Ronald O'Neal / Thursday, June 22, 2017 / Categories: AME Scouts, Boy Scouts Greater Ward Chapel AME, Columbus, GA 31901 About Us One hundred and eighteen years ago, in the year of 1897, Ward Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church had its beginning under a bush at the corner of Thirteenth Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street. In 1897, the Reverend R. W. Miller, a local preacher from Saint John A.M.E. Church, came as pastor of Ward Chapel and served two years. Rev. Swindow followed Rev. Miller and pastored one year. Rev. W.J. Ferguson then became pastor, moved the church to Twenty-sixth Street and helped to rebuild it. Sister Henrietta Flemming raised the first twenty dollars to make a monthly payment on the new church. In 1913, the church was rebuilt a second time on Twenty-sixth Street. Fifty dollars was donated from a trust fund established in honor of the late Bishop Thomas M.D. Ward. The funds were left to build new churches. Each church receiving money from the fund was to be named in honor of Bishop Ward. In 1937, the Reverend R.D. Griffin was appointed pastor of Ward Chapel at the Twenty-sixth Street location. In 1939, the church was forced to move from Twenty-sixth Street by the Government Housing Authority. The church was moved to Pou Street and rebuilt in 1940 for the third time during the pastorate of the Reverend R. D. Griffin. The cost of the church was $6,500.00. Faith and prayer built this particular edifice with some members paying fifty cents to a dollar for dues. The Reverend T.L. Butler, Presiding Elder of the Savannah District, held the dedication on April 16, 1944. The first parsonage in the history of the church was built on Pou Street. The five room wooden structure was located directly behind the church. The church remains as a community historical landmark, but the parsonage, long demolished, is a memory of progress. When asked to describe the church on Pou Street, a pleasant picture takes form: With the smell from the cleaners in its backyard and the field of sour grass at its front, the foundation of a community stood for all to enter. The old structure made sure there was no long line to enter one door because it had two doors, one to the left of the front steps and one to the right. Many children perched on the cement slabs, which held up the steps, and many skinned knees were the result of running down the steps too fast. Inside, three sets of pews lined the church, at the front, was the pulpit, and around it was a wooden altar which heard many prayers, stood as a backdrop to many weddings, and acted as a stopping point for even more caskets. The choir stand was anchored behind the pulpit and was reached from the rear of the church. Wooden, straight-back chairs were the singers’ only resting post, and sometimes tiny straws rose to prick the limbs and tear the stockings of those who sang in praise. It was not a large church, all meetings and classes were held in one room—the sanctuary; however, it was a comfortable one, where many gathered and where, when asked how to get there, were told to look for the church in the middle of a field of grass, next to Buck Ice and Coal Company and in front of the cleaners on Pou Street. http://www.gwcamec.org/home.html Boy Scout Pack 0111 Scoutmaster: CubMaster: Keundra Cobb Chartered Organization Representative: Curtis Huff [email protected] Venturing Crew Advisor: Previous Article Stronghold Christian Church, Lithonia, GA 30058 Next Article Trinity CME, Augusta, GA 30906 Print 3191 Rate this article: No rating DistrictSIXTH DISTRICTAMEC District OfficeScout Group TypeCub Scout PackZip31901 Please login or register to post comments.