local church until well into the twentieth century. . . .” 3 A church historian likened their activity to that of a class meeting which was part of local Methodist structure. Classes were limited to members in good standing. They met weekly on Friday night under a class leader. Top on the agenda was each other’s spiritual welfare. Members then prayed for and sought to win the unsaved and backslidden. Members also cared for the sick and needy and donated money to support the Gospel. 4 Although some of the founders’ activities may have looked like those of a class meeting, the founders were not a class meeting. As a result, they probably pursued their goals in unconventional as well as conventional Methodist ways. Customarily, organizing Methodist churches was a years’-long process that began with societies. Chapels or meeting houses, generally one-room log buildings, were the next step in church formation. If sufficiently supported by members and clergy, some chapels and meeting houses became churches. 5 Preaching places also were a steppingstone to church formation. The South Carolina Methodist church eventually designated the village where the eight women lived a preaching place. Preaching places did not have church buildings or organized congregations but were locations where circuit riders visited to conduct services. Those who regularly attended these services thought themselves Methodists even though no local church structure existed. 6 So compelling was the founders’ case for a church in the village that the church founding leapfrogged the customary Methodist church formation process. The local structure went straight from a preaching place to a church. Another possible way to look at these circumstances is that a Methodist church in the village was long overdue. 3 Harry R. Mays, The History of Main Street United Methodist Church, Greenwood, South Carolina (Franklin, Tennessee: Providence House Publishers, 1992), 27. 4 Mays, History , 28. Also, Albert Deems Betts, History of South Carolina Methodism (Columbia: The Advocate Press, 1952), 122, 159. 5 Betts, South Carolina Methodism , 159. 6 Mays, History , 26. Also, W.K. Charles, Sr., History of Main Street Methodist Church, Greenwood, South Carolina, 1858-1958 (Greenwood: privately printed, 1958), 5-6. Also, S.H. McGhee, “Shadowy Memories and Traditions of Methodism in Greenwood,” Southern Christian Advocate, October 22, 1931, 4-5.
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