First Pastorate
From the 1710 Presbytery minutes we know that two separate groups of Welsh Presbyterians had formed a united congregation, one body living in the Welsh Tract in Pennsylvania and the other in Delaware at Pencader. These churches were among the twelve organized prior to 1770.
David Evans was an elder, probably having been ordained in Wales. He preached to both these congregations but the Presbytery refused to ordain him until he had received further theological training. In 1713 he graduated from Yale College in a class of three. Soon after his graduation, Rev. Evans received a call from the church in Delaware, which he accepted, and was ordained in 1714. He has the distinction of being the first candidate for the ministry taken under the care of any Presbytery in our land. He was also the first man ordained to the Christian ministry in this country, according to a brief history of the church published by Dr. Arthur Willis Spooner, the minister at Great Valley a hundred years later.
The people at Great Valley did not unite with the Delaware Church in that call. They were authorized by the Presbytery to form themselves into a separate and distinct body.
Apparently discouraged by the long wait for Mr. Evans, the Great Valley congregation was by then enjoying the ministering of Rev. Malachi Jones who preached to them “as occasional supply in private homes and in the woods.” It was “by his labors” and under the authorization from the Presbytery that “ they were induced to the form of a congregation, constituted to worship God according to His Word, and for this purpose bound themselves by a written compact dated the 10th day of October, 1714.”
 During the six years following the formal organization of the church, it was without a pastor and depended upon the Presbytery for pulpit supply, of whom Rev. Malachi Jones was the most frequent. Then, in 1720 trouble arose in the Delaware congregation, which led to the dissolution of its pastoral relationship with the Rev. David Evans, who was then called to Great Valley which grew considerably under his ministry.
Around that time Upper Octorara Presbyterian Church of Parkesburg was connected with Great Valley Church, for in 1721, Rev. Evans was directed to spend one-fourth of his time there, the distance between them being about twenty-two miles. In 1738, he was also appointed once-a-month supply to the Norriton Church in Montgomery County, which was about ten miles in the other direction.
Rev. Evans remained as the installed pastor at Great Valley for twenty years. He was a talented speaker of fiery eloquence, but he became eccentric, vacillating and volatile, creating friction within the church. When he announced he would preach his final sermon, the small log church was packed to hear him deliver what may well have been the briefest sermon on record, consisting of only ten words.
According to tradition, his parting shot was “It’s goats I found ye and goats I leave ye,” which was not well received by the members of the church, and he had to jump out the window to escape. That was in 1740. However, he soon forgave and forgot, and two years later he addressed “the goats” as a “church of Christians.” He died in 1751.
It is interesting to note that following the short interim of another pastor, in 1742 the Rev. Samuel Evans, a son of Rev. David Evans, was installed at Great Valley and served for five years.
Betty Colmery
History Committee Chair
GVPC 300th Committee |
Bulletin Jan 29th