The Immanuel Baptist Church on E. FM 150 in Kyle celebrated its 125th birthday this past Sunday. The church has deep roots in both the German and Hispanic communities of this area. (Photo by Wes Ferguson)
by WES FERGUSON
On a winter day in 1886, at a farmhouse east of Kyle, 16 German settlers gathered to form a church.
The body established by that long-ago meeting, now called Immanuel Baptist, celebrated its 125th anniversary this past Sunday. The church’s longevity is a testament to the enduring power of faith and family, but also of a willingness to evolve with the changing face of East Kyle.
That hasn’t always been the case. The Rev. Dennis Koger tells a story that shows just how small Immanuel Baptist Church used to be.
“Up until 10 years ago,” says Koger, who became the full-time pastor in 1999, “this really was a family church. Almost everybody was related to one another in some way.”
One day, Koger was talking to church Deacon Morris Schmeltekopf when – to his pastor’s surprise – the deacon addressed a fellow congregant not as uncle, aunt or cousin, but as mister.
“Hold it,” Koger recalls saying. “You mean there’s somebody in this church that you aren’t related to?”
The deacon thought for a moment.
“Yes,” he replied. “There is one man that I’m not kin to.”
A RICH HISTORY
Immanuel Baptist commemorated its anniversary on Sunday with singing, a youth drama, a report by a retiring missionary couple, and plates of barbecue, among other things. Outside, the sky was blue and rows of crops were growing in fields beside the church.
Following the service, an elderly woman sat in a floral dress and rested her feet. Emma Hill, 94, is Immanuel Baptist’s oldest and longest-attending member. When she moved to Kyle in 1939, she was a 21-year-old bride joining the church that her husband Adolph had grown up attending.
“This was a country church then,” she said. “Mostly German.”
Even in 1939, the church was old, already with a half century of history behind it. Those German settlers in 1886 had christened their congregation the First German Baptist Church of Kyle, and the church had quickly become a focal point of the local immigrant community. Worship services, weddings and funerals were all conducted in the native language, and at the advent of World War I, preachers were still delivering sermons in German.
Around the start of the war, however, two strangers delivered a grave message to the church, according to local lore. “I’ve heard tell,” said Koger, the pastor, “that a couple of FBI men came here and suggested strongly that the congregation begin to have services in English as opposed to German.”
The church complied. Hill can attest to that.
“No German has been spoken at church as long as I’ve been here,” she said.
Hill was a congregant of the First German Baptist Church when it burned in 1939 and was rebuilt with local stone two years later, at its present site on East FM 150. She was there as well when the name was changed to Immanuel Baptist, to buffer the church from anti-German sentiment during World War II.
Kyle’s German community dwindled after the Second World War. Changes in agricultural practices forced many young people to leave their family farms in search of education and jobs, and the church’s membership plummeted from a peak of 112 people in 1940 to only 46 members by 1967. An article appearing in the Hays County Citizen in 1976, based on a research paper by one-time congregant Minnie Knispel, resigns itself to the church’s eventual demise.
“One is overwhelmed with a feeling of sadness and loss when he contemplates what life will be like when the rural church has disappeared,” the article reads. “Every one will be deprived spiritually because there is no substitute for the experiences associated with a group of closely knit body of believers.”
Schmeltekopf, the deacon who was related to nearly everyone, died this past January. He was 68. Hill was his mother-in-law. She was asked if she ever spoke German anymore.
“Not very often,” she said.
CHURCH CHANGES
Today, one is far more likely to hear Spanish than German being spoken in the area surrounding Immanuel Baptist. At a pair of elementary and junior high school campuses next door to the church, in fact, 87 percent of the students are Hispanic.
Koger said church leaders had been discussing and praying about starting a Spanish-language ministry for years. One such ministry fell into their laps in October 2009. A small congregation of Hispanic Baptists was looking for a place to worship for a few months while they sought a more permanent home, and Immanuel Baptist agreed to let the group meet temporarily in the church’s fellowship hall, called the Christian Life Center. Four months later, the church designated the Hispanic group an official ministry of the church.
“We have separate services, but we do the Lord’s Supper together monthly,” Koger said. “We get preachers that preach bilingually, and that’s how we do joint services together. And that ain’t me.”
Church leaders have been keeping a sense of humor as they work to overcome language and cultural barriers. The pastor noted that he’s been trying to learn a few Spanish phrases but hasn’t gotten far beyond “buenos tardes” and “buenos días.” Church Deacon Don Howard said he’s also been trying to pick up a little Spanish.
“Their music is more spirited than ours, so we like that quite a bit. We Americans can be reserved at times,” Howard said. “We’re excited about the spiritual growth in the community. We’re excited also about the food.”
Howard, who is black, and his wife Veronica, who is Filipino, have been attending Immanuel Baptist for about three years.
“The church is branching off and going in all different directions with diversity,” he said. “Despite that it’s 125 years old, you can merge right in and come and feel comfortable right away. You don’t have to be German. You’ll still feel quite welcome.”
The Rev. Silverio Hernández leads the Hispanic ministry. The group began with about 20 people meeting for worship, he said, but the Sunday before last, more than 90 people attended Immanuel Baptist’s Spanish-language service.
“We are one people, one spirit, one God, one church,” Hernández said. “We believe in this church. There’s no Anglo, Hispanic, black, white, we are one people, one church.”
