Aldersgate at a Glance

On March 17, 1946 a new Methodist Church had its beginning in the Remount Road area. 
The new church met at the home of Mr. & Mrs. W. E. Bates, with Sunday school at 3:00pm and preaching at 4:00pm.

As interest grew, so did the need for a site for the new church.  Twelve Methodist laymen donated fifty dollars each to purchase three acres of land on Remount Road.  Later Mrs. Ellie Vroome donated one & one-half acres for a playground in the back.

The congregation met outside on the site during the spring that year.  By June they built what was called the "Tabernacle."  It only had a roof and straw-covered floor.

On April 28, 1946 thirty-three people chartered the church by signing the membership role, and the young people of the congregation selected the name Aldersgate in June.

The Women's Society of Christian Service was formed on April 9, 1946 with fourteen charter members.  Methodist Youth Fellowship followed that same year.

In March of 1947, Port Park Army section B Chapel was purchased.  It took four days to move the chapel about two blocks to the Aldersgate site. The building was bricked in 1948.  In 1949, Moore Hunt Hall was moved to the site and contained Sunday school rooms and an assembly room.  In 1951, the Shuler Bates building was also moved down Remount Road and was used for twenty-three years.  Later that year a parsonage was built on the property.

Groundbreaking took place on January 21, 1962 for the present educational building.  The building was completed on February 10, 1963.

Twenty eight new pews were purchased for the Sanctuary in 1965 and the round stained glass window depicting Christ at Gethsemane was installed in 1976.  Also, in 1968 the Methodist Church and United Brethren Church merged and we became Aldersgate United Methodist Church.

After a fire in the Shuler-Bates building caused damage beyond repair, the educational building was renovated to house a kitchen and social hall.

In 1984 stained glass windows were placed in the sanctuary and the present organ was purchased in 1986. 

Over the years many baptisms, weddings, funerals and other functions have taken place at Aldersgate.  The church members are very active through the year at the church & in the community. The building provides a home for our members but is open to visitors and provides a meeting place for other group functions and organizations as well.

We like to call our Aldersgate, "the Church of the Warm Heart." By that we mean that we are a warm & welcoming congregation.  Here is a place to hear the word of God read and proclaimed, to know sins are forgiven and to feel hearts warmed by the reassurance of God's love.