History of Clyattville United Methodist Church

December 27, 2000

Our church, according to the records, started out as Shady Grove, located four miles south of Clyattville and was erected on the farmland, which is now the home site of Lavinia and the late Mance Hammock.  This land was owned and given for the building of a Methodist church by Mr. R Byrde and Mrs. Mary E Byrde in 1897.  The first service was held in this church in December of 1898. 

In 1911 or 1912 this building was torn down, moved to Clyattville and reconstructed with same lumber.  The reason for moving to Clyattville was to be near the railroad, which ran through Clyattville.  The land upon which the church was built was given by Dr. E.P. Queillan .  This church building served its church family well through the years. 

Clyattville was on the Lake Park charge and in 1950 was put on half time with Mt. Zion with Rev. John McGowan as pastor.  During this time the need for a parsonage arose. The parsonage was built on land given by the Quillian family in memory of Dr E. P. Quillian.  The parsonage was finished in July of 1953 and the first occupants were the Rev. Reed Sessions and family.  During the early ‘50’s the National Container Pulp and Paper Mill was erected in Clyattville. The church began to grow and the walls began to bulge. As more space was needed, plans for a new sanctuary were being discussed. 

With Rev. Lloyd Cowart as pastor, (the last sermon in the old church was preached the first Sunday in November 1957), and the first sermon in the new church was preached the second Sunday in November 1957.  Some worked all night so we would be able to worship in the new Sanctuary that Sunday morning. 

In the early 1970’s talk of an educational building was in the air.  With work coming from all areas of the church, including all Sunday school classes, UMW circles, Men’s club, choir group and UMYF, work began on a building fund for the educational building.  After much hard work and  many quilts stained with drops of blood  from bleeding fingers stuck from learning to quilt, and all kinds of other fund raisers, and good old fashioned Christian fellowship, the building was completed in 1975, The building was dedicated to one of our hard-working Sunday School teachers, and named the Dixie S Lightsey Educational Building. 

We struggled through good times and hard times, which we all came through as a stronger Church family. In 1980 our Pastor lost his father in a traffic accident and our parsonage family grew from a single male pastor to a family of four over-night.  Our hope is that we supported, encouraged and prayed them through this turbulent time in their lives. 

In 1981 we were given another opportunity to grow when the parsonage caught on fire and had to be remodeled.  Again the church family rallied, and along with Mt. Zion, we rebuilt with bigger and more adequate parsonage. 

In 1988 Mt Zion decided to go full time, so that put us on full time also, which meant we had to purchase their half of the parsonage.  With the help of our Lord that has been paid off, and much sooner than we had expected. 

We’ve had seventeen different pastors since 1957 when we moved into our new Sanctuary.  We’ve had older, retired, mellowed ones who ministered to us, and we’ve had really young ones, just beginning in the ministry, that we felt we needed to minister to. And by the grace of God, maybe we did. 

In 1996 Clyattville United Methodist Church celebrated another “first” when we welcomed the Reverend Mollie Danner, with an “Its’ a Girl!” banner and pink bow, upon her arrival as our new pastor.  She and her husband, Frank has exceeded all our expectations as a parsonage family.  They are wound around our hearts and we wonder how we ever got along without them. 

In 1998 we celebrated our Centennial, “One Hundred Years of Service of God and Community.” We celebrated each month of the year with a social event, including a Valentines Banquet, Old Fashioned Day, Ice Cream Socials, and Peanut Boils, to name a few. That December, we contributed to a Time Capsule, which was buried on the grounds and is to be opened in the year of 2098. 

The year of 2000 has been for sprucing up our church building.  We have cleaned the inside and outside, painted all the interior, and added new flooring to the bathrooms.  We also replace the heating and air in the parsonage.  Two adjacent lots were deeded to the church for parking spaces by the William R Bland family.  These lots were dedicated December 10, 2000 by the District Superintendent, William E McTier 

Ministers of Clyattville United Methodist Church 

1951-1952   John McGowan

1952-1953   Reed Sessions

1953-1954   Allen Booker

1957-1959   Lloyd Cowart

1959-1961   F.S. Bergers

1961-1962   L.A. Lemons

1962-1966   Zephoe Belcher

1966-1969   Owen Williams

1969-1972   Julian Talley

1972-1975   Terry Joyner

1975-1977   Dwight Bishop

1977-1978   Richard Bragg

1978-1980   Orville Leonard

1980-1983   Rick Mitchell

1983-1985   Tony Collins

1985-           Bill Harris

                    Gene Sheffield

                    Al Griffis

                    Morris Hanley

1996-           Mollie Danner