Hidden away in a wooded area off Tallassee Road in Jackson County stands New Prospect Church, a United Methodist Church that has ties back to the late 1700s.
New Prospect is a newer entity that was formed out of a merger between Resurrection UMC and Prospect Church in 2019, but the church remains in the historic Prospect Church sanctuary.
Records point to a wedding being conducted at Prospect Church by Rev. James Tinsley in 1788, according to Historic Rural Churches of Georgia. For context, 1788 was just five years after the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, and eight years before Jackson County was formed in 1796.
According to documents held by the Jackson County Historical Society, New Prospect’s current sanctuary was built in 1890, but this is the third church building on the location on Prospect Church Road. The documents state that the church started under a brush arbor, and the first building was likely Fort Strong. In 1834, an act was passed to create Prospect Academy, which would become the church’s second building, and a local school.
In a letter written April 3, 1976, by Prospect Church member Presley Leon Duncan, Duncan wrote about being a young child and watching the current sanctuary being built while in school at Prospect Academy.
“After the church building was completed, it was always filled with people and the yard was jammed with horses, wagons and buggies,” Duncan wrote.
Melissa Shepherd, counselor and administrative coordinator at New Prospect, said she feels the history of the church brings a distinct feeling along with it.
“I think it just really brings a real reverence and a place for people to be impacted spiritually, and even to know the history and just think about people who have come through here and had part of their spiritual journey here,” Shepherd said.
Without even stepping foot in the building, that reverent and historic feeling was also evident for Hoke Howard, leadership chair at New Prospect.
“I grew up in the catholic school system, and part of our school day would start with singing Christian songs,” Howard said. “Church in the Wildwood is always a song that stuck with me. As I drove through in this front little road here and into where the cemetery is, that song just came to me. The setting here is just beautiful.”
After driving past a few homes on Prospect Church Road, the church and associated cemetery come into view in a large clearing, like something out of a Hallmark movie.
“Every season is beautiful, in the spring, the fall, and if we get a snow you feel like you’re driving into a Christmas card,” Shirley Fouche, a member of New Prospect’s leadership team, said.
The exterior of the sanctuary itself is pure white with red front doors, while the interior contains traditional pews with newly renewed hardwood floors.
“When guys go under the church to work on it over the years … one of the same things they have all said was that you can tell by looking at the beams, the joists underneath the church that it’s old,” Mike Fouche, chair of the Board of Trustees at New Prospect, said.
The cemetery is quite historic as well, with the oldest grave belonging to Coday Fowler, Sr. Fowler was born in 1771 and died in 1852, according to his gravestone. Historic Rural Churches of Georgia said Fowler was one of the founders of the church.
Present-day New Prospect Church
About 30 to 40 people show up every Sunday for worship at New Prospect, according to Pastor Tom Atkins.
However, according to Mike Fouche, Prospect Church’s congregation had started to shrink in size prior to the 2019 merger. He has been a part of Prospect Church’s congregation since the late 1970s.
“We were getting to a point where we were considering closing,” Mike Fouche said. “I think it was kind of providential that this worked out. I think that was just god ordained that we all came together.”
Atkins said the congregation consists of a diverse group of people, which is unusual for smaller churches in the area.
“A lot of our folks have been through rehab, drugs and alcohol, but almost every small church I know of is a family church. Everybody’s related to someone else, but that’s not true here,” Atkins said.
Atkins said another unique factor about New Prospect is the presence of Melissa Shepherd, who is a clinical mental health counselor with Tapestry of Life Counseling and Consulting.
“To have a professionally trained counselor is just unusual for a small church. I’ve never heard of one having a counseling center like we have got, so It’s been a big help to the community I think,” Atkins said.
Aside from offering counseling services, New Prospect also offers a jail ministry. Atkins said one member of the church who spent time in jail is now preaching in jails in the community.
“This is like no other church that I’ve ever been in,” Howard said. “It is like a family. It’s more like a home church in a way … we all know each other, we know each other’s story, which truly makes it neat.”
For those interested in attending New Prospect, Sunday school is held at 9:45 a.m. and Sunday worship is held at 10:45 a.m. at the church off Tallassee Road.
