Opinion: Religious purpose of Montreat Conference Center should be priority over other uses
People who live in Asheville and Western North Carolina may not realize an important fact about the area. Settlers from northern Europe settled widely in America as pioneers. They soon outnumbered the indigenous people, with whom they often fought and sadly drove out of many areas. An important fact is that the scattered settlers would gather in “camp meetings” in which they listened to preaching and participated in the church sacraments. Eventually, they built campgrounds with cottages and with large gathering places that eventually became auditoriums.
Actually, the legacies of these gathering places are located at a number of places on the East Coast. There is one even on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. We lived near a large one located at Ocean Grove, New Jersey. The Asheville region of Western North Carolina contains numerous locations where people gathered for religious purposes. If I tried to name them, I would undoubtedly leave some out.
I live in Black Mountain, which is near Montreat. As a young person, I worked in Montreat in the summers with many other young people, including other missionary kids. My parents were missionaries in China and later Taiwan. I felt the call to Christian ministry and overseas missionary service while in Montreat. I heard many outstanding speakers on world Christianity at the large auditorium. My sisters went to Montreat before me and two of them married men born overseas to missionaries, one in Korea and one in the Congo, both of whom became doctors. They later went to serve in Korea and the Congo. My third sister who went to serve in China had to leave because of the communist takeover. She transferred to Japan, married a missionary there, and they later came to work in Taiwan. Montreat is very important for spreading information on world Christianity, including the Church in America.
While in Montreat I heard that our church needed missionaries to Taiwan and so I gladly volunteered to go “home.” After seminary and a required one year of service in the pastorate, I married Polly Harrop in West Virginia and we were sent out from Montreat to Taiwan in 1956. I had grown up in China, but missionaries could no longer go there, so Taiwan became our home for the next 16 years with two furloughs in America. Three of our five children were born in Taiwan.
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I call Montreat my “Mount Zion.” The various conference grounds that had their beginnings in the camp meetings of the settlers have become gathering places, not only for religious meetings and conferences, but for people coming to the mountains for rest and family gatherings. Many children can tell of their summers in the mountains where they enjoyed relatives and friends and went on hikes in the surrounding mountains. People visited Asheville and other places.
In addition to the many tourists who come to the Asheville area, especially in the summertime, many people come for religious conferences, which was the original purpose of many sites, with added cultural benefits as found in the famous Retreat Center at Chautauqua in New York. This history is important for residents and visitors to this beautiful area to know. However, I am emphasizing the deep religious roots of the many conference grounds and gathering places. In short, Montreat is a religious conference center; that is its main purpose.
Sometimes tensions can arise between residents at the conference grounds and the conference governing bodies. For example, the Montreat Conference Center plans to build a new lodge to make it possible for more groups to come to conferences. A few local residents see this as harming their environment, which they have been enjoying as a “summer place” for many years. I own no property in Montreat, but it has tremendous religious significance to me, as you can see from what I wrote above.
I am not alone in seeing the religious purpose of Montreat as having priority. We want to see as many people as possible inspired by this religious purpose and possibly called into service in some of the organizations and programs around the nation and the world. Family vacations and gatherings are good, but secondary to the religious purpose that is at the foundation of Montreat and the many other conference grounds in the area. The beauty of the area, the mountain air, and the cultural, educational and recreational values are added gifts for those who come to this area.
Rev. Robert L. Montgomery Ph.D lives in Black Mountain.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Montreat Conference Center is my Mount Zion in the mountains.
