Heritage Day is Sunday at Pleasant Hill Church

Pleasant Hill Church Heritage Day services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, in the oldest extant brick church in Cass County, Pleasant Hill Church at Keeps Creek. The church is located at the junction of Cass County Roads 400 S. and 675 W.

Peggy Martin will provide cello music for the service and a choir from Burrows Presbyterian will provide leadership for singing. Nick Clark, pastor of Burrows Presbyterian Church, will conduct the services.

There will be no services at the Burrows Presbyterian Church. The public is invited to attend.

This is an annual event and the only time when services are held in the church. Following worship, all are invited to bring a covered dish to the Burrows Presbyterian Fellowship Hall, where a dinner will be held.

"This is a homecoming for all the descendants of those who attended the Pleasant Hill Church and are buried in the cemetery," Clark said. "Burrows Presbyterian is pleased to be able to sponsor this event, honoring the faithful pioneers of the Keeps Creek area. The Pleasant Hill Church was a good model for this and future generations of Christians to follow. Even though those worshipping there had a diversity of beliefs, they were able to live, work and worship together in harmony and love."

The Pleasant Hill/Keeps Creek Church was completed in 1875. James and Mary Justice gave one-quarter acre of their farm on a picturesque, high knoll above Keeps Creek to be used for construction of the church and burying ground.

The structure's use was unique for several reasons. It was the first brick church built in Cass County's Clinton Township. The bricks were made and fired by hand on the site and the structure was built and funded by three different religious groups. Two were called Christian churches and the third was a Dunkard congregation.

One of the Christian churches was known as the Campbellite Church, which used only the Bible to formulate its doctrines. They did not believe in confessions, catechisms, creeds, or other man-made writings.

The second church was known as the New Light Christian Church. New Light Christians was probably the largest of the pre- Campbellite Christian groups and grew from a movement originating in New England about 1790. Followers of Baptist minister Abner Jones chose the name New Light Christians to stress their non-denominational stance. The Bible was their only doctrine.

Both of these churches formed an informal union with the Presbyterian Church in 1801 and played important roles in "The Great Awakening" which swelled the number of Christians as pioneers settled the Midwest.

The Dunkards evolved from the Swiss Anabaptist movement and were very different from the other two churches in that they believed only in adult baptism, included the washing of feet as a sacrament, and generally took Communion at night. Women covered their heads in worship while men did not.

With all their differences in religious beliefs, the members of these three churches were all Cass County pioneers and neighbors. They learned to live and work and worship together respecting diversity. They decided that each of the three congregations would use the building on one weekend of the month and that other denominations in the area could meet there on the fourth weekend. That practice worked well and continued until 1909, when the church closed and most members united with the new Presbyterian Church that was being built in Burrows.

In the 1980s, descendants of the original worshippers formed an association and raised funds to restore the church. Clarence Starbuck, a local carpenter, did most of the carpentry work and Kenny Blohm did the painting. The brick walls were pointed, the steeple was replicated, and interior walls and floors were repaired and painted.

In 1995, Martha Been Justice, a member of the Association, made application to place the Pleasant Hill Church on the National Register of Historic Places and the designation was awarded in 1996. The church is now available for weddings and other religious purposes and is maintained by donations to the Keeps Creek Church Restoration Fund.