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On Saturday September 12 we will have a Barbecue followed by a concert featuring Dafydd Edwards and his daughters from Wales. Tickets for the barbecue on September 12 will cost $5 and will be available from members of the anniversary committee. On Sunday September 13 we will have special music from John Bart jones on his trumpet, a bell choir reunion under the direction of Bartie Jones, special music from guests from Wales, and a special children's sermon from story teller Betsy Jones Hayba.

St David's Day and 150 Years of Ministry Celebration:
Come, Celebrate the Journey!

Salem Presbyterian Church USA, Venedocia Ohio
Sunday, March 1, 1998

Program booklet cover

Worship service

Pastor Rev. Wendy Pratt

Organ Prelude Carol
Toccata "St. David’s Day"
Land of Our Birth -R. Vaughn Williams
Lighting of the Candles
Introit Cwm Rhondda Youth Bells

Call to Worship Psalm 91:1-2, 9-10
*Hymn Come Sing, O Church, in Joy

*Prayer of Confession
Loving God, we confess that there are times when we take for granted the rich heritage with which you have blessed us. There are times when we become so wrapped up in the challenges of today that we forget the hope we receive by your presence with us through the challenges that have been a part of our history. Help us to celebrate your presence with us in our history, and to trust you for our future. We pray through Christ, our Hope and our Redeemer. Amen.

*Assurance of Pardon
*Response Pen Y Bryn 46 vs. 1

Concerns of the Church
Prayers of the Church - Lord’s Prayer

Special Music God Is Love David Owens and Doris Price
Old Testament Lesson Deuteronomy 26:1-11 pg. 180
New Testament Lesson Hebrews 12:1-2 pg. 1097

Junior Choir Y Milwr Bach
Moments with the Children

*Hymn Blodwen 60 (Introduction by Youth Bell Choir)

Sermon Come, Celebrate the Journey! Rev. Wendy S. Pratt

Offertory Clychau Aberdyfi (The Bells of Aberdovey) Ushers will receive the offering
*Response Praise God inside front cover
*Prayer of Dedication

*Hymn Cwm Rhondda 40
*Charge and Benediction
*Taking the Light into the World

*Bell Amen Cwm Rhondda Youth Bell Choir
Organ Postlude Thy Word Is a Light Unto My Feet by Haydn Morgan
*Those who are able are invited to stand

Welsh Folk Stories and Songs

To be born Welsh is to be born privileged, not with a silver spoon in your mouth, but with music in your blood and poetry in your soul. -Old Welsh Proverb

To have Welsh ancestry is to have music in your soul, poetry in your blood, Welsh roots in your heart, and God in your life. -Rev. E. Joe Richards

Junior Choir Dring Y Fyny
Introductory comments Rev. Wendy Pratt

Poetry
Folk Story The Three Bits of Advice Marian Morris
Bell Anthem All Through the Night Women’s Bells

God
Story of St. David Rex Lloyd Hymn ‘Rwy’n Canu 65
A Memory Rev. Wendy Pratt

Music
Quartet Venedocia
music by Daniel Protheroe,
words by Rev. Edward Roberts, pastor of Salem and Zion Churches 1895-1913
Sharing

Welsh Roots
Hymn Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau X (Chorus in Welsh last time)
Grace Eric Pugh

Salem Presbyterian Church traces its beginnings to April of 1848, when the William Bebb family, the Richard Jervis family, and the Thomas Morris family arrived in the wilderness of Van Wert County to build new lives. From their first Sunday here, they gathered together for worship, for study, and for prayer. By 1854 they had their first building, and a pastor, the Rev. Hugh Pugh. In 1866 they built their second building, and by 1897 were raising money and making plans to build this, their third building, which was dedicated in October 15-16, 1898.

Salem Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church, as it was known until the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists merged with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) in 1920, planted three other congregations in the area, Zion, Horeb, and Bethel. All have since rejoined Salem Church.

Throughout this year we will be celebrating our rich heritage. We hope you will join us in giving thanks for the blessings of the past as we prepare to enter a new millenium.

Evan Joe Richards was born on the the Richards’ farm one and a half mile east of Venedocia in 1929 to Howard and Edith Richards. His grandparents were John Mills and Mary Ellyn Davies Richards. Along with his siblings, Donald, Marian and twin sister JoAnn, his early years were spent on the farm, at Jennings school, Spencerville High School, and Salem Presbyterian Church.

After graduating from high school, Joe attended Bluffton College, graduating from Bluffton in 1952. It was there that he met his wife, Emma. He attended McCormick Seminary and later graduated from Goshen Biblical Seminary. Following seminary he, Emma and their infant son Evan went to Japan under the Mennonite Board of Missions. They served there as church planters and teachers for twelve years.

Returning to the States in 1966, Joe graduated with a mater’s degree in public school administration in 1968. They moved to Lombard, IL where Joe co-pastored Lombard Mennonite Church and also worked as a public school principal in Glen Ellyn, IL. Upon retiring from his principalship and pastorate, he served a term as bishop-pastor of the Illinois Mennonite Conference.

In the summer of 1996, he and Emma retired and moved to 1502 Brookfield Court, Goshen, Indiana. They are the parents of Evan Richards, Kathryn Beckwith, and Lois Woods and the grandparents of Linea and Davis Richards, Micah, Daniel, Rebekah and David Jon Beckwith, and Naomi, Annalea, and Rachael Woods.

During those early years of growing up in Salem Presbyterian Church, the church had a pronounced influence on Joe’s life! It was Sunday School, Christian Endeavor, Saturday Juniors, Youth Fellowship and the guidance and mentoring of Rev. Jerry Johnson that set Joe in the direction of hearing God’s call for the mission field and the Christian ministry. Rev. Ellis Lloyd and wife Betty also had a sustaining "home" influence on Joe while in mission work in Japan and as a Mennonite pastor in Lombard, IL.

"I feel my life and life’s work were forged on the anvil of love, concern and mentoring of so many that were in the Venedocia Salem Church community. It was and is those persons who take an extra minute to give an encouraging word to a little kid, to teach a child’s SS class, to show interest in a person and to encourage a person in the "faith" that makes a difference. After 44 years of ministering in the name of Christ away from my Welsh roots of Venedocia, it is in the Venedocia Salem Church community and among the saints of that community that I wish to rest some day."

The anniversary committee
Donald Richards, Chairman
Jean Owens, Secretary and Publicity
Carolyn Girod, Publicity
Kathy McCollow, Music Coordinator
Marvin Evans, Haydn Lloyd, and Marian Morris, Historical Displays
Audrey Burnett, Social Events
David Hugh Evans and Wendy Pratt, Historians