On any given Saturday, Owen Chapel Church of Christ’s divided pews are filled with people filled with joy. On Sundays, the number sitting in those pews is more like 30, but the joy is there nevertheless.

Today the small, historic church brings in more of a crowd, and much of its budget, as a popular wedding chapel. But those who still worship there as members are as steadfast in the love of the church as the small congregation that started in a log cabin 150 years ago this year.

On Sunday, the Owen Chapel Homecoming and Anniversary Celebration will bring back many who have helped shape it through the years. A tent has been set up adjacent to the Franklin Road chapel just for the event.

A meet and greet is planned from 9:30 to 10 a.m., followed by a service that includes several speakers, including Dr. L. Randolph Lowry, president of Lipscomb University. The university’s founder, David Lipscomb, was one of Owen Chapel’s first leaders. His brother William Lipscomb – who founded nearby Lipscomb School in 1866 -- also served the church.

There will be several hymn leaders. Dinner on the grounds will follow.

Mike and Phyllis Sullivan joined Owen Chapel two years ago, after Mike’s job transferred him to Tennessee.

“The very first time we visited we were met by so many people who were so real, we knew we had found a new home,” Phyllis Sullivan recalls. “Immediately we had a family.”

The people embraced the Sullivans first, but they were soon enchanted with the church’s heritage as well.

“It’s so full of history, tradition and the spirit of the early church,” she said. “It’s perfect for us.”

The anniversary also marks a time of transition for the church, as their part-time minister Perry C. Cotham, a well-respected author and teacher, retires. Member Keith Crow is expected to step in as full-time leader and teacher.

Huff hoped to make a difference
Another member still fairly new to the church but no stranger to Brentwood is Glenn Huff, who owned Huff’s Grocery in Brentwood for 44 years. Glenn and his wife, Honor Allen Huff, first visited Owen Chapel about 15 years ago.

He said they were struck by how few people were there but says they felt right at home. “I thought they needed me,” he said. “I thought I could make a difference.

“There’s a lot of love in that congregation of about 30 people. They have enough love for 300 people.”

When his wife of 66 years passed away in 2008, members of the church served as honorary pallbearers.

City Commissioner and Historic Commission member Anne Dunn hopes to attend Sunday’s celebration. “It’s so gratifying to see a congregation remain together and in one place that many years. I congratulate them.”

According to Vance Little’s The History of Brentwood and other historic records, Owen Chapel Church of Christ was organized July 24, 1859, and got its start in a log cabin where congregants continued to worship throughout the Civil War. The present brick building was completed in 1867. Neighbor James C. Owen donated the land where it stands and the clay used to make the bricks came from his property.

“Church records indicate that at least twice during the Civil War, Sunday services were canceled because Yankees were ‘foraging in the area’” Little wrote in his book. According to the church’s website, “Construction continued while the battles of Franklin and Nashville were waged. It is said that the workers never stopped working despite the shells and battles surrounding them.”

Like many churches of its time, the church was designed with two doors – the left for the men and the right for the women and children. Inside, a wooden partition divided the pews for the respective sexes as well. The tradition remained until 1945 when parishioner Earl Alexander came home from World War II and declared no custom was going to stop his wife from sitting next to him.

The doors, original to the church, were recently removed, refinished, repainted and rehung just in time for the celebration, Sullivan said.

For information on the church, visit its website at www.owenchapel.org.