In the middle of November, 1838, Rev. George W. Bower, a 25 year old Methodist minister arrived on horseback in the small village of Bluffton. The first settler in the county had arrived only nine years earlier, and the village of less than 100 persons had been named and selected as the county seat in March of that year, 1838. He had been instructed to carry the Methodist ministry to the people of Indiana.
After hearing the Reverend Bowers message, the Hoosier Pioneers banded themselves together and formed a religious society, the beginning of the first Methodist congregation in Bluffton, Indiana.
Services for the first three or four years were held in members' homes, until new members joined requiring a larger meeting place. The new meeting place was in the new and first county courthouse, located at the corner of Main and Perry Streets. Services were held here until 1847, when a church was built at the corner of Johnson and Cherry Streets where the First Baptist Church is now located. This was the home of the Methodists until October 13, 1872 when the Methodists had again outgrown their facilities and moved into a new brick structure built on a lot purchased at the northeast corner of Washington and Williams Streets, the present location of the current church building, formally opened on May 3, 1953. During the new construction period, from February 1952, to May 1953, services were held in the Bluffton city Community Building.
In 1939, the major branches of Methodism consolidated and became the Methodist Church. In 1968, the Methodists consolidated with the Evangelical United Brethren Church and created what is now known as "The United Methodist Church".
Over the years in the United Methodist Church of Bluffton, many have been called to work in various fields of Christian endeavor. Through them and from them, the teachings and influences of our church have been felt, and are still being felt, far and wide in many areas of the world.
Since 1838, from this little group of some 25 people, through trial and tribulation, successes and disappointments, the church has reached a membership of 635 (February 1998) and is still growing.
Submitted by Paul Bender