THE HISTORY OF A BALDWIN CITY RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION: VINLAND UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

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Introduction

In U.S. history, religion and history can be intertwined to the point where church and local history are somewhat interchangeable, and what affects one has an effect on the other. For the people who settled northeast Kansas, religion was important – so important, in fact, that the Baldwin City area has more than ten churches encompassing numerous denominations. Information on church and area history is available, thanks to conscientious historians who have preserved useful documents. The Vinland United Methodist Church has its roots in the state’s early history. Fittingly, longtime members of the congregation strive to keep the church’s history alive for younger members. (Note: Vinland is an unincorporated community four miles north of Baldwin City.)

1. What are the churches of Baldwin City?
   
   
2. Has work on this church's history already been done? Is there a written history of the church? If yes to either question, find out more so you don't duplicate someone else's efforts.
   
   
3. What people in this church know about the history?
   Are they willing to be interviewed? Are there people who know about the history but who aren't members of the church? Anne Hemphill is the church’s historian. She recently published an updated copy of the church’s history. Talitha Bailey also knows about the church's history. Pastor John Hart is a knowledgeable source himself.
   
   
4. What written documents or artifacts are available?
   Anne Hemphill's history of the church, copies of which are available in the Baker Archives and the Baldwin City Public Library. The Baker Archives also contain newspaper clippings and other historical documents concerning the church.
   
   
5. How did the church get started?
   "Where there are people, there’s a desire to meet together for worship," according to Anne Hemphill. She traces the Methodist presence in the area to missionaries who ministered to Indians more than twenty years prior to the time when Kansas was opened for general settlement by the Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854. When white culture began to overtake the native population, Methodism arrived via the circuit riders, who rode across the area preaching to many congregations. These congregations also had lay "local preachers" who served when the circuit rider could not. During this time, religious services often were held in people’s homes and usually were non-denominational. When schoolhouses were built in the area, they also served as meeting houses and worship centers for the community. It was not until later that church buildings became common in the area. According to Hemphill and church member Talitha Bailey, it is unclear why Vinland Methodists separated themselves from the existing community worship; the congregation may have faced pressure from the Methodist district superintendent or may have been responding to the departure of members of the Presbyterian Church. In any case, the church built a parsonage in 1872-1873. As a result, founding members D.M. Benta, I.W. Simmons, Joseph Iliff, William H. Gill, and Daniel Streeter signed a charter as "The Society of the Vinland Methodist Episcopal Church at Vinland, Kansas."
   
   
6. Who were the founders?
   
   
7. Why did they decide to start a church?
   
   
8. Has the church existed in other buildings than the present one?
   In June 1879, Rev. A.G. Murray, who was serving as the area’s pastor, told the Quarterly Conference that the Vinland and Coal Creek churches had joined together and were meeting at the Vinland Grange Hall. He suggested that a shared church building would help to cement this union. The church body soon formed a building committee, and it was decided to build the church across the street from the parsonage. This, the original church building, was completed in 1880. In 1940, lightning struck the church and burned it to the ground. Following a difficult decision-making process, the congregation decided to rebuild, and they purchased the old Methodist church at Lecompton for $100 and used materials from that church to rebuild the Vinland church. This second church building, with some renovations, is the one the still in use today.
   
   
9. How have major historical events affected the church? Examples: "Bleeding Kansas," the Civil War-World War I-World War II-Korean conflict-Vietnam War, economic crises (like the Great Depression), changes in agriculture, the civil rights movement.
   
   
10. What people have been influential in the life of the church over time? (other than the founders). These people might include a particularly beloved pastor (or a particularly unpopular one) or a lay leader.
    
    
11. What controversies has the church experienced?
    Although disagreement following the 1940 fire was the greatest controversy that befell the church, it was not the only conflict the church has faced. Other issues include a feud between the Methodists and the Presbyterians and church consolidation movements. Early in the history of Vinland Township, a feud between Vinland Methodists and the Presbyterians put stress on friendships and families. Some wanted to attend a Presbyterian congregation while others wanted to attend the Methodist congregation. Families disagreed about which denomination was the better. Some people changed allegiance more than once. Hemphill recalls, "This was just the normal condition between denominations for several years. … The Presbyterians and the Methodists had a union Sunday School and finally got an old retired minister at the Presbyterian Church who wanted to have a Sunday School. So they pulled out of the union. Some of the Presbyterians who didn’t like the idea stayed with the Methodists." Plots of land between Presbyterian and Methodist family properties came to be a no-man’s land because the community members were not sure which denomination should claim ownership. The conflicts eventually died down, but other denominational issues caused growing pains for the congregation. Denomination consolidations also took a toll on the Vinland church members. The church originally aligned itself with Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1939 this body entered a merger and became the Methodist Church. Another merger in 1968 created the United Methodist Church. Bailey said these changes were rough on some of the members of the church. "For some of the older people, I’m sure it was an earth-shattering experience to bring something else into the church." However, the church weathered the struggles and came through stronger and even more dedicated to its mission.
    
