Showers of blessings were on full display at New Harmony Presbyterian Church of Alcolu on Sunday, March 16, 2025.
Not only from Mother Nature and her downpours, but from the benevolence of supporters that gave toward our vision of spreading the Gospel in the form of a new fellowship hall.
While it was our intent to have a joyous groundbreaking, the clouds had other ideas.
However, even the torrents of rain couldn’t dampen our spirits for we just moved the festivities inside and celebrated this momentous occasion in our lovely Sanctuary.
A little history for perspective.
New Harmony Presbyterian church was established in 1879 in the Alcolu area by a group of worshippers that loved our Good Lord. They had an overwhelming desire to gather closer to where our families lived. Now, You must realize that their only form of transportation then was primarily by mule and wagon , horse and buggy.
Legend has it that this particular group of congregants left a church to the North of our present day location and traveled across the Tearcoat and Brewington swamps south to worship. However, after several incidents where the crossings were interrupted because of high water, they decided it was time to build something closer to home and not affected by the natural environs and its swollen egress; From that New Harmony was born.
In our 146 years of existence, we have had several editions.
The original land was donated by John Calhoun DuRant in 1879.
They built a large wooden sanctuary out of heart pine that I assume came from local sawed timber. Our area is rich with long leaf pine; a favorite wood product to build with.
A longleaf pine tree stump located within the exact footprint on the very site that our original sanctuary was built was so large that it couldn’t be removed. Therefore, it became one of the predominant pillars in which the church’s foundation was placed. It was actually an old “fat stump”; (fat light wood for the non country folks). It is still a part of the sanctuary’s undergirding to this day.
Our current fellowship hall, which has witnessed many delicious meals, Sunday School classes, wedding receptions, and even a few visits from Santa Claus was built in the early 60’s.
In the late 90’s New Harmony began to experience accelerated growth in our numbers and therefore plans for a new Sanctuary was initiated.
As plans progressed to expand to accommodate this growth, our dream for a new sanctuary became a reality in 2001.
Harry DuRant donated the land where this beautiful beacon of Grace sits today.
God has so richly blessed us; especially as of late. We felt it was time for another addition. By the leadership of Thomas DuRant (Chair) and many other committed members on the building committee, it was determined that a new fellowship hall would best suit our needs heading into the future. So after a few years of deliberation and design, we celebrated our vision in that new fellowship hall.
Our Pastor David Hart Sanders comments “Unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1.
“It is God who has provided for us so that we can build this addition to our campus. All praise and glory belongs to him.”
He goes on to say, “It is our prayer that this facility will be a place where true Christian fellowship takes place and where we can share time together in Christ. May we be faithful to his saving call.”
New Harmony’s mission statement “is to glorify God by winning the lost to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and to build up and equip believers to live holy lives in worship and service to our Lord.” We feel that by building this new addition and its potential gatherings will do just that and bring the mission statement to life.
Last word; If you are searching for a new church home, or you feel lost, or just want to gather with like minded believers, we here at New Harmony Presbyterian Church believe that you can find that here and you will certainly be a blessing to us.
May God bless you.
