GUMC History

Our Mission: To welcome people to faith in Jesus Christ, equip us with faith that helps to grow, and send us into the world to serve.

Preface

The history of the Gibsonville United Methodist Church has been written and rewritten many times. What is the present today will be the past tomorrow. And so, the history of our church accumulates layer on layer, never ending.

From time to time it is appropriate to stop and record history as we see it today to update historical accounts before memory fades. It with this very intent that the current (2009) GUMC History Committee was formed. The committee comprises:

Irma Walker - Chairperson

Ted Bales

Don Blalock

Joycelyn Brookshire

Etta Brown

Linda Garringer

Betsy Greeson

Howard Hendricks

Charlie Kroksh

Mabel Owen

The Methodist Protestant Church, the first church in Gibsonville, was established in 1887. In1907, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South was the third church to organize in town. It was the union of these two Methodist denominations in 1938 that established the Gibsonville Methodist Church. We became the Gibsonville United Methodist Church when two denominations -- Methodist and United Brethren in Christ -- merged in 1968.

But history, especially church history, is more than facts and dates. It certainly comprises these things, but there are many additional dimensions, such as the church organization and reorganization; the pastors who served; the congregations -- the people who were served; the organizations and leaders; the buildings where the people worshipped, were christened, married, and eulogized; the Sunday Schools; the physical artifacts the were left behind.

The Gibsonville United Methodist Church has had a long and rich history, some of its roots going all the way back to 1887. It has existed under many different names and in many different buildings, but always with the same purpose -- to introduce, encourage, welcome, and maintain, the people of Gibsonville in faith in Jesus Christ.

This website preserves many aspects of that history, so we can see where we've been, so we can tell where we're going, and so we can pass all this along to the future generations of the church.

You can click on the highlighted titles to view different aspects of our history:

	The "Thumbnail History" gives a very brief overview of the history of what is known today as the Gibsonville United Methodist Church .
	The "Historical Timeline" puts the history of our church into the context of historical events of Methodism and our nation.
	Ministers who have served the Gibsonville United Methodist Church and its predecessor churches
	The "Detailed History" section is a repository of vignettes that fill in the detailed accounts of events, people, and places that collectively comprise the history of our church.

Take your time in reading this history of our church. The church has existed in good times and bad. It's important that we remember and learn from both.

This page was last updated on 07/31/09 .

Preface

Last modified: July 31, 2009