The Rev. Dr. Jerry C. Smith knows he is a part of history &045;&045; 150 years worth of history to be exact.

This Sunday, Smith, who is the pastor of First Christian Church on Selma Avenue, and his congregation will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the church.

Smith says it is a church that has seen many changes, but that still continues to thrive and to represent a link to Selma’s past.

To celebrate the anniversary, Smith said church members would be holding a special church dinner on Sunday. The event would include guest speaker John Mobley, the regional minister of Christian Church of Alabama and Northwest Florida, the organization that oversees the First Christian Church.

An Alabama native, Smith retired as the pastor of a church in Utica, Miss., after serving in the ministry for 46 years. He returned to the ministry and became pastor of the First Christian Church on May 1, 2000.

According to the &uot;History of the First Christian Church at Selma, Alabama,&uot; a book written by Minnie Priester Dorman, the church was organized in 1852 with just one family.

Church services were first held in the home of Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Lavender until a building was constructed.

By 1854, Dorman reports that membership had grown to 30 and that a building was first constructed at the corner of Alabama Avenue and Green Street.

According to Dorman, all churches in Selma were closed during the Civil War, although Smith said that point is still currently being debated among some historians.

The church was closed again in 1871, according to Dorman, and then re-opened in 1873.

In 1903, Dorman said the church was continuing to grow, and that a larger building was needed. The present building &uot;was constructed at a cost of $15,000 to $16,000 and was dedicated with great joy on Sunday, June 10, 1905.&uot; In 1963, an educational building was added to the church.

The present building, said Smith, is &uot;definitely eye catching.&uot;