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Steubenville’s Simpson United Methodist Church closing after 140 years

After a more than 140 years of faithful presence in the Steubenville community, Simpson United Methodist Church will close its doors after a final service there Sunday, beginning at 4 p.m. Outside the church, at 430 Slack St. in Steubenville’s South End, are leadership team members, including, from left, Janice Fullwood, Lamont Sizemore and Sharon Kirtdoll. The service is open to the public and will feature guest preacher the Rev. Ivy Smith, Kirtdoll’s daughter. — Janice Kiaski

STEUBENVILLE — Sunday will bring an end to Simpson United Methodist Church at 430 Slack St.

And that’s a bittersweet reality, according to members of the church’s leadership team committee who reminisced about the church’s 143-year presence in the community and offered specifics about the closing celebration service.

Sharon Kirtdoll, Janice Fullwood and Lamont Sizemore explained the 4 p.m. service Sunday will be led by guest speaker the Rev. Ivy Smith, Kirtdoll’s daughter and the pastor, ironically, of Simpson United Methodist Church in Canton. The service also will involve other area clergy and guests, and there will be a video presentation featuring remarks by Bishop Tracy S. Malone of the East Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Simpson is the only African-American United Methodist congregation in the Ohio Valley District UMC. It has been without a pastor since November 2015.

Its beginnings date back to 1873 when a number of members withdrew from the A.M.E. congregation and formed what was known as the Sixth Street A.M.E. Church. A frame building was erected on the east side of Sixth, above Dock Street, and was occupied for a number of years, according to one church history. The congregation acquired Latimer Chapel on South Sixth Street and became known as Simpson Methodist. The church remained there until the purchase of the U.P. Mission Chapel at the head of Ninth and Adams Street in 1904. The church was there until word came in 1966 that the building would be razed to make way for the Route 22 ramp. The need for a new place of worship launched a search for property and a fundraising campaign that brought Simpson to its fourth and final location at Slack and South Sixth streets by the end of the late 1960s.

Fullwood’s connection to the church spans six decades.

“I’ve been a part of the church for 63 years,” she said, remembering being involved since her teen years. It meant not just growing in the faith, but helping out, too, straightening up after church and Sunday school, picking up Bibles, fans and hymnals, for example.

“When we grew up, everybody had to do something and take part in doing things,” Fullwood said. “Church was like the center of what we did. You went to church for fellowship and for programs, and sometimes you were there from Sunday school through early evening, like 7 o’clock. Sometimes there were three services throughout the day, but that’s been a while back,” she said.

Fullwood described the idea of its closing as “traumatizing” initially.

“We’ve been discussing and talking about this for about two years now, and at first we’re all ‘Oh this just can’t possibly happen,’ it’s something that’s been a part of you for such a long time, but as time went on, I think we’ve gradually come to accept it,” Fullwood said. “Our congregation has dwindled so that we only have a handful of members now, and we are really struggling financially.”

Sizemore has been a member for about 50 years.

“It’s a hard thing to see the church close, but as for my personal view, I’ve grown so much since I’ve been associated with these people here,” Sizemore said. “They made me who I am today, and I’ve come to enjoy what I do here,” he added of a many-hats role that includes minister of music.

“It’s home to all of us,” Fullwood said of the church’s impact on their lives.

Kirtdoll agreed.

“Our fellowship has grown so strong in the last year that with the few that worship together we really have good worship,” said Kirtdoll, who has been involved at Simpson UMC since the early 1980s. “We have good fellowship afterward, so I feel like Lamont — our fellowship has strengthened each one of us so that we are able to go out in the community and participate in other churches and be an active member because of the fellowship that we’ve had this last year.”

“There’s a lot to be proud of,” Sizemore said. “A lot of good things have come out of this church, and when I think about that, that makes it a lot easier,” he said.

The church was not only “home” to its parishioners but home to various ministries and outreaches. “A lot of ministries to this community came out of this church,” Kirtdoll reflected, citing a senior citizens program that went citywide.

