Our Cross

First United
Methodist Church
Grand Prairie, Texas

122 N. Center St. Grand Prairie, TX 75050

Office 972-264-6148   Fax 972-264-6140

Rev. Gifford Long, Senior Pastor 

Rev. Gloria Fowler, Associate Pastor

Our Cross

United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church

Last updated


©2006

 

125 Years in the Heart of the City,

First United Methodist Church, Grand Prairie, Texas 

Winner Dallas Genealogical Society's Writing Award
for Best Book of Historical Interest published in 2005 - 2006
Winner of the North Texas Conference's Kate Warnick Award
 for outstanding church history book 2005 - 2006
Winner of the Grand Prairie Historical Commission's Award 2005

The critics said: "Outstanding church history!"
"Very readable history with church and community history intertwined as they should be."
"The first paragraph pulls you in, and you want to keep reading."
Copies of our 125th anniversary 200-page, hard-bound history are available for $35.00 each. Purchase your copy from the church office or enclose an additional $7.50 for shipping and handling. 


 

    Following a community revival meeting in the summer of 1880, the Baptists and the Methodists organized separate churches. Though the earliest church register does not survive, it is believed that there were twelve charter members of the Methodist Church. 

    The Texas and Pacific Railway donated a lot on Center Street, just north of Main, and in October, 1880, a frame church 24 feet by 36 feet "on good stone pillars" was completed at a cost of $418. By 1910, that building had become so crowded that many worshippers had to stand outside on the lawn because there wasn't room for them inside and a new church was built. It cost $4,100.

   Increasing membership required an even larger sanctuary that was finished in 1925. The fourth and latest sanctuary, a colonial-style building, was built in 1957-58. The present campus also includes a remodeled World War II building for adult classrooms and Boy Scouts, a Children's Building (1974), a Chapel and office complex (1989) and the Youth Building (2003).

    But more important than our buildings are the lives touched by this "Church in the Heart of the City." Surviving church registers document  8,243 people as members or preparatory members during the first 125 years. Each of those 8,243 people were touched by God in this place and, as they scattered throughout the world, even more lives were touched by their Christian witness. As we reflect upon our history, we also consecrate ourselves to continuing God's work here in Grand Prairie and throughout the world.

 
 
 
 
1910 Methodist Church
 
 
Photo of Church in 1925
Photo of front of current santuary
 
 
1925 Methodist Church
Baker Chapel

 

 

   
 
 

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