Its cement facade is bright white, its grounds well-kept, and its inside modern and up-to-date, with gleaming stained glass windows that bathe its small congregation in sunshine on a Sunday afternoon.
Nothing about the appearance of the Eleanor Presbyterian Church hints at its age - 70 years old this year - but that's because of the people who love it. One of those people, Pastor John Yeager, came to love the old church only recently, after becoming its pastor in January. Yeager, who recently retired from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Huntington, said he first felt called to serve the church when he was 25. Decades later, when he became an "authorized lay preacher" and joined the Eleanor church, he said he felt "a profound sense of relief."
"This has been so much fun. It's been kind of like going back to college, in a way - I'm writing sermons at midnight, reading and writing 24/7," he said. "I don't think about the hours - I do whatever is in front of me, and leave the rest to God."
The church's start can be traced back to 1945, when 64 community residents petitioned the Kanawha Presbytery to establish a Presbyterian Church in Eleanor, a fairly new community created only years earlier through the federal homestead program championed by then-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. While the church got its start in 1945, its members were forced to meet in the nearby George Washington schoolhouse for the next eight years. Eleanor Presbyterian didn't have a permanent home until 1953, when the church that still stands in Eleanor today was completed.
The church building, which sits in Eleanor Circle, is a simple, square cement structure that bears a striking resemblance to many of the utilitarian homestead houses that dot the surrounding neighborhood. Yeager said he's convinced the architect who designed the houses, which were built in the 1930s and the 1940s, was likely commissioned to build the larger church. The church underwent renovations in 2005 - its painted Blenko glass windows, which were deteriorating, were replaced with new stained glass, and its interior was modernized.
"We were very fortunate to have work campers from Cherry Hill, New Jersey come for a week this summer - they weren't able to get the area just below the siding on the bell tower belfry, but they were able to get the rest of the church painted for us," said Yeager, who has worked with other church members to make sure the church's facade and grounds are well kept.
The church's members plan to celebrate its 70-year history on Sunday with a community-wide celebration following its normal worship service. The service starts at 11 a.m., and the celebration will be held from 12:30 to 3 p.m., with free food and live music from several local musicians, including bagpiper Brad Hooper, the "Joy-Us Trio," the Putnam Ringer Bell Choir and the Grace Community Band.
Judy Jeffries, who has attended Eleanor Presbyterian since 1968, said the church, which currently has between 10 and 20 members, has seen its congregation swell and wane over the years.
"It gains, it loses, it gains, it loses," she said. "When I first came to this church, I could count the people in it on two hands, and I was really surprised, because I grew up in South Charleston in the South Charleston Presbyterian Church, which at that time was very large church, but it has lost a lot of members, too. We gained, and then we lost again - I guess most churches do that, even if they're larger, on some scale."
Despite its size, Eleanor Presbyterian has managed to firmly establish itself in the surrounding community in recent years, thanks to a group of dedicated core members and partnerships with other churches in the valley. The church runs programs like its "snak-pak" program, which provides a weekend's worth of snacks for 26 low-income children at nearby George Washington Elementary School, and hosts several group meetings, including Alcoholics Anonymous and Weight Watchers, in its building. The church serves as the home of Cub Scout Pack 586 and Boy Scout Troop 164, and helps supply food for the Five Loaves and Two Fish Food Pantry in nearby Poca.
"We hope to be that inclusive church for the community," Yeager said. "When you're a minister or pastor in a small town, the boundaries kind of get fuzzy. There are a lot of churches where people are racehorses at the end of the service - they bolt out of there. That doesn't happen here - I can't get rid of them ... I saw that, and I said 'This is really like a family.'"
Both Yeager and Jeffries agree that the church's community involvement is central to its mission, informed by a line of scripture that has become its motto: "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
"It's our Christian mission," Jeffries said.
Reach Lydia Nuzum at lydia.nuzum@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @lydianuzum on Twitter.