The Jamestown Church of Christ will host Coming Home Service on Sept. 28-29 at 875 Fairmount Ave. in honor of the church’s 60th birthday. Submitted photo

After one failed attempt in the 1930s, the Church of Christ’s persistence to begin a congregation in Jamestown paid off in 1963.

Six decades later it’s time to celebrate.

The Jamestown Church of Christ, 875 Fairmount Ave., is turning 60 years old and is set to have some of the church’s founding members and family members speak this week. The event is free and open to the public.

The schedule includes:

– Saturday- breakfast at 8:30 a.m. followed by speaker Davion Currie at 9:30 a.m. After a coffee break at 10:30 a.m., speaker Larry Sweeney will offer thoughts followed by lunch at noon.

– Sunday, Charles Willaims will speak at 9:30 a.m. followed with worship with Sweeney at 10:30 a.m. and lunch at noon.

“Next Saturday and Sunday we’re hosting a Coming Home Service at the church,” said Randy Sweeney, part of the Jamestown Church of Christ’s leadership. “We are having Charles Williams, who is one of the three missionaries sent to Jamestown from Texas speak next week. Charles is now 96-years old.”

Sweeney explained that the Church of Christ denomination attempted to establish a church in the Jamestown area in 1934, but the church failed to take hold. However, missionaries from Texas attempted another church plant in January 1963 – and this one took hold.

“Norman Balies, 27 from Houston, James “Jimmy” Sheerer, 27 from Austin and Charles Williams, 34, I think, from Tomball, Texas, were the three missionaries that were sent to the Northeastern part of the U.S. to plant a church,” said Sweeney. “The Church of Christ is big in the South, but not nearly as big in the North. When I was a child we’d go to Bradford, Pa., to go to a Church of Christ because it was the closest body of believers. Unfortunately, Norman and Jimmy have passed away, but Norman’s two sons will be coming in his place and Jimmy’s three daughters will be coming, along with Charles’s three daughters.”

Sweeney also said the church is currently supporting Davion Currie, 33 from Buffalo, who is a student at Central Carolina School of Preaching and will also be a guest speaker at the two-day event.

According to britannica.com, the Church of Christ, is a conservative, Protestant, informal denomination, found chiefly in the United States. They are strongest in parts of the Midwest and in the western and southern parts of the country. Each church is known locally as a Church of Christ and its members as Christians, and each church is autonomous in government, with elders, deacons, and a minister or ministers. There is no organization beyond the local church in the denomination. In 1997 the group reported 1,800,000 members and 14,400 congregations in the United States and 8,000 members and 140 congregations in Canada. There are no officers or headquarters.

For more information visit jnycoc.com or call 716-664-4203