1C Church in South Jacksonville celebrates 60 years of worship, community
By Ben Cox
First Christian Church in South Jacksonville is celebrating six decades of ministry and service to the Jacksonville area with a 60th anniversary celebration Sunday, September 13.
The church will mark the anniversary during its regular services at 2106 S. Main St., followed by a community celebration at Nichols Park.
The anniversary marks 60 years since a small group of Jacksonville-area Christians began working to establish a New Testament church — an effort that grew from 12 people attending its first official service to a congregation that today averages about 1,100 people each week.
The congregation’s origins date to January 1, 1966, when minister Ron Bottens organized a men’s meeting in Springfield to explore establishing a new church in Jacksonville. Bottens, Don Waggener, Lloyd Dildine, Don Hatfield, Merrall Franklin, George Orme and Merrill Cruzan formed a committee to determine whether there was a need for a new congregation.
The effort came during a period of change for American Christianity, when traditional religious institutions were confronting questions about faith and modern society. The national conversation was reflected in Time magazine’s April 1966 cover, “Is God Dead?”
Locally, however, a new congregation was taking shape.
The first public meeting was held February 13, 1966, at the Jacksonville YMCA and drew about 50 people. The group later secured the former Grand Army of the Republic Hall on West Morgan Street, then being used as a union hall by Capps ACWA.
The congregation’s first official service there was June 5, 1966. Twelve people attended.
By November, the congregation had purchased a building at 713 North Clay Avenue. Members soon looked south, voting in September 1967 to purchase property at 508 W. Vandalia Rd. in South Jacksonville. Groundbreaking took place in May 1968, and the congregation moved into the completed building February 2, 1969. An addition providing office, education and fellowship space opened in 1977.
J Allan Cook became minister in 1983 and would become the longest-serving pastor in the church’s history, remaining in the position until his retirement in 2020.
Cook’s daughter, Misty Rowe, now serves as executive pastor. She was four when her family moved to Jacksonville. She joined the church staff in 2013.
Lead Pastor Shane Allen began a two-and-a-half-year transition with Cook in June 2017. By 2018, they were splitting preaching duties evenly.
“The church, in my opinion, was really wise,” Allen said. “It’s hard to follow a legend, and J is definitely a legend.”
Allen said the gradual transition gave the congregation time to become comfortable with new leadership and gave him time to earn its trust before he formally became lead pastor in 2020.
Long before that transition, the church had begun preparing for another major change.
In June 2007, First Christian purchased property at 2106 South Main Street with the possibility that it might eventually outgrow its Vandalia Road location.
Rowe said some members favored building while others believed the church could remain on Vandalia Road and add services as attendance increased. The land purchase nevertheless put the congregation in position when circumstances suddenly changed.
On November 29, 2010, a devastating fire that began in the baptistry destroyed the Vandalia Road church.
The congregation worshiped temporarily at Turner Junior High School — now Jacksonville Middle School — and the Jacksonville High School Auditorium. Beginning in April 2011, Grace United Methodist Church also opened its doors to First Christian.
“They were so gracious to host us,” Rowe said. “They are actually the ones who reached out to us, and they even moved their service times to accommodate us.”
Allen said Grace’s assistance remains an important part of First Christian’s story.
“I feel like that legacy lives on because without them hosting our church, we wouldn’t have … opened up for sure as strong as what we did in 2013,” he said.
A three-year capital campaign launched in early 2012 helped pave the way for the church’s $4.6 million South Main Street facility, which originally contained approximately 42,000 square feet. The congregation moved into the building in August 2013, and additional space was added in 2019.
The church’s steady growth has come during an era when many churches nationally have struggled with declining participation. Allen credits First Christian’s children’s programming, music, practical teaching and emphasis on building smaller communities within a large congregation.
“The message has never changed, but the methods have,” Allen said. “Church today does not look the same way that it did whenever the church was in the 1980s or ’90s over on Vandalia.”
More than 500 people are involved in the church’s life groups.
“We’ve done a good job of getting smaller with the life groups,” Allen said. “We’ve made it easy for people to find a community with.”
Rowe said the groups give people a support network during difficulties involving family, marriage and other parts of life.
“There are so many broken people, so many hurting people who don’t have somebody else to come alongside them and pray for them,” she said. “That’s what life groups are.” The life groups, which meet in individualized “living rooms,” have about 500 people in regular attendance each week.
The congregation also is looking beyond its 60th anniversary. On June 1, 2026, members approved purchasing properties at 2034 and 2036 South Main Street immediately north of the church.
Allen said there are no immediate development plans, but the land could provide future opportunities for parking, expansion or another building.
“Maybe we’ll never develop that land, but the people that start to lead this church after we’re done, they might need it,” Allen said. “We felt like this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we didn’t want to miss it.”
As the congregation reaches 60 years, Allen and Rowe say they also want people who may have fallen away from church — or who may be intimidated by a congregation of First Christian’s size — to know what they believe distinguishes it.
“One of the best compliments that we get for our church is people say it’s not what they expect,” Allen said. “They come into it thinking it’s a large church, it’s going to be overwhelming, and then they’re always shocked how many people that they recognize and they know and how welcome they feel.”
Rowe said the congregation includes people from many denominational backgrounds while trying to remain modern and relatable without changing its core message.
Allen says it all comes down to one simple thing, “What I love about our church is we’re a whole bunch of imperfect people who desperately need Jesus. Nobody feels like they’ve got it all together. I think that’s one of the great things about our church — everybody’s welcome because we’re all imperfect.”
First Christian Church will celebrate its 60th anniversary Sunday, September 13, starting at 11:45 a.m. during worship services, followed by a community celebration at Nichols Park.
**Portions of the historical information in this article were provided by 1C Lead Pastor Shane Allen, 1C Executive Pastor Misty Rowe and drawn from past issues of the Jacksonville Journal-Courier with assistance from Greg Olson and Chad Boehlke.
