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=THE SARDINIA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH=

INTRODUCTION
The Sardinia United Methodist Church is located at 105 S. Main Street in Sardinia, Ohio (LINK) on Lot 28, 29, and 30. It is incorporated in the Washington Township and Eastern Local School District. The church offers a Sunday School service at 9:30am, proceeded by a full group Worship Service at 10:30 am. There are six classes of Sunday School; Their age ranges are: 0-5 (infants and kindergarten), 6-12 (1st-6th grade), 13-18 (7th-12th grade), 19-35, 36-50, 50 and up. This Sardinia Church has an average attendance of about 60 people. 

THE HISTORY
At the end of the eighteenth century, the part of Brown County that Sardinia occupies was in the Miami Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. All of the various groups or classes (not referred to as churches as this time) were visited by a circuit rider. These visits were usually very rare considering the circuit usually covered over one hundred miles. In 1802, Elisa Bowman, known for his sermons and revivals conducted in the Methodist groups, was sent to this circuit. In 1808, the White Oak Circuit was formed, with David Young as the first minister. Though this is the earliest record of the local Methodist groups, it is also said that Methodism was in the community from the time that families like the Hamiltons, Days, and Nevins settled in the area along the little stream south of Sardinia, known as the Slab Camp. It is thought to be the earliest church society organized in the Washington Township. Meetings were held in homes, especially that of Andrew Nevin. 

In 1829, the Methodist congregation and the Washington Township trustees together built a building. The building was used for a school, known as the Biehn School-house, as well as, a church and was located at the northeast corner of Fite-Hauck Road and Jordan Road. In 1840, Andrew Nevin donated an acre of land near Slab Camp Creek, between Staten Road and Fite-Hauck Road. Within the same year, a frame church was erected on this land, known as the Mount Caramel Methodist Episcopal Church. Worship was conducted for twenty years in the location where only the cemetery remains today. 

While all of this was happening, Sardinia had been surveyed and with its prosper, felt the need for a for a Methodist organization. In 1860, Huston Bare gave two lots (Lot 29 and 30) on South Main Street for the church, at which time the remaining lumber of the original Mount Caramel building was salvaged and moved down Slab Camp Creek to this new site to be rebuilt and refurbished. In 1883, with Rev. G. W. Fee as the pastor, Kerosene lamps provided the light and wood stoves provided the heat to the new building. The men of the church would get together on Saturday afternoons to cut enough wood for the services on Sunday. In 1900, the building was improved by the addition of a Sunday School room, choir lofts, new pews, new pulpit furniture, colored glass windows, and a steeple. A bell was purchased for $75 for the new steeple and is still the one that is in use today. It is approximated that the Estey organ was bought in the 1870’s or 1880’s and the piano was purchased by Class #4, when it was composed of a group of young girls taught by Mrs. Ella Purdy, around 1910. 

Throughout history, the church has been affiliated with numerous different churches. These churches include: Mt. Orab, Buford, Sugar Tree Ridge, Fincastle, and Fairfax. There was a time that all of these churches were in a circuit, with the Sardinia church, to form a five-point circuit. It is estimated that this time period was from 1929 to 1936, when the Fairfax church was transferred to the Seaman charge. In 1940, there was a kitchen added at the southwest corner. In 1944, the men’s class built a meeting room on the northeast corner of the church with entrances into both the sanctuary and the choir loft. In 1954, in response to a growing congregation, a 100’x40’ addition including three classrooms, a kitchen, restrooms and a large multipurpose room was built behind the sanctuary. These plans were drawn up by Jim Ellis, a young member of the congregation at that time. In 1968, The Evangelical United Brethren Church merged with the Methodist Church, creating the United Methodist Church. The former United Brethren Churches at Ketterman and Browntown were served by Sardinia’s pastor. Ketterman offered its church services until 2002 when it decided to offer Sunday School only. In 2002, the church bought the adjoining lot to the south for a parking, Lot 28, for $25,000. In 2005, the previously painted concrete annex floor was carpeted. Window unit air conditioners were installed in two windows in the sanctuary in summer of 2006. 

BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS
The Sardinia United Methodist Church celebrated its 200th birthday by invited former pastors to come back as guest speakers, each speaking on a different Sunday morning during the regular worship service hour. The church kicked off its bicentennial celebration on February 24, 2008 when Clarence Dinnen came to visit and speak. Reverend Clarence Dinnen served in the pulpit from 1966-1970. Reverend Paul McCullough was expected on April 27, 2008, but was unable to attend due to affiliations with his own church. McCullough preached at Sardinia from 1990-1992. The third previous pastor to arrive as a guest speaker was Reverend Douglas R. Flinn Sr. on May 18, 2008. Flinn served as pastor of the church from 1992-1995. Continuing with the celebration, Reverend Joseph Graham attended as a guest speaker on June 22, 2008. At a half-way point between returning pastors, nearly 50 members and friends of the Sardinia United Methodist Church took a trip to the Mt. Caramel Cemetery, the former site of the second building used for the church services in the 1840s and 1850s. Reverend Graham filled in as interim pastor in 2001 and 2004. Fifth in line was returning pastor Gregory L. Inboden on August 24, 2008. Reverend Inboden served at the Sardinia Methodist Church 1984-1990. Roger Hauck spoke to the congregation on September 14, 2008. Reverend Hauck was a member of the church until entering his career in ministry. The last pastors to visit were Kevin and Stephanie White on October 19, 2008. This team husband and wife pastured at the church, not just once, but twice. They served from December 1998-June 2001 and then again from June 2004-2007. To finish the bicentennial year of celebration, the Shawnee Valley District Superintendent, Reverend Joseph Bishman, attended as a guest speaker on November 16, 2008. He not only brought the worship hour message for the day, but he also presented a children’s message. What a year of bicentennial celebration events!