Religious History of Brownwood - Research Paper Example

The town’s population is 20,407 according to census of 2000.It has been classified as a micropolitan statistical area. Brownwood town is basically a religious homogenous town with almost all the population being Christian in nature. Among Christians the majority of the population is Baptist. Some number of Catholics and Methodists are also present in the town but there combined percentage is less than 10% of the population (Sperling, 2010) Timeline of Religious History The religious history of Brownwood is almost the same as the history of Baptist in Texas.

As majority of the population is the follower of baptism; there have been very few conflicts amongst the population. Catholics and other Christians have normally lived in harmony with the Baptist population of the town. The Christian church of Brownwood, Texas was organized for the first time in the Brown County Courthouse. (Cox, 1968) This event took place in 1887.The initial meeting was attended by 23 members who carried out the meeting in Central School Building on Center Ave. The first building of Baptist church was built in 1899.

This building was built on Fisk Avenue next to the Depot street. This building was just a basic structure and was made of rock construction. In 1906 a tabernacle was built adjoining the church. This was used for various religious and non-religious meetings. It soon became the centre for All the religious meetings which took place in the city and were the centre for various debates over the next few years. Many religious debates took place from this place. It was also used by the ministers of the church to solve complaints of the citizens of the church.

The ministers were consulted on an often basis by the people in order to solve their issues. On June 18th 1912 the first Christian church of Brownwood came into being. It was initially called as the “Church of Christ of Brownwood, Texas.” This can be said to be the beginning of the Baptist churches in Brownwood.C.E Moore was an important figure in the Baptist history of Brownwood. He was the 10th full time minister of the first Christian church. His ministry was responsible for collecting funds for starting the construction of a new building on Centre Ave and Whaley street .

Many people from Brownwood contributed funds for the construction of the church. The people from town of Earl also contributed funds for the church.C.E. Moore was the father of Emma “Moore” Easley. He has been member of the Baptist church for 65 years. In 1927 the Christian church on the center and Whaley street was completed .It was a two storey building and also had a basement. The present name of the church was made “Disciples of Christ”. The first floor of this building was made into an auditorium.

It had a seating capacity of 250 and became the centre of religious teachings. In this building there was also a banquet hall which was used as a Sunday school. The Sunday school had a capacity of teaching 300 students at a time. The basement was converted by the church into a fellowship hall which had a capacity of about 150.This is just one of the various ways in which church was an integral part of the Brownwood society. Church has never been just a place of worship for the people of Brownwood – it has been a place for interaction among the committee members.

The Baptist church of Brownwood has been always involved in education of the children. The society of Brownwood is