Smith Creek United Methodist Church (UMC) will celebrate its 175th anniversary Saturday and Sunday Sept. 9-10. Smith Creek UMC is located at 19337 State Highway U in rural Warrenton.The anniversary celebration begins at 4 p.m. Saturday on the church grounds. Former pastors and people who grew up in the rural church are invited to attend. The Saturday celebration will include activities for children, hamburgers and hot dogs and a bluegrass band.On Sunday the worship service will begin at 10:30 a.m., followed by a carry-in dinner. The church will provide fried chicken. A hymn sing of old and new songs will be part of the service. Missouri United Methodist Church Bishop Robert Farr will be the featured speaker.According to a history of the church written by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Schroeder, two Methodist ministers came to the Smith Creek area in 1842 with the plan to start a church for the German immigrants who settled there.Circuit rider, the Rev. John Schwalen, and church elder, the Rev. L.S. Jacoby, planted the seeds for three churches that were begun in the area — Marthasville, Hopewell and Smith Creek.The original log chapel for Smith Creek Church was located on the Habsmeyer farm (now the Schroeder farm) and completed in 1845 and was called Bethel (house of God) Church. The current church building was erected in 1888.Alvin Brandt said his great-grandparents attended the church and his grandfather was a teenager when the current building was erected.His wife Elaine has been the church organist for nearly 50 years, a duty which she says is her ministry. The white church with its towering steeple can be seen from the Brandt farm.“We are a giving church,” said Alvin Brandt.“We support a mission team to Kentucky every year with our apple butter sales. We collect food boxes, school supplies and support Agape Ministries.”The current pastor is the Rev. Rudy Pulido who drives 140 miles round trip from St. Louis to lead the Smith Creek congregation each Sunday.“They are a remarkable group of people who hang on to their traditions but they are also forward-looking in preparation for what the Lord might be bringing their way in the future,” he said. “I’m a blessed person for being there.”Pulido said the church faces the challenge of once being located in a thriving farming community that “has moved away from it.” Generations have left the farms and the population has drastically decreased.He sees a great future for Smith Creek though.“There is no spirit of defeat in that congregation,” he said.For more information about the 175th anniversary celebration, contact Alvin Brandt at 636-932-4429.

Smith Creek United Methodist Church will celebrate its 175th anniversary Sept. 9-10 on the church grounds. A homecoming celebration will be the theme of the weekend. A fellowship will begin Saturday at 4 p.m. with activities for the children, food and music. A special worship service will take place Sunday beginning at 10:30 a.m. Record photo/ Cindy Gladden.