Celebrating 140 Years Of Serving God

In the amount of time that the Zion Countryside Church has been standing there's been a lot of history between the windows, walls, basement, and outside that'll continue to echo in time.Just coming off the 140 year celebration this past Sunday, June 4 the Zion Countryside Church had people coming from near and far to reminisce and make connections which has proven to be an epitome of community that's been built within the church.A member of the congregation, Marsha Schwan, was able to give the Fairbury Journal-News a few minutes of her time to give a tour, and speak on some of the church's history and the lineage that follows families, saying, “It's crazy to think that there's six generation members of the church. They don’t live around here anymore. But it would be nice to have my grandkids here so we could make seven generations, so we go that far back with the church."The original church was just one big building the way Schwan understands, and inside on the north side was the parsonage, so when they outgrew they church, they put up the new building. "Our families emigrated from Germany in the 1880′s. I believe it was 1883, they had 14 members, and what the people did was meet in a nearby schoolhouse half a mile, I think, on the left side," Schwan said. "They met there at another school two miles north and half a mile east with the original 14 members as women didn't count then."Association started, at Cub Creek just north of Jansen, with a Pastor Tester that came over by mule and would travel to minister the 18 miles a part to help get things going.If there is a will, then there is a way and the efforts put forward to go the extra mile for building something that would become a vital fixture in a community was just a tip of the iceberg of the things to be done.The lengths that the Zion Countryside Church has gone for its congregation has at times literally spoken volumes over the years with new ways in bringing the people closer together.One example Schwan gave was about the 1,500 pound bell, which had a price tag of $380."They would ring the bell so all the neighbors close by, when someone would pass away, would relay to the next person that someone here had passed. Over the years, they didn't get the volume they were wanting, so they knocked out the blinders that run outside the bell. They opened them up with and lined the inside with tin, so when they would ring the bell it would echo even louder," Schwan said.The work ethic of the church shown through with this project and many others over the decades.“I think if I'm not mistaken, they had this paid this building off within a two year span, which at that time was surprising to be able to do that," Schwan said.Taking that extra step to ensure that the members in the church can find different ways to support each other has had an influence on many members that have come through. The influence can not only be seen by the character of the people who have come through, but also by career as Schwan spoke on the activities and support that has come from the church:“Our church is the one that spearheaded the “5 Star Bible Camp” and started that eventually got four other congregations."Over the years, the congregation has found numerous ways to keep the doors open, from various fund raisers, yard sales, even talent shows."Those were a lot of fun, we recruited everyone, older people would read a poem, a story, or even do a skit. I made my boys, and they'd never admit to it, but I've got the pictures to prove it. I made surfboards out of cardboard and they lip synced to Surfing USA, so we try to do things that can bring people together in a fun way," Schwan said.Preaching the word of God goes out into the world and, for some, started at Zion."What's neat about our church, we've had nine people, all ages leave this church to go into ministry. That's amazing that around nine people chose that life and it shows how much of an impact that it's had on their lives. We had a lot of them speaking on Sunday, past pastors, and younger ones who were here to speak. A couple of the speakers even had to stop to gather themselves as the fond memories really connected with them when it came to reminiscing.”

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