Enduring Faith
Trust In God
In the year 1824, a group of neighbors gathered together on a knoll, on which now stands Christian Chapel Church, for the purpose of organizing a church. The plot of land on which the church would stand consisted of 5 acres and was given by Zachary Mann. The land was likely given by Silas Mann, son of Lucy & Richard Mann, and father of Zachary Mann. Zachary Mann, oldest son of Silas & Polly Mann, was not born until 1817).
The first services that were held were under what was called a brush harbor, which was constructed of cedar posts with a pine pole roof to supporting brush for shade.
After about 18 months of church services, the neighbors decided to build a Church building. In 1825, a 30×40 foot one-room building was erected. After several years, the congregation began to outgorow the building as large families bought land in the area including: Cotten, Davis, Dickens, Ellis, Goodwin, Hinsley, Holt, Jackson, Johnson, Mann, Patrick, Poole, Reynolds, Stephens, Stone, Woodell, Carpenter and Pipkin.
Around the year 1880 a meeting of these families was called and plans for the “Big Church”, as it was known, was started. When it was finished in 1882, membership at this church had grown to 285.
People from far distances would come to Christian Chapel Church, which was known to have one of the best choirs in Chatham County. According to Mr. E. W. Neville, Christian Chapel Church was a very strong church at this time.
Proverbs 16:3
ORGANIZATION
In the year 1894, on November 27, the Eastern North Carolina Conference was organized at Christian Chapel Church with the following officers: Honorable S. P. Reed, President; Rev. M. L. Winston, Vice-President; Rev. J. L. Foster, Secretary; Mr. M. S. Goodwin, Assistant Secretary; and Mr. J. E. Ballentine, Treasurer.
Christian Chapel Christian Church later left the organization and remains a non-denominational, independent church.
“Christian Chapel Church Destroyed by Wind. May 7th, 1915” Photo by C.H. Pope, Moncure N.C.
The late 1880’s were time for growth. As the families’ children matured into young men and women they would began moving to to town or other places for jobs.
In the year 1915 a cyclone destroyed the Big Church. This was quite a shock to the members of Christian Chapel. At that time, E. Celie Woodell and J. F. W. Mann were in the carpentry trade as well as Mr. Lindsay Mann. Mr. Woodell was appointed as foreman, so the members gathered together and, under the instruction of Mr. Woodell, began to salvage the timbers of the Big Church to build the church building that stands today.
A few years later, two Sunday School rooms were added. The old shingle roof was torn off, and the present metal roof was installed. A gas heating plant was installed. When two loyal members, Mr. and Mrs. G. B. Woodell, passed away they left to the beneficiary of the Church $10,000 This was used to remodel the church with hardwood floors, sheetrock walls, textured ceilings, new light fixtures, new pews and furniture. Two classrooms were added. The cemetery was worked over and graves leveled so that it could be mowed.
In 1970 the Sunday School decided if the Church would build restrooms, the Sunday School would have a well dug. So the members called a meeting and things began to move. Members and other people were visited and told what the Church wanted to do. When the new rooms were completed, the building fund reported that everything was paid in full.
During the destruction and changes to the Church, some of the Church records were destroyed, so we do not have the names of all the ministers who served or the order in which they served. To name a few of them: Rev. Crump Wicker, Rev. J. Fuller Johnson, Rev. Henry Hillard, Rev. Carl Dixon, Rev. Edd Sessoms, Rev. Gene Tally, Rev. Leslie Wicker, Rev. Emerson Woodall, Rev. Gary Moore and Rev. Cecil Barnes.
In recent years Mrs. Ava Dudley deeded to Church 2 acres of land, so at present the Church has 7 acres for which everyone is very proud and thankful.
(Above history, up to appx 1980, by Royce B. Dickens, Deacon, Presented by the Pipkin Family, May 1980. Transcribed and edited by Clayton P. Mann whose family were among the 1824 church founders. Edited for website)
In the 1988, generous bequests provided funds to replace the metal roof with a composition shingle roof, new vinyl siding was been put on the church. Sidewalks were built around the church. More recently, other bequests and donations have provided funds to replace the metal roof with a composition shingle roof, new vinyl siding has been put on the church, sidewalks were built around the church Under the leadership of Virginia Cotton, stained glass windows and new light fixtures were installed in memory of Halder Cotton. A Trust Fund has was established for the upkeep of the cemetery in perpetuity.
A generous donation to the church from the estate of Mr. John Quincy Cotten supported needed renovations of bathrooms in 2020, and replacement of the aging shingle roof at the church with a new metal roof.