Our History:

     by Roland Matthis

Along about 1820 the so-called “Great Revival” was going strong in South-Eastern North Carolina. But there were a few people who weren’t buying its message.  They couldn’t conceive of a God who would purposely and knowingly condemn the larger portion of his creation to an eternity of torment. Influenced by itinerant preachers from New England they embraced the new idea called Universalism and began holding meetings at a little log meeting house at Red Hill.

          The Robinson and Ward families were among the leaders of this courageous group and six of their members were at Kenansville in June of 1827 to witness the first organization of Universalists in the South. Soon after, legend tells us, a majority of the Baptist congregation at Red Hill were converted to Universalism.  The Baptist minority withdrew and went down the road, building Mt. Gilead Church, leaving Red Hill to the Universalists.

          Professing an unswerving belief in a God of love and the ultimate salvation of all humankind, this valiant band experienced both periods of growth and times of decline. Served by several devoted and forceful preachers, they reorganized the church in 1845 and again in 1855 when they built a new church building. This one room frame structure housed the growing congregation until the present brick building was completed in 1954.

         The present church was organized in 1884 under the leadership of the Rev. D.B Clayton. Known as “Father Clayton” he was probably the most dynamic and influential Universalist evangelist ever produced in the South. He continued to preach at Red Hill and throughout the South until his death in 1906.  Another itinerant evangelist, by the name of Quinllan Shinn, was also a favorite at Red Hill.  It is a mark of the congregations’ willingness to embrace diversity of opinion and outlook, that the beloved father Clayton had served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War while Shinn, who many respected so much that their children were named after him, had fought for the Union. 

          The years following 1884 saw a period of growth in numbers of members and influence in the community. In spite of the great depression and two world wars, Red Hill continued to prosper. However, as farming methods changed and population shifted, membership began to decline leaving what historian Russell Miller has referred to as “a small but determined band”.

          Although small in comparison to our orthodox neighbors, Red Hill has had an enormous influence for good on its members, friends and the community.  This corner of the world is a better place due to this church which has aptly been called “an oasis of liberalism in a desert of orthodoxy.

 Read letter from Marshall Matthis to his Orthodox Church in 1875