New Life Church of God

There's a little brick church on top of the hill,
Which our ancestors built, and we go there still,
Memories come back as we quietly sit,
In the little brick church on top of the hill...

This is the first stanza from a poem written by Mrs. Florence Gross in 1941 on the 80th anniversary of the building of the Old North Bend Church. Today the little brick church on the hill above Deer Creek still stands, alive with the celebration of faith echoing within its aged walls. It is now being used by the congregation of the New Life Church of God and once more the sound of hymns and joyful prayers can be heard through the tall windows.

Built in 1861 this very rural church in the sense of location as well as amenities, the building's lighting was provided by kerosene lanterns and its heat by a "pot-bellied store". There is a sense of timelessness when one walks about the grounds of the church. The time-worn headstones show the names of some of the founding families of the area. It is easy to image the clip-clop of the horses that carried the churchgoers in bygone days along the rural road.

In its present use as a sanctuary for the New Life Church of God, modernization has been delicately blended with the rural history of the building. Churches change as time goes on, and buildings are at the mercy of nature and the people that attend or neglect them. The little brick church on the hill in Jarrettsville is a thriving example of what community, care and strong faith can mean. The final stanza of Mrs. Gross' poem sums it up best:

Years may come and years may go,
Years of joy and toil and woe,
But what care we, as long as we know,
There's a little brick church on top of the hill.