayton Hall at First United Methodist Church, which is where the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church was founded, just a few blocks from where Mother Liberty CME Church sits now.
Bass is senior pastor at St. Paul CME Church, which is the campus church at Lane College.
Van Neste is an associated professor of Biblical studies and the director of the R.C. Ryan Center for Biblical Studies at Union University.
Bass discussed how the CME Church started in 1870 and was originally called the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church before eventually changing the name of the denomination to its current name.
He explained how Mother Liberty Church, the first CME church, got its name.
“It often dates its origins to 1848 when slaves were a part of the membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church South,” Bass said. “In 1866, land was purchased on Shannon Street and a church erected for the Black members of the church.
“In 1870, Shannon Street became known as Liberty Street Church, and the church became known as Liberty Station. Because of its rich history of the establishment of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church is now known as Mother Liberty CME Church.”
Isaac Lane, who founded Lane College and was the fifth bishop of the CME Church, was one of the first pastors of the church.
“Freed slaves across the South were encouraged to start their own denomination, and these brave men across the region stepped forward to lead those efforts,” Bass said. “The church was organized and had been given a name.
“The bishops had been elected, William Henry Miles and Richard H. Vanderhorse. With the ordination and their consecration, the CME Church can claim its lineage all the way to the first American Bishops and John Wesley, the father of Methodism.”
Van Neste discussed how quickly religion became a point of focus of the early settlers of West Tennessee and Madison County.
Quoting a book by historian Harbert Alexander, Van Neste said, “They built churches nearly as quickly as they built their homes.”
He said that some churches in North Carolina and other established areas sent groups of people to essentially be church plants to begin the nucleus for churches in new towns.
Van Neste discussed one time when the evangelist Billy Graham allegedly came to Jackson, but there’s no formal evidence that it ever happened, not even records of it at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
“But there wouldn’t be a record of it because he was in Memphis in 1951,” Van Neste said. “And representatives from Union asked him if he would come to Jackson and do a crusade or a service, and he came to Rothrock Stadium and 5,000 people showed up for it.”
Looking toward the future, Van Neste brought up a notion held in past centuries.
“They held the belief that faith is central and essential for a healthy community,” Van Neste said. “That idea isn’t as widely held today, but I think we should listen to our forebearers once again.”
Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 731-425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at editorbrandon.
This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: A look at the history of religion in Jackson, Madison Co.
