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Reprinted with permission from SUMCNJ and .
"THE SICKLERVILLE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH"
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Reprinted from the Glouc. Co. Times, [date not avail] -written by Bob Shryock of the Gloucester County Times, Woodbury, NJ
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the road, work is about to begin to restore the original 131-year-old church building which sustained $100,000 in damages during a fire in April. It is one of the area's oldest churches and, quite clearly, its members have not lost their touch with history. One option after the fire was to tear down the heavily damaged church and direct the insurance money to expenses incurred by the additions to the new church. But no one took that possibility seriously for very long. "We are what we are today because of that (old) church," says Rev. Jerry Ruff, who has been pastor of Sicklerville Methodist for seven years. "We're a very close church. Sicklerville is a very fast-growing, transient area and there are a lot of established communities around. We have some young people in our church who have no roots in the area. But they still have a sense of historical perspective that that church stands for who we are." In 1937, William Sickler, one of the descendants of the family which started what first was called Sicklertown, set aside one acre of land for a new church at a cost of $50. Parishioners 21 years later began meeting in their homes and at the schoolhouse at Church and Turnersville Roads to draw up the plans for the new Sicklerville Methodist Episcopal Church. And the Sickler name was, needless to say, prominent in the organizational efforts of the church. |
The first pastor was John Sickler. The charter trustees included William T. Sickler, William Sickler, and Christopher Sickler, Sr. After construction was completed in 1859, the new church served two important purposes. Religious services and church school, obviously, were held there on Sundays. And during the week the church was used as the town's elementary school. During the middle of the 19th Century, Sicklerville Methodist Episcopal was part of the Methodist circuit which included churches in Tansboro and Atco. In 1928, a parsonage was built next to the church. On Oct. 4, 1947 the church held its first wedding, although Pastor Ruff has no information to explain why it took 88 years to happen. In 1968, "Episcopal" was dropped from the name of the church. The church celebrated its 100th anniversary and remained a relatively small congregation with fewer than 100 members until a clear growth pattern was established in the mid-1970s. And in 1976, the church decided to build a new church on four acres directly across the street from the old one, which no longer could accommodate the increasing membership. "Some of the oldtimers didn't want to move because they'd grown up in that church," Pastor Ruff says, "but they did." The old church was able to hold only about 50 people. With its new sanctuary, the new one sits 375. The membership is now over 300 and climbing. Pastor Ruff says the average Sunday worship attendance is 330. Prior to the fire, the original church was being used as an adult Sunday School class as well as for weddings and concerts. It also was being rented to other small congregations as a beginning church. |
But the April fire was devastating. Although the structure
withstood the blaze, interior damage was severe -- to the tune of $100,000. For example,
of the six original stained glass windows, four did not survive the fire. Most of the
damage was covered by insurance although the foundation will have to be rebuilt at the
expense of the church. The church's original wooden plate - "M.E. Church 1859" - did survive and stands as a monument to its future. Pastor Ruff, with his seven years, is the minister with the longest tenure serving Sicklerville Methodist in its 131 years. He laughs and says he plans to be there "for seven more." "We're about ready to start reconstruction and we're hopeful that it will be finished by Christmas," he says. "When it's done, we'll continue to not only use it for our purposes but to lease it as well." "The church is a constant reminder of where we came from. I'm very thrilled that so many of our members want to see it restored." |
Reprinted from the Glouc. Co. Times, [date not avail] -written by Tery Schneider of the Gloucester County Times, Woodbury, NJWINSLOW TWP. - A 131-year-old piece of Williamstown's history was discovered unexpectedly Thursday when workers found a fruit jar embedded in the wall of the Sicklerville United Methodist Church. "I guess it was their version of our time capsule," said Gail Henry. Encased in the light green jar were coins dating back to 1841, a newspaper and hand-printed minutes of what appeared to be some kind of annual conference that was held at the Methodist Church. There was a mention of the upcoming curriculum for the Sunday school and clerical appointments in the paper dated before 1859, Henry said. But what was most remarkable about the discovery of the Williamstown jar and its contents was that if it wasn't for a fire at the church this year, it might have never been found. The fire damaged the church's already weakening foundation, Henry said. The church had to be lifted up and new foundation poured. In preparing for the new foundation, workers found the glass jar perched inside one of the church's cornerstones where it had been housed since the church was built in 1859. Henry said none of the congregation members knew the glass jar was embedded in the church walls. |
As workers
from the William E. Russell and Sons Building Moving Engineers Co. of Mullica Hill were
digging on Thursday, they noticed something sparkling in the sunlight. They stopped their
work and called Rev. Jerry Ruff, the church's pastor, over to the site. Ruff examined the glass jar and found that it had been made in Williamstown by the "Bodine Brothers". The markings on the 7-inch bottle clearly reads that the jar was made in Williamstown and that the company had a "patented glass lid on the air-tight fruit jar." What was found inside the jar appeared to be a little more weathered than the jar, Henry said. She said that they were worried about opening the newspaper that was dated 1859 because of its age. All that can be ascertained from the paper is its date and that it contained an article about Methodists. The coins that were found in the bottle also interested Henry. She said there was a 1841 United States penny that was bigger than a quarter and a thin coin that bore the name of the Bodine Brothers' store. Henry said she was going to call the local historical society to see what to do with the "extremely fragile" remnants of time long gone. She said she didn't know how to care for the historic treasurers because "now everything we have, we stick in plastic." |
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History of
Sicklerville United Methodist Church