Historical Footnote - Grape Juice and the Methodist Church

He's a little-known story of how one devoted Methodist turned a disappointment into a success, working throughout to serve God.

Thomas Bramwell Welch was born in Glastonbury, England. He came to the United States when his father emigrated in 1834. He attended public schools in Watertown, New York.  At age 17, Thomas Welch joined the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion, founded the same year (1843).

From its beginning, the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion strongly opposed (1) the "manufacturing, buying, selling, or using intoxicating liquors", and (2) "slaveholding, buying, or selling" of slaves.

With the first edition of their Discipline, the Wesleyan Methodists expressly required for the Lord's Supper that "unfermented wine only should be used at the sacrament."  This requirement was about 25 years before Welch used pasteurization. So it is clearly evident that pasteurization was not the only method used to prepare it unfermented. There were traditional methods to prepare unfermented wine (juice) for use at any time during the year, e.g. to reconstitute concentrated grape juice, or to boil raisins, or to add preservatives that prevent juice from fermenting and souring.

Throughout his late teens, Welch was active in the Underground Railroad that transported escaped slaves from the south into Canada.  In fact, he was not the only Wesleyan Methodist connected to the "Underground Railroad."

By age 19, he graduated from Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary and became an ordained Wesleyan Methodist minister.  He ministered first in Poundridge, in Westchester County, New York, then in Herkimer County, New York.

While in Herkimer County, he married Miss Lucy Hult and they would eventually have seven children.
While he continued to work in ministry he and Lucy felt called to venture off into the Mission Field and travel the world evangelizing for Christ.  This would prove to be impossible, however, due to medical complications - his voice failed him - and he was obliged to direct his attention to other pursuits.

He then attended New York Central Medical College (Syracuse campus), becoming a physician in Penn Yan, New York.  Welch then relocated to Winona, Minnesota in 1856 and changed his profession to dentistry.

In 1864, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church expressly recommended that "in all cases the pure juice of the grape be used in the celebration of the Lord's Supper."  In 1865, Welch relocated to Vineland, New Jersey, where a sister already resided. Then in 1869, Welch discovered a method of pasteurizing grape juice so that fermentation was stopped, and the drink was non-alcoholic. He persuaded local churches to adopt this non-alcoholic "wine" for communion services, calling it "Dr. Welch's Unfermented Wine."

That became the birth of the Welch's Juice Company, what is now a household name.

This is a success story of one man's determination and steadfast devotion to Godly principles.  It also demonstrates how we can't always determine what we'll do in life or where it will take us, but if we remain focused on God at all times, we will inevitably succeed and further the Kingdom of God in the process.

-Wes
source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bramwell_Welch