I am writing this column on Good Friday, a day which is both highly important and sad to Christians around the world. This is a day to remember that Christ died on a cross to give the world a faith that would sustain Christians through the greatest hardships that they would encounter in their lives.

Many of the early settlers of Cheboygan County in the 1850s would need this great faith to give them strength to develop the area and make a living for their families in a new land of towering forests and diseases and other problems. It would require back-breaking labor. For many, only faith would see them through.

While they built homes, gardens, orchards, sawmills, foundries, blacksmith shops, and general stores, they also took time each week to worship together in those homes and gardens. Often, those services would be led by residents, but sometimes they were served by a traveling pastor.

As the town continued to grow, homes were no longer big enough to hold all the worshipers. So they next set about building churches where they could worship as faith communities.

In today’s column, I want to focus on the Methodist Church, which was incorporated in Cheboygan October 19, 1868, with 17 members. Their first gathering was in the county’s schoolhouse.

Only four years later, in 1872, a frame church was built by the congregation. The cost was $4,300. A parsonage was opposite the church until 1902, when it was exchanged for property adjoining the church.

In 1903, ground was broken for a concrete, mission-style church on Huron Street.

During construction, the Methodists rented the city’s Opera House for services. The upper floors of the Opera House burned in a huge fire later that same year. The church organ, which was brought to the Opera House for services, was a total loss.

The new church on Huron Street was finished and dedicated in 1905. It cost $18,500 to build. It still stands today and is called the Huron Street Tabernacle. It is known among older residents as old St. Paul’s Methodist Church.

By 1919, church membership had grown to 246. A parsonage was built beside the church. In 1948, a new organ was purchased, and extensive improvements were made, including new seating.

In 1961, due to overcrowding and a lack of parking spaces, a committee was appointed to plan for a new church. Committee members were appointed by Donald Liebner, and included William Jewell, Arthur Schwartz, and Neal Kretchman.

In 1965, the church purchased property on East Lincoln Avenue, known as O’Brien’s Grove, for its new home. It was a beautiful setting among stately pines.

Fundraising began in earnest the next year. Dr. Paul Otto began the first financial drive to raise the funds necessary to build the new church. Other leading financial figures were George Place and Art Baker. The drive was soon oversubscribed. Norman Byar guided the plans for the new Methodist Church.

Tragedy delayed building, as by 1971 the original architect and others important to the building of the new church had died. In 1974, ground was broken for the new church and construction began, but heavy snow slowed construction that winter.

The first worship services in the new church took place September 7, 1975. The lovely new church was consecrated on November 23, with Bishop Loder as a guest.

In 1977, a new parsonage was purchased nearby, on O’Brien’s Drive. It cost $51,000. A new organ was purchased in 1981. The original church roof was replaced in 1987, at a cost of $40,000.

In 1989, the loan to build the church was paid off. Building Committee members at the time of the Consecration were Art Baker, Luella Davis, James and Joanne Harrison, Willard Jewell, Judy Hagstrom, Hazel Johnson, George Place, Arlie Sanborn, and Art Schwartz. The chairperson was Frank Holcomb.

Many, many Methodist parishioners helped grow the church’s membership and mission from 1868 to the present day. They gave their time, tithes and talents to bring God’s message and Christ’s teachings to anyone who would listen.

Today is Good Friday. Many of Cheboygan’s Methodist parishioners can worship in the lovely church that represents the sacrifices made by countless community members over the past 155 years in beautiful Cheboygan County.