PUTNAM – Not many churches in the area can boast that they have been around as long as the Putnam Christian Church. In the area since 1866, the church is currently led by the Rev. Terry Broady, who has been pastor at the church for seven and one-half years.

Broady has been at the church a little longer than the average span that a pastor stays, and he likes it that way.

“I can anticipate needs in my congregation,” he said. “You get to know the people. You know if something is going on. They’ll let you know. They might say, ‘Mom’s not doing so well,’ and then I think, ‘OK I need to check on her.”’

Putnam Christian Church’s congregation is made up of a mix of people. Broady said they have retirees out of Chicago, and a lot of blue collar workers have settled in Lake Thunderbird and may only be around at select times of the year. The other half of the congregation is made up of locals who keep things going in between.

Each of the groups find each other interesting, Broady said.

“We have people here with all kinds of backgrounds. They have traditions that they are used to,” he said. “People will ask me, ‘Don’t you do this, don’t you do that?’ So every once in a while we will throw certain things in to make people more comfortable.”

The Putnam Christian Church holds Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. and Sunday school at 9 a.m. each Sunday. The church has a regular prayer meeting on Monday nights. There is a Bible study on Wednesday night.

Broady describes his Sunday service as somewhat flexible.

“Sometimes we get started on time; sometimes we don’t. We very rarely end on time. But since they are staying for fellowship anyway, it’s not been a problem. They are not going to hurry to get to lunch,” he said. “We usually try to keep the service to an hour or an hour and 15 minutes. We are mostly retirees; they are not worried so much about timing. They have chosen to live in this community because they want out of the city. We move at a little slower pace out here.”

There is always a fellowship time after services.

“The rules when I moved here said eat dessert first,” he said. “So every Sunday they have goodies. So we have ‘fellowship-dessert.’”

During Sunday services and fellowship, Broady receives lists of prayer concerns from members of his congregation. Monday’s group then not only works on prayer for those in need, but organizes for families who need further help.

“If someone is going through chemo, there is a group of ladies that makes sure that there will be meals coming in to the family,” he said. “It’s not really an official group, We don’t have committees for committee’s sake; these ladies and gentlemen just take care of things.”

The church supports several missions. There are missions in Thailand and the Solomon Islands, and locally, the church supports the Rock River Christian Camp in Polo for the youth of the congregation with donations and supplies.

“This is summer camp for the kids of our church,” he said.

The church is located halfway between Henry’s Seven Loaves and the Putnam County Food Pantry, so the congregation splits their efforts of support between the two groups.

The church does local work with the community as well.

“If is somebody in our church family, or somebody related to our church family or somebody close to our church family, we try to do some of our missions right here, supporting our community,” he said.

Broady appreciates his congregation.

“They are very concerned for each other,” he said. “They are very concerned for the community. One of the most exciting things that has happened here for our congregation, is that some people from town are regularly coming now ... new people. We are also always getting new people from the lake. People come in and try us out. Sometimes we just have very regular people that come just about four or five times a year because that is when they are down at their property. They come here and worship with us. We know them; we know their kids; they are on our prayer lists. That’s kind of neat.”

Broady is very proud of the church and congregation, especially when it comes to the mission work they do.

“We have really increased our missions giving,” he said. “We are not randomly doing more missions; we are doing more for the missions that we already supported. We are being more of a support. Instead of having 15 ministries at $50 a month, we are doing something with substance.”

Broady said when the missionaries are on furlough, they often come to the church to help recognize the work his congregation does. Last year they had the fellow from Thailand and the couple from the Solomon Islands visit the church.

“Sundays are a premium with these missionaries,” he said. “We explain to them that we simply don’t have a lot of weekly meetings, if they want to meet the majority of our congregation, Sunday is the day to do it.”

Broady said there is a mission for every church.

“Our mission is to develop or have a place for people to worship and then people can come know the Lord and grow in the Lord,” he said. “That’s the main function of the church. So many churches get sidetracked with all the other stuff that they are doing that they forget that purpose. If God can use a hayseed from Indiana like me, he can use anybody in ministry.”