    
12. What gives the church its particular identity or flavor? What makes it different from other Baldwin City churches or from other churches in its denomination?
    
    
13. What is the mission / purpose of the church? Talihta Bailey said the church bases its mission on the Word of God with emphasis on learning, living and sharing it. "You learn the Word, live the Word, and share the Word," she said. The weekly church bulletin also provides a mission statement.
    
    The mission of Vinland United Methodist Church is twofold: We must prepare ourselves to be in service to others as missionaries of God. By reaching out to men, women, and children of all backgrounds in our community, in our nation, and in our world, we seek to reveal the love of God and to demonstrate the hearing of the gospel as we serve the needs of those to whom God leads.
    
    
14. How has the church ministered to the Baldwin City community?
    The church's mission statement relates closely to Methodist founder John Wesley’s rule of conduct: "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, and all the time you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can." Not only do the members speak these words, but they also strive to do the actions to back up what they say. "We try to reach out to everybody within the community," Bailey said. "We send cards. If anybody within the community has a death, we offer our church to them." People fill out the cards every Sunday morning during the early part of the service in response to prayer requests, and members of the Baldwin City and Vinland communities can remember the church reaching out to grieving families. In addition to doing cards and offering the church building to community members who have had deaths in the family, members donate money to an emergency fund and put on an annual living nativity with proceeds going to charity. The Trailside Parish, a group of United Methodist churches in the area, established the fund to which the church contributes. Vinland UMC previously contributed to a food pantry as well, but the congregation made the decision to contribute money to needy families that come through Baldwin City instead.
    The church has held the living nativity, the activity for which it is most known, at Christmas time since 1977. The church began the activity because of a suggestion from a congregation member. The Coffman family moved from Oklahoma to the Vinland area and had seen a living nativity done at a church in Oklahoma. The Vinland church liked the idea and decided to try it. Although the church in Oklahoma did the nativity in the church sanctuary, the Vinland church members accepted the offer of Anne Hemphill’s son and daughter-in-law's barn. The living nativity was moved from the Hemphills' in 2000 to the Vinland Fair Grounds. Community members to play the parts of shepherds, and families with young children represent Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. The barn also contains real animals, so the stable resembles the place where Jesus was born.
    In addition to doing acts of service and community outreach, the congregation emphasizes congregational fellowship: a gathering time after the Sunday morning service ends, a potluck dinner at least once a month, and meals celebrating special
    
    
15. What contact or involvement has this church had with other churches in Baldwin City?
    
    
16. Is the church connected to a judicatory body? (annual conference, archdiocese, etc.) If so, what kind of relations has the church had with its judicatory body?
    
    
17. What is the church's polity (how does it govern itself, how do decisions get made)? Are decisions up to the congregation only? Are others involved?
    
    
18. What was the toughest thing the church ever went through?
    "I think probably the fire was the worst (thing the church has gone through)," Talitha Bailey says. The fire started when the church’s bell tower was struck by lightning and ended with the destruction of nearly everything the church held dear. Only the pulpit, which had been left at Vinland High School following the school’s commencement ceremony, and two pews, which were being refinished at the time, escaped the effects of the blaze. The church’s bell could be repaired and still is in use, but according to Hemphill, it hasn’t been the same. She says that residents used to be able to hear the bell ringing throughout the valley, but either the lightning or the fall from the tower put a crack in the bell that has prevented it from sounding as loudly. Now they can barely hear it ring when they are inside the church. Not only did the destruction of the church leave the members without a place to worship, but the issue of whether or not to rebuild divided the congregation. At that point in the nation’s history, the United States was finally recovering from the Great Depression, but the country found itself facing the possibility of entering World War II. These caused many to question rebuilding the church. Bailey recalled, "Many members said, it burned, it’s gone, lets just forget it." A few assertive church members, especially Bailey’s uncle and Hemphill’s father, pushed ahead with plans to rebuild and won an agreement to the project. The congregation eventually bought the church building in Lecompton because that building was going to be torn down. The Vinland Church was built on the same floor plan the Lecompton church building used. The congregation laid the cornerstone in 1942 during a service on a snowy, frozen day. The ceremony went on despite the frigid conditions. Bailey said the day was a milestone in the life of the church. "That was a big day because it meant we were really going to go ahead with this thing."
    
    
19. What are some of the church's successes?

Student Researchers' Notes

Works Cited

Bailey, Talitha and Anne E. Hemphill. Personal interview. 21 April 2003.

Hemphill, Anne. E. Vinland: Area History and Methodist Episcopal Church of Vinland, Kansas 1864-1982. Vinland United Methodist Church in cooperation with the Santa Fe Trail Historical Society and Douglas County Historical Society, 1982.

Vinland United Methodist Church. Bulletin. Vinland, Kansas, 6 Apr., 2003.