Concord United Methodist Church members Ruby Napier (from left), Margaret Marshall, Doris Baker, the Rev. Barbara Shumate and Ruby Wimpee plan Wednesday for the church’s 200th anniversary celebration to be held Aug. 13

Joe Meador loves attending Concord United Methodist Church, situated in a log building on the banks of Trammel Creek in Allen County.

&#8220I guess because it’s just a family church,” he said. &#8220And there’s something about it that feels like home. I spent some time away from here (because of working out of state and being in the Army through the years) but always came back. And I’ve attended church as regular as I could.”

On Aug. 13, he and other members of the Concord congregation will celebrate the church’s 200th anniversary.

Everyone is invited to attend, even if they’ve never been to the church.

&#8220You don’t have to bring anything” in order to come and enjoy the meal, preaching and singing, Meador said. &#8220We think we’ll have enough.”

Now, Meador of Macedonia said he wishes the church had more members.

Usually about half of the 35 members attend on Sundays.

&#8220In times past we’ve had as many as 100 in attendance,” Meador said. &#8220But they’ve died off and drifted off and moved off.”

He said he wants everyone to know they’re welcome at the church.

&#8220We don’t care who they are,” he said. &#8220We’ll take them and they can join or not join. The Methodist is more of a liberal-type church we don’t have certain rules you have to go by. You come to worship the Lord and that’s it.”

Concord was founded in 1806, but the congregation split during the Civil War.

At the time &#8220the church became a Southern Methodist because some of the members had slaves,” Meador said.

Now, the church, where slaves are buried in the graveyard, has long held the United Methodist name, and the reason for the split has long been healed.

Meador, 71, joined the church in 1948, along with his mom and dad.

His sister, Ruby Wimpee of Scottsville, still attends the church, though she’s not officially a member.

The current log structure was built in 1981 and is reminiscent of the first Concord church, which was made of logs.

Often, couples who’ve never attended the church ask if they can be married in it, and church members try to accommodate them.

Meador said fishermen often come near the church to fish in Trammel Creek, where the state recently released trout.

Sadly, &#8220there are more fishermen when they turn the trout out than there are church members” at Concord sometimes, he said.

Margaret Ann Marshall, who began attending Concord as a child in the 1940s, has &#8220all fond memories of the church.”

&#8220That was just the church I grew up in most of the time,” said the White Plains resident, who is a member of another church but attends Concord nearly every Sunday.

For a long time, Marshall’s family crossed the swinging bridge that connected the land east of Trammel Creek to the Concord side.

Now, Marshall is looking forward to reminiscing about such memories at the church’s anniversary celebration.

She said she’s excited about &#8220seeing old familiar faces that maybe were once there but have gone to other places.”

One such face belongs to the Rev. Carline Brown, who grew up attending Concord United Methodist but now lives in Simpson County.

&#8220My parents went to that church when I was born (in 1925) so I just naturally grew up in the church because we went there all the time,” Brown said.

After Brown became a United Methodist minister, he preached at West Side United Methodist in Bowling Green and churches in Logan County, Cave City and Radcliff.

He retired from preaching in 1991.

Now, he said he’s looking forward to preaching at the anniversary celebration at Concord, where Barbara Shumate is the pastor.

&#8220I’m delighted to go back,” he said. &#8220It’ll be sentimental and a lot of memories of times gone by. And of course there will be new people there that I haven’t gotten to know yet.”

Brown would love it if Concord could get more members but realizes &#8220it’s very, very difficult to compete with the larger churches because of the things they have to offer. People are looking for something today besides just going to worship like people did when that church was founded.”

But Brown said Concord is a great place to worship – a place that sticks to &#8220the root of Christianity.”

&#8220It’s where the minister preaches the Bible, people study the Bible and make application in their lives,” he said.

Services at Concord United Methodist usually begin each Sunday at 9:30 a.m., with Sunday school immediately following around 10:30 a.m.

The anniversary service begins at 11 a.m., and will include, in addition to Brown’s sermon, music by Gordon Meador and Wings of Faith.

Lunch will follow at noon. A gospel singing starts around 1:30 p.m. and features Gordon Meador and Wings of Faith, along with New Harvest.

A history of the church will be given out during the celebration at 55 Concord Church Road.