It hosted a Vacation Bible School program that attracted a hundred children or more and was home to the community developers program Kirtdoll was involved in and and became a part of Urban Mission Ministries.

“The community developers program for Urban Mission came out of Simpson church because I had an office here many years before we moved into the Women’s Center on South Street and then moved out to Urban Mission,” Kirtdoll said.

“Its whole focus was for the church to be part of the community and outreach from the church into the community,” she said. “The good thing is we have some adults now who were kids in this community who have gone into social work and community work because of this church and the programs,” Kirtdoll added.

“We started the summer food program here that feeds children during the summer, and Urban Mission sponsored the program this last summer, but for 10 years, everything was cooked downstairs in this church and taken out to the sites until it outgrew this building,” Kirtdoll explained.

The trio also reminisced about a youth group of praise dancers called the Spiritual Expressions, and there was a singing group called the Lee Singers when the Rev. George Lee was the church’s pastor. “They were known throughout the area,” Kirtdoll said.

Fullwood noted the church had a Head Start program during the 1980s and that her mother was one of the instructors.

“We’ve had a number of pastors who were interested in different areas of the community to help bring us out in the community and to bring the community into us, but Simpson has been a pillar in the South End,” said Kirtdoll, noting other leadership team committee members are Darlene Lewis, John Taylor and David Smith.

While Simpson UMC ends as one of the churches in the Ohio Valley District of United Methodist Churches, its physical presence will begin a new chapter of service as the Diocese of Steubenville anticipates the purchase of the building at Slack and Fifth streets.

Paperwork is being completed under the direction of diocesan Attorney Thomas S. Wilson to allow the buy, according to Pat DeFrancis, director of communications for the diocese.

“Steubenville Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton envisions what he has termed Cathedral Square, which will encompass a renovated Holy Name Cathedral and make use of the Methodist church. The latter will be used for community outreach,” DeFrancis communicated in an e-mail. “It is planned that the lower level of the Protestant church will be used for a soup kitchen, now being operated in the undercroft of Holy Name Cathedral. The anticipation is that the upper level of the Methodist church will be remodeled to accommodate counselors, who will specialize in trauma counseling,” she continued.

“The facility, which will be called the Sacred Heart Center of Hope, is slated to begin providing services to those in need in late 2017,” DeFrancis added.

“We are grateful for the ministry of Simpson United Methodist Church over these many years on the south side of Steubenville,” said the Rev. James Winkler, superintendent of the Ohio Valley District UMC. “Many have come to a relationship with Jesus, many have been sent into service as those who have been called into ministry, and there has been ministry within the neighborhood over the years that has transformed south Steubenville,” Winkler said. “While we grieve the closing of Simpson at this time, we are grateful for the witness that will continue through all those who are active and have been faithful to the gospel over the years, so we commit ourselves to carrying out the gospel wherever we are sent,” he continued.

“Through the Steubenville Diocese we believe that faithful Christian ministry will be carried on in the South Side of Steubenville and for this we are grateful and glad the building can be used for that purpose,” Winkler added.

Kirtdoll said Sunday’s service will celebrate Simpson UMC’s ministries and contributions to the community.

“We would like for people to come and to be with us in this transition and to remember those who were here that contributed, so it’s going to be a time when you can call out the name of the saints who you remember as being a part of this church,” Kirtdoll said. “Just like in any church, there were some very strong people in this church, very committed people who helped over here to make this church, and that’s what we want to celebrate,” she said.

The closing ceremony will involve using sheets to cover the sacraments, piano, organ and pulpit, according to Kirtdoll.

There will be a time of fellowship and refreshments, and attendees will be given nightlights imprinted with Simpson’s name and dates of service from 1873 to 2016.

“We are going to carry the light out,” Kirtdoll said of the symbolism.

Added Fullwood, “So our light will continue to shine. We won’t just be gone, because wherever we go, we will take the light with us.”

 

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