Westminster Presbyterian celebrating 100 years

Mar. 28—BLUEFIELD — In 1914, a rapidly growing church in Bluefield, First Presbyterian Church, decided to start an expansion with a new Sunday school building at the corner of Washington and Albemarle streets.

With continued membership growth, the Sunday school population swelled to over 200, and that resulted in the addition of worship services in the new building.

By 1923, a new church was officially born on the site — Westminster Presbyterian Church — and the church included 208 members of First Presbyterian, 23 who came from other churches and eight new Christians. A new sanctuary was needed for the congregation, and that project was finished in 1925.

Over the years, the church struggled to pay off debts incurred in building the sanctuary as the Great Depression started in 1929, but the church rebounded strong after World War II when church membership grew and a new educational building was constructed and dedicated in 1957.

But to church members, Westminster is far more than just brick and mortar, and that is why the 100th anniversary of the founding of the church was planned for this year.

On the weekend of March 31-April 2, a Centennial Celebration will commemorate the milestone with members, former members, those who have roots here but moved away, and others connected with the church are invited to celebrate.

Countless people have connections to families who have been involved in the church.

"We have had a wonderful centennial planning committee," said church member Wayne Pelts. "We started meeting last June. I love celebrations; that's just how God has wired me. I had the privilege of being a part of the planning for our 75th anniversary celebration. If it's the Lord's will, and I'm still walking this earth, I will be 90 when the church celebrates its 125th anniversary."

Pelts started attending the church in 1978 and "quickly felt the love and affirmation that I experienced with that body of believers."

"I really can't imagine my life without my church family, without its teaching, without the reality of the church in life itself, without the meaningful relationships of folks who genuinely care for me, and who I care for," he said. "'I'm thankful that our four children grew up in an active church with vital children's and youth ministries. There's a lot of dedicated volunteer Christ-loving folks who make something like that happen week after week, year after year."

Pelts said the church has had only eight pastors during those 100 years.

"We have had some difficult paragraphs in our chapters of church life, but even in those, we never experienced division," he said. "We don't live in the past. We don't worship the past, but we're wrong not to remember it and be reminded to give thanks for the great and wonderful things that God has done. I can't help but think of the many wonderful men and women I have had the joy and privilege of knowing during my years at the church."

Pelts said the people who started the church were visionaries.

"How thankful we can be to the visionaries and the extravagantly generous congregation at First Presbyterian Church, who saw a developing city, before most folks had access to a vehicle, and who saw the opportunity to 'plant' another Presbyterian church in the growing South Bluefield neighborhood," he said.

For Rudolph Jennings, who at 99 is the oldest member of the church, Westminster represents what is best in providing all the things that should be provided.

Jennings said his parents attended the church in the 1930s but moved to Ohio, not returning to the area until the 1960s, the same time he returned to Bluefield, and all returned to Westminster.

All of his family have been involved in the church, and he continues to attend regularly.

Jennings, an Army Air Corps veteran who served in the European Theater in World War II, said he has always been attached to the church.

"I think Westminster Church has been blessed," he said. "It is truly a family church and I think the pastors have always been great. We have always had great pastors and very active officers and members. It is a large church family."

Jennings said it always seemed the right pastor came along at just the right time when that pastor's particular skill set was needed.

"I was an elder under four pastors," he said, and was a rotating Sunday School teacher.

"I was real active in the 60s through the 80s," he said, adding that during that time he bought a radio station, WWYO, and gave it to the church.

Jennings said former members stay in touch with the church and some people who grew up in the church, but moved away at some point with their parents, returned to the area and to the church.

"A lot of members still keep in touch with the church," he added.

Jennings said he plans to be at the big dinner on April 1, along with his daughters, son and grandson. He also has a great-nephew who is coming in from Columbia (South America) to attend.

"I expect it will be full house," he said of the celebration dinner.

"My family became a part of the Westminster family 25 years ago," Tim Havens said. "Our first visits in 1998 were supposed to last just a few weeks because of circumstances at the time. In God's providence, however, the plan really was for our family to become a part of this fellowship. In those first weeks, we sat in close proximity to people who, as I like to say, loved us right into Westminster."

Havens said that, 25 years later, he and his family "remain grateful for those who welcomed us so warmly into this body."

"We are grateful that we are reminded on a weekly basis through corporate worship and small group ministry that God is the center of the universe and we are not," he said. "We are grateful to worship in a place where God's Word is cherished, where Christ is seen in it, and where the Scripture is viewed as being for our good."

Although his family's journey at Westminster covers only the past 25 years, he said they are "somehow connected to all of those points in time over the past 100 years."

"Like prior generations who have cared for one another, so too we have grown in our daily walks with Christ," he said. "We have mourned here. We have rejoiced here. We have been challenged to walk by faith. We have experienced the beauty of the body of Christ at Westminster. We are committed to this group of people. They are committed to us. We are family."

Joan Moore said the church has been part of her life for more than 51 years.

"My family and I started attending there after friends invited us to a lay renewal meeting in the early 70s," she said. "We were drawn to the church because of a buzz that we felt radiating from the membership of the church. People were excited about their faith. Spiritual growth has always been encouraged by the church leadership and nurtured through various programs and ministries the church offers whether it be choirs, children or youth ministries, small group studies or the women in ministries' Taste and See program. Westminster has always been a place where I could serve, minister, learn and grow in my relationship with Christ among a body of fellow believers."

The celebration starts on Friday and includes a Celebration Dinner at 6 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday nights. At 12:45 p.m. on Sunday, the centennial is capped off with the placement of a time capsule on the grounds of the church.

Visit wpcbluefield.com for a complete schedule of centennial events.

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com