Hickory Grove Church (5)
HOUSE CHURCH
A church is formed, established, and founded when a group of people organize for the purpose of meeting together for worship. Although a permanent place to assemble is a goal for most fledgling churches, a building is not required for people to worship. Further, the year a church erects a building does not necessarily align with the year it is organized.
The Hickory Grove Church history book claims that it "was built and organized approximately 1860" (p. 1). Yet the book further states that the Church had progressed "a long way from meeting in each other's [sic.] homes for services or from the first meeting house." This is tacit acknowledgment that, although Hickory constructed its building (i.e., its "meeting house") in or about 1860, it had organized as an assembly of worshippers sometime before 1860. Clearly, Hickory Grove was not both built and organized in the same year.
As with other established churches in that era, Hickory Grove initially operated as a house church. The concept of a house church stretches back to the early Christian church period. As Dr. Mark Nickens, Ph.D. rightly noted, "When Christianity first started after the ascension of Jesus, Christians did not gather in church buildings but in people’s homes....known as 'house churches.'"
A handful of large homeplace houses built in the Bucklesberry area before 1860 likely served as house churches for Hickory Grove. Predictably, four of the five were owned by charter members Levi Hill, Sr., Benjamin Sutton, Sr., Hardy Sutton, and Josiah Sutton, Sr.
The Benjamin Sutton, Sr. homeplace was formerly located on the west side of Bear Creek, off of Alice Waters Road. Although it was close to the present-day town of Seven Springs, Bucklesberry at the time stretched from Whitehall (former name for Seven Springs) to the west side of Falling Creek in the Pot Neck area. In the heart of Bucklesberry, the Josiah Sutton, Sr. homeplace was formerly situated directly off of Kennedy Home Road, as was the Hardy Sutton homeplace. The Levi Hill, Sr. homeplace, still standing, sits on the edge of the escarpment off of Jim Sutton Road. One other possible house church, also still standing, is the Dempsey Wood, Sr. homeplace (now owned by Charles and Gibby Sutton), located off of Pine Bush Road.
Next month's article will discuss when Hickory Grove was organized. Interested readers may enjoy a previously published a two-part seasonal Bucklesberry article titled "Winter 1890-1891" available at https://t.ly/5vJUI and https://t.ly/rwliq.
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