The town of Longwood is a small, unincorporated town, located in Pettis County, Missouri about 8 miles southeast of the intersection of Interstate 70 and US 65 highway. The Longwood Presbyterian Church is located on the south end of the town, just a few feet off the blacktop. We are in the Pettis County RV school district in Hughesville about 10 miles away.
Until the early ‘90’s our building was the typical older rural church--plain white building, unlocked doors, and lots of steps. Unfortunately we also had a badly decaying outer facility. Our treasury had a modest $25,000, but there were places to spend ten times that much. We decided to take a huge leap of faith and build a new building. It would be totally handicap accessable, without a basement and on a concrete slab. We hired a retired contractor who had just finished building a church in Sedalia, and with his help and lots of volunteers, we finished it in about a year. The miracle of this project was not that we built the building but that, when we were done, we had no debt and we still had our original $25,000, plus several more thousand dollars remaining. From the youngest to the oldest, from the nearest neighbor to people out of state, from proceeds of sales of failing churches to grants from the Presbytery—everyone that we knew helped us to make our dream come true.
Today, we are enjoying our new building and a growing congregation. In the early ‘80’s we were lucky to have 10 people at church. Although our membership is around 30 we regularly have upwards of 40 people during regular worship—and several young people too. Longwood sponsored a healing service this past November, and the sanctuary was filled. We have an active women’s group (PW) who, along with the church, support several mission projects, among which are the Festival of Sharing, One Great Hour of Sharing, Thank Offering, Blanket Sunday, Stubbins Youth Home, the 1% Theological Fund, the Joy Offering, and the local Open Door program.
Our worship service begins Sunday morning at 9:30 with a layperson leading the worship, until the pastor arrives from Range Line. On each of the four 5th Sundays in a year, we have a basket dinner at noon after worship. At Easter we celebrate Good Friday service and an early service on Sunday, followed by breakfast (we like to eat!). At Christmas we have a children’s program, one or two Sundays before Christmas. Many of us attend other events at our sister churches.
During the birth of the Tri-County Specialized Ministry (TCSM), Longwood and Otterville were the first two active churches to seek a minister together. Within a few years, Range Line joined us, each with two members on the council. We have enjoyed this union and prospered from it. Since its inception, the TCSM council meets regularly (more recently, quarterly) to coordinate activities among the churches and to be the financial clearing house for the pastor’s salary.
We don’t have deacons; only have elders in our church. We have struggled to keep Sunday school going, and at this moment in time, we are not offering it. It is our hope that we can soon start it up again. Aside from the normal hospital visits, funerals and weddings, our church is not too demanding on a pastor.
Members of our congregation go to
The minister who accepts the position to fill our pulpits will find friendly faces of all ages, people who do tasks without being asked, and a strong desire to keep our church doors open. Each year we have fundraising events that are overwhelmingly supported by the rural community and surrounding towns and our two sister churches. In January we have a chili and soup supper, in July an ice cream supper, and in October our Lord’s Acre Sale that has been with us since 1957. These events bring in about 1/3 of our financial needs. The rest comes from offering, tithes and generous gifts on a regular basis.
We are excited about our future and very much look forward to the day when we will have a new full-time pastor in our pulpit, guiding us into that future. Come worship with us!
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