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(from "The First Fifty Years" Golden Jubilee booklet, November 1935) With such a background, a real significance attaches to the name "New Hope," chosen by that handful of folk who met in Trotter's Hall on a Sunday afternoon in November 1885, to form a church organization of their own. True, they had not entirely lacked opportunities for common worship, thanks to the missionary activities of Braidwood pastors in the vicinity of Diamond, the new Sunday School in "Sufferns," and the pioneering efforts of faithful Methodists; but the time had come, they thought, both in their own lives and in that of the community, for the establishment of a Coal City Presbyterian Church. Aided by Rev. Sidney Allen of Braidwood, the twenty-four persons whose names appear on the roll of charter members had soon perfected the technicalities of the church organization. At a Session meeting early in April of the following year, Dr. E. J. Abell reported to Moderator Allen and his fellow elders, Bain and Galloway, that "he had attended Presbytery as instructed, that he was cordially received as a delegate and that this (New Hope Church) was ordered enrolled and taken under care of Presbytery." Makeshift meeting places had to suffice until the fall of that year when the new church building was ready for occupancy. When the church was dedicated on November 14, 1886, it represented a financial expenditure of some $1650.00, every cent of which had been paid, a large part of it through the generosity of the Suffern family. Mr. Sam Suffern not only donated that land upon which the church stands, but he and others of the family topped the widely circulated subscription list bearing the names of those who, according to that document's preamble, felt "the necessity of keeping religious and moral institutions abreast of the material progress of the community," and who gave as circumstances permitted, for that end. Mr. Allen continued his ministry to the new church until 1887. He as followed by Samuel H. Noel, a young student who was to become the first regularly installed pastor of New Hope Church. Mr. Noel's pastorate was of four years'; duration. It was marked by some growth of the membership roll and by three additions to the physical property of the church, the manse, a fence, and a temporary stable. Mr. Noel's place was taken in 1891 by Rev. Harrison Clarke. This man who even now, at 86 years of age, tersely describes himself as a "conservative and fundamentalist," was to leave a lasting impression of his forceful personality not only upon the church but upon the community as well. His service of more than eight years in Coal City was occupied by a resolute drive to make his own church members conscious of their responsibility as Presbyterians and to impress upon the community the uncompromising oppositions of the church to all that was of degrading influence. In that accomplishment of the first phase of his goal, Mr. Clarke called upon his Session, as not other group of elders has been called upon before or since, to exercise their prerogative as judges of conduct through the use of citations, suspensions, and even excommunications. Naturally, such a course did not make for complete harmony for, as one Scotchman remarked on hearing a typical "Clarke" sermon, "It's every word the truth, but awfu' hard to thole (endure)." And yet the net active membership increased and so, also, did the influence of the church. In his fight against the saloons and other "dens of iniquity, " the minister preached a series of sermon called "Peeps Into Hell," one result of which was his arrest by a saloonkeeper on complaint that he saloonkeeper's character and business were being damaged. Was ever a crusader more lightly complimented? Mr. Clarke left coal city in 1899 to be followed as New Hope pastor by Rev. A. J. VanPage who supplied the local pulpit while still a student, and later accepted a call to be the regularly installed pastor. Mr. VanPage's pastorate, though short, was marked by an added impetus to women's and young people's work and by a major alteration of the church building. An Endeavor room was added on the north and a choir loft on the south of the original unit. A hallway and belfry were also constructed and the entrance was moved from where the east window now is to its present locations. The pulpit was changed from the west to the south side of the building and the seating arrangement altered to correspond. The church was rededicated on September 22nd, 1901. Mr. VanPage resigned that same month to be followed within a short time by Rev. R. B. McCain. Church membership rose to a new high mark under Mr. McCain, being 112 in 1904 and in 1905, when the organization was 20 years old, the official enrollment was 109. The previous year had seen the improvement of the belfry and the installation of a bell purchased by the McCain family and the C. E. society. The barn was also built at that time, at a cost of $200.00.  Mr. McCain's successor was Rev. W. E. Youtsler, who came to new hope church in 1906 to begin the second longest pastorate in its history. It was a period marked by an increase in church membership to 150, an advance stimulated somewhat by Salvation Army meetings and other revivals, but also largely due to the appealing Christian example of the pastor and to his untiring ministry to all sorts and classes of people. It was Mr. Youtsler who, mostly by consent of those who admired him while still differing with his views, secured a vote on the local option question (for educational purposes only, for his cause was defeated, as he knew it would be). It was also Mr. Youtsler, aided by Elder Isaac McKean's eloquent plea to Presbytery, who kept the Coal City and Gardner Churches under the jurisdiction of Chicago rather than of Ottawa where geographically they belong. It was in 1913 that the congregation finally accepted Mr. Youtsler's resignation - they had declined to do so two years earlier.  After the services of several "supplies," including Mr. McAllister and Mr. Everett, New Hope Church, for the first time in its history, called a pastor from the western plains. It was a though they knew that the hectic times to come would tax all the physical stamina of even a man like A. C. Ramsay who could hold his own in the harvest fields. Times, for example, when the minister would be called upon to take charge of an emergency flu hospital at night and officiate at 16 funerals in 14 days; or times when innumerable speeches had to be made, food conservation programs administered, and all manner of hurried duties attended to. Times, in short, which no doubt made the pastor look back upon his early days in the community, when the Scouts were one of his important concerns, as calm and peaceful indeed. With it all, perhaps because of it all, the church prospered under its war time pastor and shortly before he left in 1919 its membership rose to the all time high of 170. Under its five post-war pastor - O. R. Lavers, John H. Schmidt, Ralph Doescher, Edward Arpee, and M. E. Kausler, the priest minister - New Hope Church has experienced both ups and downs, as have other phases of community life. It is now enjoying a steady progress, its membership roll numbering 120, after having dropped to 72 seven years ago. The physical property of the church during this period has been modernized and beautified so that it is now in better condition than at any time in the past. The manse was made an up-to-date home in 1920. Three years later the church was re-roofed and the choir loft enlarged, the latter accomplishment being one that for years had been declared all but impossible. In 1931, the church's constantly recurring problem of redecoration was settled for along time to come by finishing the walls in handsome wood paneling. Last year another long talked of improvement was realized when a kitchen was added to the northwest corner of the building, with funds left by Mr. James Campbell, a trustee of many years' service, who died in 1926. The passage of fifty years has taken its inevitable toll. Faces that were long familiar in New Hope congregations are no more to be seen in the prayerful voices of the "old school" elders have been stilled by death. Of the original members, only three survive; Mr. Hugh miller, Mrs. Ellen Scott, and Miss Belle Suffern. But always there have been young hands to take up the work laid down by old ones and young hearts whose constant prayer is that they may prove true to the past by building for an even greater future. |
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