Written by Mrs. Era Hiers Rice and Homer J. Eldridge
September 9, 1996
Sardis Primitive Baptist Church, Colquitt County Georgia, is the second oldest church in Colquitt County and one of the oldest institutions in the county, having been constituted on July 26, 1834 by a little group from Bethel Primitive Baptist Church, Brooks County Georgia. The church is located about ten and a half miles south of Moultrie on Indian Creek just three-quarters of a mile east of the Spence Field Highway (route 133). The first annual meeting held at Sardis on August 21, 1835 shows it to be in Lowndes County. And it was, for prior to 1825 Colquitt County and several surrounding counties were all in Irwin County.
A brief on history will allow us to understand the feelings and beliefs of our forefathers in the Primitive Baptist Church. The Pilgrim Fathers left England so they might have freedom of worship and settled in New England in 1620. They were very strict in their morals as well as their religion. They were also called Protestants because they protested against the Roman Catholic Church. They felt that there was too much pomp and ceremony in the Catholic worship and they wanted to purify the church, and thus were called Puritans. Failing to do so, they wandered over to Holland, then to America, thus receiving the name Pilgrims because of their wanderings. They built their churches with only the basic necessities - benches to sit on, a pulpit, and a table on which the clerk wrote the minutes. The ones who came to the deep south called themselves Primitive Baptist. They both adhered to the Calvinist doctrine which emphasizes the doctrine of predestination and salvation solely by God's grace. Both believed in a strict moral code.
The Primitive Baptist migrated into the South from the Carolinas and Virginia and were considered trailblazers. The one thing that all carried, no doubt, was the family Bible. They could not see facing the possible dangers that might lurk ahead without the hand of the Almighty Father to guide and protect them. The churches have always been built plain and simple with no displays of ornaments or pomp to show within the church or on the building itself. Mostly, the membership is plain, simple folk with a strong belief in their God and his omnipotent powers. Their word was their bond and normally they did as they said they would. It is said that during the depression a Primitive Baptist could borrow more money on his word than most others could borrow with collateral. The Primitive Baptist have been called many names throughout the years but some of the most notable are: "Hardshells", "Dunkers", "Footwashers", "Part-time Christians", and "Anti-Baptist". During the Civil War they were noted as "Footwashers" and also noted to be very truthful people. It has been written that during the war the Union soldiers would say of the Southern people that, "there is no truth to be found except among the Footwashers".
The Primitive Baptist, as well as the other denominations, have members that get out of line with the Church or others members but they normally take care of these matters promptly and without a lot of fanfare. All matters are taken care of in conference with the pastor being the moderator and a male member being the clerk. Each matter is acted upon and voted on separately with a move, a second and each member present voting or stating the reason for not voting. Matters of serious nature will call for withdrawal of followship from all the members and will remain this way until the problem has been rectified.
In the earlier years the Churches were very plain and simple with uncovered wooden benches. There was a very plain pulpit and the only other piece of furniture, other than the benches, was a table in front of the pulpit that was used for conference and also the place where the donations were placed. Offering plates were not passed around for collection; therefore, each person desiring to donate money takes an offering and places it in the designated place for either the preachers or the church treasury. The windows were covered with wooden shutters and normally opened during services unless weather did not permit. There were no electric lights and no inside plumbing until the nineteen fifties. The current Sardis Church was built in 1957 and to our dismay, the old church was torn down. Our inside plumbing was added later and even then some of the older members were not pleased with putting "toilets" inside the church.
The current church is located across the road from the original and second church and has a few more frills than the old one did. It is a plain white concrete block building with nothing on the outside except a plaque identifying when it was built and when the church was constituted. There are no musical instruments in the church and the song books do not have notes. The church has been holding continuous services since July 26, 1834 and these services are held once a month on the forth Sunday and the Saturday before each month. The pastor normally serves more than one church so there are worship services each Saturday and Sunday. Years ago the services would actually last all day and the visitors would go home with the members and spend the night. The children would have the pallets and the adults would use the beds. The only mode of transportation was horse (mule) and wagon so it would take the family a long time to get to a church. Sometimes at least three or four preachers would preach and some of them were long winded; and, there were those that just liked to hear themselves talk. Today it is customary for the members to bring dinner to the church social hall and everyone eats and socializes after preaching thus giving everyone a chance to speak to each other. Prior to dinner being brought to the church, the members would take the visitors home with them and everyone would spend the night and go to church the next day. Many times the men would sleep in the barns or whatever and the women and children would stay in the house.
Each church sets aside a weekend that it entertains all the other churches and this occasion is called Annual Meeting or "Big Meeting". This meeting normally starts on Friday or Friday night and lasts Saturday and Sunday. On Friday night the church takes care of its own business, and Saturday is the correspondence day for all the visiting churches; and, Sunday is set-a-side for Communion and foot washing.
Following the preaching service, an intermission is given to the congregation to assemble in the social hall for lunch. Everyone, especially the visitors, are invited to lunch, which is provided by the members. When all have eaten, the singing of a song summons them back into the sanctuary (church) for communion, the major role of which is the washing of feet of all the members.
A deacon's wife normally bakes the unleavened bread and the wine is provided by a member. Bread has no salt nor rising flour because Jesus needed no assistance to do whatever he did. Since the bread represents the body of Christ, it has no additives. The wine is made from fermented grapes and is the only wine used in their services. Since this represents the blood of Jesus, there are no additives to the wine but pure wine only. The preachers observe the ordinances and the deacons serve all the other members and those visiting of the same Faith and Order. The women and men are separated for the services and do not wash feet together. The participants pair off with the one they wish to wash feet with and this way everyone is able to wash feet. It there is an odd brother or sister, then this is taken care of by a volunteer washing this person's feet. After the services are over, a song is sung by everyone and they walk out of the church.
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