wfn.org | Historic Chapel reopens

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3323 notes).

Note 3323 by UMNS on Dec. 4, 1996 at 16:55 Eastern (1904 characters).

SEARCH: Barratt Chapel, Methodism, McClain, American, celebration
 Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency
of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn.,
New York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                          611(10-31-71B){3323}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              Dec. 4, 1996

Historic American Methodist
Barratt Chapel restored

                 by United Methodist News Service

     Barratt Chapel, the cradle of American Methodism, recently
was reopened after four months of restoration.  The one-room brick
church, located in Frederica, Del., was the site a historic
meeting in 1784 of Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury, the fathers of
American Methodism.
     It was at Barratt Chapel 212 years ago that the sacraments of
communion and baptism first were administered by ordained
Methodist clergy. On the same day, Coke, the personal
representative of John Wesley, met with Asbury, leader of the
Methodist movement in America and together they formed plans for a
meeting of Methodist preachers in Baltimore on Christmas Day 1784.
At that "Christmas Conference" the Methodist Episcopal Church was
formally organized.
     Barratt Chapel, built in 1780, is the oldest house of worship
in the United States built solely for and by Methodists. It has a
place on the Historic American Building Survey and on the National
Register of Historic Places. Its weather-beaten condition required
renovation.
     With walls pulling away from the roof, engineers had warned
people not to enter the building, particularly during high winds. 
Contractors now have the chapel "standing stonger than ever after
a four-month facelift," said the Rev. Mark Pruett-Barnett,
chairman of the Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference Commission on
Archives and History.
     
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