Our History
From its beginning in the fall of 1848 with 14 in attendance, the church membership has grown to almost 1400. In the 150 plus years since Reverend William H. Sampson preached the first sermon in Johnston’s Shanty (a combination private home and small rooming house), there have been two other church buildings. One building, in 1854, was built on College Avenue and another in 1879 was built on Lawrence Street. The Tudor Gothic style edifice which we currently meet in was dedicated in the fall of 1925.
Elder Sampson, principal of Lawrence Institute (currently Lawrence University) until 1853 and later professor of mathematics until his retirement in 1857, symbolizes just one of the ties that existed between Lawrence and the Methodists for many years.
PASTORS OF FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH (1848-Present)
1848-1849 Asa Randall
1849-1850 Cornelius Smith
1850-1851 William Thompson
1851-1852 C. G. Lathrop
1852-1853 S. W. Ford
1853-1855 Elmore Yokum
1855-1857 William McDonald
1857I. Redfield
1857-1858 I. C. Aspinwall
1858-1859 P. B. Pease
1859-1860 Matthias Heimbaugh
1860-1861 Philo Bennett
1861-1863 Joseph Anderson
1863-1865 Samuel Fellows
1865-1866 O. I. Cowles
1866-1867 George Steele
1867-1869 Wesley Lattin
1869-1871 George Haddock
1871-1872 O. B. Thayer
1872-1875 H. C. Tilton
1875-1877 George Haddock
1877-1878 A. P. Mead
1878-1880 G. S. Hubbs
1880-1882 G. W. Griffith
1882-1883 J. R. Creighton
1883-1886 F. S. Stein
1886-1889 John Jackson
1889-1893 R. H. Pooley
1893-1894 H. P. Haylett
1893-1894 J. L. Hewitt
1894-1895 John Lusher
1895-1898 J. Scott Davis
1989-1903 Ray Harker
1903 Salon Bronson
1903-1907 S. H. Anderson
1907-1911 H. T. Wiltsee
1911-1918 William Marsh
1918-1921 I. B. Wood
1921-1935 J. Archibald Holmes
1935-1937 Gilbert Cox
1937-1943 Harry Culver
1943-1950 J. Raymond Chadwick
1946-1947 Mortimer Dean
1947 Douglas Cook
1947-1948 Donald Smith
1950-1960 Ralph Taylor Alton
1952-1956 Carl Wiese
1956-1958 John Hubner
1960-1966 Marvin Schilling
1958-1962 Kenneth Engelman
1962-1967 Gordon Sorensen
1966-1971 Kenneth Engelman
1967-1971 Charles Logsdon
1969-1972 Sharon Brown
1971-1872 Dale Hanaman
1971-1978 Herman Thomas
1972-1976 Thomas Rannells
1978-1981 Gordon Bender
1976-1989 David Brice
1982-1989 Charles King
1985-1988 Bernard Kassilke
1989-2000 David Kruse
1989 Susan Martin
1990-1996 Diane Rew-Gottfried
1990-1995 Sarah Hart Johnsen
1995-1996 Mike Campbell
1996-1998 Wendy Bair Christenson
1996-1999 Paul Reinhold
2000-2001 Paul Reinhold
1996- 2001 Theodore J. Weeden, Sr.
1998- 2002 Joyce Rich
1989-2007 David Brice
2000-2006 Kent Ingram
2002-2006 Jane Voights
2006-2009 Grace Cajiuat
2006-2007 Bruce Bartel
2007-2014 Doyle Blanton
2011- Dave Farina
2014- Markus Wegenast
2014-2017 Jayneann McIntosh Gagner
2017- Elizabeth Whitford
