Bonaire United Methodist Church – Celebrating 123 years

Few churches can lay claim to being more than a century old, but Bonaire United Methodist has far surpassed that anniversary. The church will celebrate its 123rd anniversary Sunday, Sept. 24.

According to a church history compiled in 1994 by Earline Cole, Sandy Run Methodist Church was built two miles from Bonaire and three miles from Wellston (now Warner Robins). The preacher assigned to the Elko circuit made irregular trips to preach in both Bonaire and Wellston.

In 1894, W.S. King applied to the first quarterly conference in Elko to build a Methodist church in Bonaire. It was granted, and the new church was built on land donated by King. The building was dedicated, and on Sept. 22, 1894, Sandy Run Church was declared to no longer be a place of worship, thus making one church out of two.

Owing to Jim Crow laws and segregation, the former Sandy Run Church was given to the black community of the area, which continued to hold services there until the church burned down in the late 1950s, said Kay Holland, membership secretary of Bonaire UMC.

The first service to be held in the new Bonaire church was given on the fifth Sunday of September — Sept. 30, 1894.

There are seven influential families behind the building of Bonaire UMC, many of which still have members attending the church. For example, Houston County Sheriff Cullen Talton is a descendant of one of the founding members. So is Holland, who is descended from the Feagin line. Her great-grandfather, George M.T. Feagin, was one of the founding members.

Many of the church’s founding members are buried in the cemetery next to the church, although the church does not own the cemetery. With the exception of the King plot, a fence surrounds several of the oldest graves in the cemetery. The oldest grave in the cemetery is that of Mattie Feagin, born Feb. 20 and died March 2, 1857. Mattie would have been the great-aunt of Holland had Mattie lived past her infancy.

Bonaire UMC now consists of three separate buildings. The original building still sits in its original location, and services are held in it at 8:30 a.m. every Sunday. The modern church building, which is located behind the original church, holds services at 9 and 11 a.m. each Sunday. The third and final building was originally a Baptist church, which sits across the street. Bought by Bonaire UMC, that building is used for the Bonaire youth.

“We are a sent ministry where Methodist pastors are sent to serve churches,” said Bonaire UMC pastor, the Rev. Scott Hagan, who holds a doctorate. “It is different from a called ministry. Those are local church that interview pastors and call them. Ministers are sent versus called.”

In the beginning of the Methodist history, ministers would serve for one year at a church before being sent to another area. A listing of pastors up until 1994 is available on the church history booklet on the church website.

“The longest serving pastor was the Rev. Tom Hall Ivey, who served from 1973 to 1988, for 15 years. My predecessor was the Rev. Jay Tucker, and he served eight years until he moved to Gray, Ga., in 2015.”

Holland said he arrived at Bonaire UMC in June 2015 and is the fifth member of his family to serve in the Houston County area. His grandfather’s twin brother was pastor of First United Methodist church in the 1980s, his mother grew up in Warner Robins while her father was the pastor of First United Methodist, and his brother and cousin serve as youth ministers in the area.

“It’s humbling,” Hagan said of being the latest in a long line of pastors at Bonaire UMC. “In fact, our entire anniversary is humbling. I think every present-day person should be humbled by the thought that there were farming families 123 years ago that literally built a place that we still worship in.”

There are six generations of Holland’s family that have attended Bonaire United Methodist, including Holland’s children and grandchildren.

“I have grown up with this. When you grow up with it, it just happens and you don’t really think about it,” Holland said.

She has attended the church since she was a baby, and while attending a school near the church was destroyed by a fire in her childhood, Holland finished her classes in the church building, using a pew as her desk.

“It’s the love of the Lord and dedication and caring about your neighbors” that has helped the church continually grow in its 123 year history, Holland said.

“I’m proud to be in a church this old, and I’m proud that my great-grandfather was one of the founders,” Holland said.

The anniversary celebration will be held Sunday, Sept. 24. There will be no Sunday School that day; however, there will be a service at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. by guest speaker, Bishop Lawson Bryan. An open house and time of fellowship will be held at 10 a.m., and refreshments will be served at that time.

Bonaire United Methodist Church is located at 221 Church St., Bonaire. For more information, call the church at 478-923-7317, email info@bonairechurch.com or visit the website at www.bonairechurch.com. The downloadable history of the church is located under the “who we are” tab on the website.

HHJ News