History

“Unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1

The first Methodist Church in the United States was organized by Dr. Coke and sixty ministers on December 24, 1784. The The Methodist Protestant Church was organized in 1828, and in 1844 the Methodist Episcopal South was organized.

In 1874 the first baptism within the Lauderdale Methodist Episcopal Church is recorded, Mr. J. Ed Smith, by Reverend Daniel G. W. Ellis. The first time the Lauderdale appears as a main charge was in December, 1875, when James M. Gann was appointed pastor. He had succeeded D. G. W. Ellis on the Spring Hill Circuit the year before.

The church building was at first a union building. In 1879 three hundred dollars was subscribed for a new church at Lauderdale. The first Methodist Episcopal Church South building was built in 1981. Bishop Galloway dedicated the new church at Lauderdale on February 19, 1893, erected under the leadership of Reverend N. M. Clark. 

In 1939, the Methodist Protestant and the Methodist Episcopal Church South united to become “The Methodist Church”. In 1968, the Methodist Church united with the Evangelical United Brethren and became “The United Methodist Church”.

The present building was built in 1960, under the leadership of Reverend R. H. Erickson. The building was erected on the lot donated by the M. C. Hill family. The furnishings and stain glass windows were given as memorials and donations. The new church was dedicated on April 28, 1963 by Bishop Marvin Franklin. Trustees for the church when it was built were: Mr. Edward Bishop, Mr. W. B. Ellis, Mr. W. E. Lundsford, Mr. Ralph Morgan, Mr. T .H. Naylor. The building committee members were: Mr. H. D. Baungardner, Mrs. Helen Brown, Mr. M .C. Hill, Mrs. Debbie Miller, Mr. J. A. Moorman, Jr.

In 1987 a new parsonage was bought at a cost of $550. Lauderdale had new parsonages in 1881 and again in 1883. The present parsonage was built on the lot donated by the M. C. Hill family, in 1965, for a cost of $16,059.64, under the leadership of Reverend Clayton Harrison. It was dedicated by Bishop Mack B. Stokes on December 1, 1974. The indebtedness for both the church and the parsonage was paid for by the pledges of its faithful members. 

During the last few years, our church ahs grown in membership and dedication to God’s work at Lauderdale, Mississippi. We look forward to our continued spiritual growth as well as what God has in mind for our physical buildings. We are proud of the wonderful church family and friends who have worked to provide for us a place of worship that is so beautiful and meaningful.