Christian Church to celebrate its 50th anniversary

Fifty years ago a group of local residents saw a need for an independent Christian Church in Greencastle and went to work building something new.

The church started out humbly enough, taking out ads in local papers inviting new attendees and promoting aims such as “to build a church of Christ without denominational name, man-written creed or other barrier to Christian unity.”

In its fledgling days, the new church met at humble, rented locations such as Northeast Elementary School (now Tzouanakis Intermediate) and “Basement Meeting Room, Moore Building, on North 43 across from Country Club” (likely Bob Jedele’s building on what is now U.S. 231 North).

Today, the church has grown to 500 people in regular attendance at two Sunday morning services and a building at 620 Primrose Lane that has expanded multiple times.

To celebrate a half century of growth and anticipate another 50 years, the Greencastle Christian Church will host a 50th anniversary celebration on Sunday, Oct. 2.

The festivities will include a single church service at 10:30 a.m. followed by a noon cookout. The church will provide burgers, hot dogs and drinks, with congregation members asked to bring a side dish.

The outdoor event (moved inside in the case of rain) will also include live music and inflatable games for kids.

“The theme that keeps coming to my mind is ‘celebrate the past and celebrate the future,’” lead pastor John Tischer told the Banner Graphic.

Besides the normal elements of a church service, the combined service on Sunday will include a video featuring a conversation between eight longtime members of GCC.

Joy Evans and daughter Michelle, along with Don and Marilyn Wager have been members since the church was founded on Sept. 18, 1966. Wayne and Diana Foust have been members for most of the 50 years.

Ken and Tudy Kimmerle are also featured in the video. The Kimmerles were founding members who moved away for about 40 years only to return a few years ago.

In one segment of the conversation, Ken said it was like a farmer scattering seed and going away, only to return and find a huge crop.

“It’s just neat that 50 years later we have some of our founding members here to talk about that history,” Tischer said.

In the video, even a conversation with remembrances of 50 years ago has some modern flavor thanks to the setting.

“It was kind of unique because that conversation took place in our renovated student center,” Tischer said. “So you have the modern setting where our founding members are sitting and talking about our history.”

The location helps to promote the “celebrate the future” portion of the festivities.

“We want to look forward and wonder what the next 50 years holds and ask, ‘What does God have in store for us?’” Tischer said.