| History of West Side C.M.E. Church |
West Side Community Methodist Episcopal Church was organizied August 2, 1953 in the home of the Reverend and Mrs. H.S. Delaney at 1679 Browning Street, S.W. The Reverend Robert B. Shorts, pastor of the Butler Street Christian Methodist Episcopal Church was chairman of the organizing group which consisted of 15 persons. Mrs Estelle Ashmore Benn, secretary of the group, signed her name to becomethe first charter member of West Side Community Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. During the 1953 session of the Georgia Annual Conference, the late Bishop Arthur W. Womack assigned the Reverend Alvin L. Dopson as pastor of the newly organized mission. He had been the pastor of the Rome Circuit for four years. The late Reverend L.R. Williams was Presiding Elder. The first regular worship service was held on the First Sunday in December,1953. Pastor Dopson preached from the text " COME THOU WITH US AND WE WILL DO THEE GOOD." (Numbers 10:29) At the invitation to discipleship, five charter members responded, namely: Mrs. Estella Ashmore Benn, Mr. and Mrs. James H. Grimes, Mrs. Pauline Johnson and Edna Davis. |
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The Old Church |
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First Service 1953 |
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Groundbreaking for the |