The Sparta Christian Church

The Sparta Christian Church is the daughter of the New Liberty Christian Church. The minister there was Reverend J. T. Hawkins. In 1875 he came to Sparta and founded the new church. For the first five years the group met in the school house, then they built a one room frame building on the Owen County side of town. It was located within a few hundred yards of Eagle Creek so it was flooded several times. The church prospered, so in 1921 they began building on Gallatin County side of town a new brick building. The old building was then sold to a Holiness group who used the structure for a couple of years, after which it became the community auditorium.

Reverend W. J. Clark picked the site of the present building. There was a choice of places; one in the heart of the stores and shops, a plot with six inches clearance around the building and ground so marshy as to make a basement a problem; and a site given by the same donor, Mr. Carver, four doors down the street which has ample drainage, parking space, accessibility, and room for additional building. Our questionable far sighted church father chose the one with the greatest number of limitations.

This year the board has directed the drawing up of a constitution. As soon as the minister can get it typed it will set some guide lines for the congregation to lead themselves by.

It has been rumored that a new highway is coming through that will cause us to build a new church.

This history is from the files of the Bosworth Memorial Library at the Lexington Theological Seminary, and is used here through their kind cooperation.  There's a handwritten notation on the original that says the source of this piece is “church records - Mr. Joe Samuels.”