OUR HISTORY
In 1909, a group of Fairhopers interested in having a Methodist congregation in the town began to meet in the home of Captain Jack Lowell, located about where Greeno Road and Gayfer Avenue intersect today. After over a year of preparations, the church was chartered in December, 1910, with twelve charter members. For three years, the church met in the "Bell Building" at the Organic School. In 1913, the church built its first sanctuary across the street from our current location were Redeemer Lutheran Church now stands. Hurricanes of 1916 and 1923 destroyed the church's buildings, but each time the church rebuilt. In 1946, the church moved to its present location and occupied the old Sadler home which stood here.
The present sanctuary was built in 1949-50. As for the other buildings: The south end of the education building was built in 1960. The north end of the education building and the fellowship hall were completed in 1984. And our education annex was completed in May 2002. In 2007, we finished construction on the Christian Life Center. This building is used not only by our congregation for various ministry programs but open to the community.
Our local church belongs to the Baypines District, the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference and the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. Our District Superintendent is Rev. Sheila Bates. Our Bishop is David W. Graves. Rev. Michael Precht is our Senior Pastor. Rev. Laura Parker is our Minister of Discipleship and Rev. Cathi Parish is our Minister of Evangelism.
Our church's membership is over two thousand and is growing. Our fellowship is being broadened and our ministry strengthened by new members. We are committed to providing and building facilities to meet the needs of a growing membership. We are a church on the move.
OUR MISSION
We exist to LOVE BOLDLY, casting the LIGHT of JESUS into the world.
So how do we do this?
We do this by living out the values of being:
- Scripturally Relevant United Methodist,
- A Loving, Invitational Community,
- A Prayerful and Hopeful Refuge,
- Courageous Visible Agents of Change.
Our objective is that all our activities and ministries reflect this simple yet complete purpose. Through the ministries of the Christian Life Center completed in 2008 and the entire church we strive to fulfill this mission across all age groups.
