Eden Church of Christ
Eden, Concho County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1903 a group of area residents began meeting for worship services in the Eden schoolhouse. Three years later, a few new families moved into the area and they were welcomed to the services of the existing Church of Christ group. A second schoolhouse was erected in 1910 and the congregation moved their services to the new structure. In 1915, trustees purchased land on Broadway Street and erected the Broadway Church of Christ. The small group that had joined the church in 1903 continued to meet with the Broadway congregation until 1925 when they formed a second congregation, the Church of Christ at Main and Bryan. Broadway Church of Christ erected a new building in 1939, adding an education wing and basement in 1947. By this time, the Main and Bryan congregation also had grown, adding a baptistry and other facilities to their site. The two congregations continued individual programs throughout the 20th century. By 1997 there were only about twenty-five members in each congregation, and they met together to discuss reunification. They debated the merits of the change and rotated services during the summer of 1997, and in September of that year they met as one congregation in the Main and Bryan facility. Now reunited as the Eden Church of Christ, the two historic churches continue to worship in the traditions of their founders. Eden Church of Christ is active in international and local mission work and community service. (2000)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Church of Christ took root in the young West Texas town of Eden in 1903, when residents began worshiping in the local schoolhouse and later in a purpose-built church on Broadway Street. Over the decades the fellowship split into two congregations — Broadway and Main-and-Bryan — that grew and worshiped separately through most of the twentieth century. Dwindling to about twenty-five members each by 1997, the two reunited that September as the Eden Church of Christ, continuing the traditions of their frontier founders.
Why it matters
The congregation's century-long arc of division and reunion mirrors the slow demographic ebb of rural West Texas, where shrinking farm communities repeatedly consolidated their institutions to survive.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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