Grayson County TXGenWeb

Presbyterian Church
Tom Bean, Texas

The News
February 24, 1953

2 Groups Share Building
"Metho-Terian" Church Confuses Its Members
(Special to The News)

Tom Bean, Grayson Co., Texas, would take a tornado and a fire to bring any two Protestant denominations under the same roof for more than an occasional meeting.

That happened here in Tom Bean between 1918 and 1923, and since that time the Presbyterians and the Methodists have been meeting jointly.

In 1918 a fire gutted the Methodist house of worship and they joined forces with the Presbyterians by using the same church building. In 1923 a storm wrecked that church.

The board of stewards of the Methodist Church met with the Presbyterian elders and agreed to split the construction cost 50-50 if they could also share the building permanently.

Since that time the two congregations have shared their blessings. Three times monthly the Rev. Lee H. Smith, a Presbyterian, shows up at 9 a.m. Sunday to conduct a worship service. Then he rushes back to Whitewright to hold his 11 a.m. service. Methodists and Presbyterians alike turn out.

On the fourth Sunday, the Rev. R.H. Williamson, of Denison, a Methodist pastor, is on hand for 11 a.m. service and another at 7:30 p.m. Again, Presbyterians and Methodists alike turn out.
The Tom Bean Methodist-Presbyterian Church has thirty-five adult members. Ten are Presbyterians, twenty-five Methodists.

One month the literature issued by the Presbyterian Church is used, the next month the Methodist religious quarterlies are used.

They meet jointly in all things. Sunday school is held at 10 a.m. with the teacher and superintendent appointed on "leadership" ability from the two congregations. At present, Presbyterians hold both posts with Mrs. Aline Phoebus as superintendent and G.E. Denny as teacher. A Methodist, Mrs. O.E. Thomas, is pianist.

These joint services have been going on so long that a lot of members don't actually know to which denomination they belong. As a result it wasn't surprising to the members when Mary Evelyn Thomas, daughter of the chairman of the Methodist board of stewards, O.E. Thomas, joined the Presbyterian Church.

"I've been going to that church so long that I feel like a Methodist," said Mrs. J.H. Pennell, a Presbyterian. To which members of both sides could only add that Mrs. Pennell was as right as rain, at least one Sunday a month.