Brooks Christian Church will host a Centennial Celebration weekend on Aug. 14 and 15 to celebrate the church’s 100th anniversary. Events include a free Gospel Singing Saturday night, Aug. 14, at 6 p.m. featuring Four-Given Quartet, Dodie Ramsey, and The Barkers.
On Sunday, Aug. 15, the 11 a.m. worship will be led by the Celebration Women’s Sextet and will include a brief history video of the church, along with testimonials and a brief devotional.
Following the service there will be a carry-in luncheon with the church furnishing the meat and members bringing vegetables, salads and desserts.
Brooks Christian Church had its beginning at a tent meeting in 1909 in Sharon Grove, now Brooks. At that tent meeting it was decided to build a new church in the village of Brooks to accommodate church members living near that area. Property was purchased, a new building was constructed, and a new congregation was established in August of 1910.
Forty-six of the charter members came from County Line Christian Church, which had been established near Brooks in 1840, and 14 came from the Mount Springs Christian Church which had been established in 1906. The Mount Springs church disbanded and became a part of the new church in Brooks.
Brooks Christian has been, during its entire history, a part of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement which had its beginnings in the early 1800s in the United States. All of the churches in this movement began as locally self-governing fellowships (independent) until 1969 when some of them organized into a denominationally structured fellowship, primarily known as Disciples of Christ.
Some of these Stone-Campbell churches shunned the use of musical instruments (Churches of Christ) while other instrumental churches (Christian Churches) retained their original independent status through the years.
Brooks Christian Church considered itself as a part of those who structured themselves into a denomination in 1969, but in 2006 withdrew from the denomination. The majority of the members of the Brooks church considered the denomination to be too “liberal” and not representative of their Biblical views and social outlook. Therefore, the church returned to its old “independent” status with a more conservative perspective in matters of faith and practice.
During the past 100 years there have been at least 36 different ministers who served as local pastors at this smaller church. The current pastor, Dr. Paul K. Carrier, came to Brooks six years ago. Prior to coming to Brooks, Carrier had been the president of Atlanta Christian College for six years and pastor of Christ’s Church at Whitewater for 18 years. Upon his retirement from full-time vocational ministry in 2001, he began ministering to small churches, which led him to Brooks Christian Church six years ago.
The public is invited to any and all services of Brooks Christian Church, especially on this anniversary weekend.
