Pleasant View Church in Palestine, Illinois
by Mr. Clifford Adams, member of Pleasant View Church
On Feb. 11, 1872 a determined group of Christians met at the Richwoods School southeast of Palestine, Illinois to organize a Christian Church. The following principles were adopted:
1) Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, 2) The Bible, the only rule of faith, 3) Christian character, the only fellowship, 4) Christian, the only name, and 5) Individual interpretation of the Scriptures, the right and duty of all.
After meeting at the school and then at Green Hill Church for several years, it was decided in the winter of 1899/1900 to build a new house of worship on an acre of land deeded to them by John Bartmess. The new church was dedicated on Sunday, July 29, 1900. The dedication sermon was delivered by I.M. Hoel who used 2 Corinthians 5:1 as the basis for this sermon.
On April 25, 1908, the church adopted the name of Pleasant View Christian Church. On March 23, 1917, a monster tornado swept through the community and destroyed the church. All but one or two stones were leveled in the cemetery. A seat and hymnals were found near Oaktown, Indiana, on the other side of the Wabash River. The platform with the pulpit was found about forty feet northeast of where the church had been. It was intact and the Bible was still on the pulpit, open to the page from which the pastor had taken his text the previous Sunday. The bell was saved; and if you are in the area at nine o’clock any Sunday you can hear it ringing.
In the spring of 1918 a new church with a basement began to appear on the hill where the old building once stood. On Thanksgiving Day, 1918 the new building was dedicated. It was the most modern rural church in the county. In July of 1950, Reverend Carl Rarick came to the church from Denver, Colorado. During his ministry weekly Bible study classes were held and he began Vacation Bible School, which continues today as an annual event with Grace Methodist Church.
In 1951 the Women’s Fellowship was organized by Mrs. Rarick and continues to be an important part of the church. The Women’s Fellowship along with the church has multiple mission projects which include the following: the Christian Care Pregnancy Center; S.W.A.N (a women’s shelter) in Olney, Illinois; the Palestine Food Pantry; Pinehaven Children’s Christian Ranch in Montana; the Oblong Christian Children’s Home in Oblong, Illinois; Glenhaven Youth Ranch in Arkansas; 14th and Chestnut Community Center in Terre Haute, Indiana; the Merom Conference Center in Merom, Indiana; the Light House Mission in Terre Haute, Indiana; Church World Service; and Easter baskets for the elderly and shut-ins. The Delmo Housing Project in impoverished southeast Missouri was a favorite mission, with truckloads of clothes, food, school supplies, Christmas gifts and monetary gifts consistently provided from 1955 until it ceased to exist in 2011.
On April 18, 1957 the Christian Education Annex with five classrooms was dedicated. In 1961 the Pleasant View Congregational Christian Church became Pleasant View United Church of Christ.
Those in attendance every Sunday are blessed by the sight of the most beautiful stained glass windows you can find anywhere in the world. They were constructed by Jacobi Brothers in St. Louis, Missouri. When the sun shines through the windows at the sunrise service on Easter morning the sight is especially magnificent.
The church continues to baptize its new believers in the Wabash River, which has been done since the church’s inception. This is always a very moving service.
Over many years the church and its denominational affiliation grew far apart. At the annual meeting on January 11, 2012 the congregation began discussing changing affiliation. Then on Aug. 12, 2012 the members voted to invite a representative from the CCCC denomination to come and speak to the church about their Constitution and By-Laws.
On September 19, 2012 Rev. Darrell Weber, the Southern Illinois representative for the CCCC, visited Pleasant View Church and spoke. At this meeting the members recognized that the CCCC had the same high regard for the Bible that we did, and their beliefs were the same as in our statement of faith and in the lives of our members.
After reviewing the CCCC Statement of Faith a special meeting was held on November 4, 2012 for all members to vote on applying to the CCCC for membership. There were 22 voting members at the meeting and all 22 voted to apply for membership in the CCCC. Pleasant View Church was received into membership of the CCCC on July 22, 2013, with our pastor (since 2007), Rev. Paul Phillips representing us.
