Clarksville church donates Turkish Bible to Waynesburg University
From left, Director Rea Redd of the Eberly Library, Richard Teegarden, elder of the Pleasant Valley Presbyterian Church of Clarksville; Waynesburg University President Douglas Lee and the Rev. Donald Wilson, a university trustee, look through an old Turkish Bible the Clarksville church recently donated to the university.
The Pleasant Valley Presbyterian Church of Clarksville will be closing its doors for a final time after a 5 p.m. Christmas Eve service.
The Pleasant Valley Presbyterian Church of Clarksville will be closing its doors for a final time after a 5 p.m. Christmas Eve service.
CLARKSVILLE – A Clarksville church that’s been struggling with attendance is closing its doors, but an unlikely piece of it will be preserved at Waynesburg University.
Pleasant Valley Presbyterian Church of Clarksville donated last week a Turkish edition of the Bible in the Arabic language. It was printed in Lebanon in 1951, according to the university.
Richard Teegarden, an elder in the church, said the Bible had belonged to John Hassen, a member of the church who died in 1964.
“He came from Turkey and he was a coal miner in this region,” Teegarden said. “It was his Bible and when he died he left it to the church.”
The church at 376 Market St., which was built in the early 1840s, plans to close by Christmas because of the lack of members, Teegarden said.
“Financially, we just can’t stay open any longer,” he said. “Church just isn’t a high priority of the younger generations.”
The church wrote a letter to the university asking if the school could preserve the Bible.
“Our hope and intention would be that by this decision we will not only protect and preserve this unique translation but also make it available for others to use and gain knowledge from, now and for many years to come,” the letter said.
Waynesburg University was happy to help and and the Bible will be on display in the Eberly Library on the university’s campus.
“We are honored to receive this gift,” Lee said in a news release. “We will treasure this wonderful resource and wish to express our gratitude for the generosity of the Pleasant Valley Presbyterian Church.”
Teegarden said the church property is owned by the Washington Presbytery, which will decide its future.
Craig Kephart, executive Presbyter, said this isn’t the only church in the Presbytery to close recently.
“On the whole, we’re seeing fewer and fewer of the younger generations making traditional worship in traditional settings a part of their family lives,” he said.
Kephart said the Clarksville church will have a special service at 1 p.m. Dec. 4 as a formal closing to “mark the history of that congregation coming to a close.”
The church’s final worship service will be at 5 p.m. Christmas Eve.