[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16555-16556]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE SESQUICENTENNIAL OF THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF MUIR 
                               (MICHIGAN)

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. VERNON J. EHLERS

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 28, 2006

  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer recognition of the 
150th anniversary of the First Christian Church of Muir, Michigan. It 
is located in Ionia County, part of the Third Congressional District of 
Michigan, which I represent. The church will celebrate its 
sesquicentennial on September 7, 2006.
  The First Christian Church of Muir is part of the Michigan Region of 
the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and has great historical 
significance within that denomination. The church was formed in 1856 at 
about the same time the village of Muir was organized. Some members of 
the community called upon a friend, the Rev. Isaac Errett of Ohio, to 
come to Michigan to establish a church.
  The church held its first meeting on a cold, mid-winter morning, when 
parishoners gathered at the edge of the Grand River with temperatures 
that reached 31 degrees below zero. They had to break through the 
river's ice in order to get water to perform baptismal rites--certainly 
not a baptism by fire, I must say! The church became known as the 
``Mother Church of the World,'' as it was the denomination's first 
church in the Grand River Valley and became the parent church of 
offshoots in Ionia, Owosso, Detroit, North Plains and Woodard Lake, as 
well as financing other Disciple churches in Tennessee, Kansas and 
Missouri.
  In 1861, the church building was completed, and Rev. Errett's 
longtime friend and fellow Disciple of Christ James A. Garfield, soon 
to become a member of this House and later to be the 20th President of 
the United States, traveled to Muir to dedicate the building. An elder 
and minister in the Disciples of Christ, Garfield had visited the 
church and preached there several times. Garfield was not the only 
House member and future president to visit the church, as then-
Congressman Gerald R. Ford was on hand in 1956 to participate in the 
church's centennial celebration.
  The First Christian Church of Muir, originally constructed at a cost 
of $3,215 with boards cut at local saw mills, today rests on its 
original foundation and displays several stained-glass memorial 
windows, with the main window as a memorial to Rev. Isaac Errett. The 
church's bell, which was cast in England and hangs in the church's 
belfry, still is rung to announce services each Sunday, and also rings 
out on special occasions.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask you and our colleagues to join me in 
congratulating the First Christian Church of Muir on its 150th 
anniversary and send well wishes to Rev. W. Gregory Gladding and the 
church's congregation as they celebrate their sesquicentennial on 
September 7, 2006.

[[Page 16556]]



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