Hunter United Methodist Church
(Officially its Andrew Hunter Memorial United Methodist)
Hunter has an interesting history which I will only highlight.
Hunter is named for Andrew Hunter who served as President of the Arkansas Conference in the 19th century and was quite an evangelist.
The original church building was in East Little Rock. Hunter was mostly a working class congregation not to far from the late 19th/early 20th century industrial area. In the late 1960's there were 6 UMC's in the downtown area of L.R. (there are still 4) & Hunter voted to move to West Little Rock. Hunter met at Romine Elementary School until the present building was completed in 1974.
Within a few years the (all white) congregation found themselves in a neighborhood that was becoming more and more racially mixed. In order to grow Hunter voted to integrate (can you believe such a thing should be necessary). Now a church can't just decide that they are going to be integrated and it happen.
Hunter requested that the district ask for one volunteer family from each of the black UMC's in Little Rock to attend and participate in the church for one full year. Hunter was yoked with to smaller semi-rural churches (Mt. Pleasant {white} & Marks Chapel {black}) to form the John Wesley Cooperative Parish.
This provided white & black co-pastors. By the late 1970's Hunter was thoroughly integrated.
When I first visited Hunter the congregation was about 65% white 34% black &1% other. This was when integrated churches were still extremely rare. When I joined Hunter had a female & male pastor. I was so impressed with the integrated nature of the church and the female pastor that this is where I officially became a United Methodist. Hunter has in all of my experience been very musical and liturgical. Beverly Sawyer, the pastor that took me into membership, had been raised Baptist & as a convert was VERY METHODIST! She also included in the children’s sermons a lot of distinctive Methodist things. You couldn't have been a regular attendee of Hunter UMC at that time & not know the liturgical seasons & colors or about the quadrilateral nor prevenient grace.
In the late 1980's Chester Jones (General Secretary of Religion and Race) was my pastor. During this time I entered the candidacy process with Hunter as my charge conference. I also served as Youth Pastor of Hunter under Chester from 1988-1991.
In the late 1980's the neighborhood became over 60% black. A funny thing happens at that saturation level, whites who would speak of how proud they were to live in a mixed neighborhood would put their houses up for sale and move to whiter neighborhoods. Although many of the church members were from outside the neighborhood the church also became more and more black. When the church passed the 60% black mark, within a year it was 80% black. It seems that a lot of white folks that say they don't mind integration still want to be in a solid majority or at least not in too small a minority. Hunter is now 90% black.
Hunter continues to be a reasonably strong church. They are the "High Church-Black Church" in Little Rock. High church/black church in my definition is a liturgical, processing & robing church that still amen’s and talks back to the preacher. Hunter sings the Psalter & responsorial readings, recites the creeds every Sunday & chants the Lord's Prayer. They also have a choral introit and benediction and sing 4 hymns (ALL VERSES) every Sunday. The only things spoken are the announcements (before the service begins), the Pastoral Prayer and the sermon. For this reason they prefer that the sermon not go over 20 minutes. Hunter with an average attendance of 90 can out sing most congregations with an attendance of over 200.
A little quirk about the members of Hunter (post Chester Jones), their PPR almost always asks for a new pastor after one year if the pastor is black. They will keep a white pastor for 3 or 4 years. Hunter is probably one of the few predominately black churches that almost always has a white pastor.
(Officially its Andrew Hunter Memorial United Methodist)
Hunter has an interesting history which I will only highlight.
Hunter is named for Andrew Hunter who served as President of the Arkansas Conference in the 19th century and was quite an evangelist.
The original church building was in East Little Rock. Hunter was mostly a working class congregation not to far from the late 19th/early 20th century industrial area. In the late 1960's there were 6 UMC's in the downtown area of L.R. (there are still 4) & Hunter voted to move to West Little Rock. Hunter met at Romine Elementary School until the present building was completed in 1974.
Within a few years the (all white) congregation found themselves in a neighborhood that was becoming more and more racially mixed. In order to grow Hunter voted to integrate (can you believe such a thing should be necessary). Now a church can't just decide that they are going to be integrated and it happen.
Hunter requested that the district ask for one volunteer family from each of the black UMC's in Little Rock to attend and participate in the church for one full year. Hunter was yoked with to smaller semi-rural churches (Mt. Pleasant {white} & Marks Chapel {black}) to form the John Wesley Cooperative Parish.
This provided white & black co-pastors. By the late 1970's Hunter was thoroughly integrated.
When I first visited Hunter the congregation was about 65% white 34% black &1% other. This was when integrated churches were still extremely rare. When I joined Hunter had a female & male pastor. I was so impressed with the integrated nature of the church and the female pastor that this is where I officially became a United Methodist. Hunter has in all of my experience been very musical and liturgical. Beverly Sawyer, the pastor that took me into membership, had been raised Baptist & as a convert was VERY METHODIST! She also included in the children’s sermons a lot of distinctive Methodist things. You couldn't have been a regular attendee of Hunter UMC at that time & not know the liturgical seasons & colors or about the quadrilateral nor prevenient grace.
In the late 1980's Chester Jones (General Secretary of Religion and Race) was my pastor. During this time I entered the candidacy process with Hunter as my charge conference. I also served as Youth Pastor of Hunter under Chester from 1988-1991.
In the late 1980's the neighborhood became over 60% black. A funny thing happens at that saturation level, whites who would speak of how proud they were to live in a mixed neighborhood would put their houses up for sale and move to whiter neighborhoods. Although many of the church members were from outside the neighborhood the church also became more and more black. When the church passed the 60% black mark, within a year it was 80% black. It seems that a lot of white folks that say they don't mind integration still want to be in a solid majority or at least not in too small a minority. Hunter is now 90% black.
Hunter continues to be a reasonably strong church. They are the "High Church-Black Church" in Little Rock. High church/black church in my definition is a liturgical, processing & robing church that still amen’s and talks back to the preacher. Hunter sings the Psalter & responsorial readings, recites the creeds every Sunday & chants the Lord's Prayer. They also have a choral introit and benediction and sing 4 hymns (ALL VERSES) every Sunday. The only things spoken are the announcements (before the service begins), the Pastoral Prayer and the sermon. For this reason they prefer that the sermon not go over 20 minutes. Hunter with an average attendance of 90 can out sing most congregations with an attendance of over 200.
A little quirk about the members of Hunter (post Chester Jones), their PPR almost always asks for a new pastor after one year if the pastor is black. They will keep a white pastor for 3 or 4 years. Hunter is probably one of the few predominately black churches that almost always has a white pastor.
posted by Conrad at 12:49 PM
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