A 177 year legacy of making disciples of Jesus Christ in the Colonial Heights community...
Methodism began as a revival movement within the Church of England and first came to America in 1760. It first came to our area as early as 1783. In 1784, the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized at the Christmas Conference in Lovely Lane Chapel in Baltimore, Maryland. In our area, Acuff's Chapel was built as a Methodist Meeting House in Blountville, Tennessee in 1785. The historic roots of this congregation began under the name Cedar Grove Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1845. The first structure was nothing more than a modest log cabin. The log building had four windows and a large fireplace. The seats were made of slabs.
In 1847, the congregation changed its name to Mount Lebanon Methodist Episcopal Church, South. By 1860, Mount Lebanon was included as part of the Fall Branch Circuit. The log structure church burned in 1887, making way for a newer clapboard church constructed by Paton Mitchell in 1888. With the unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and the Methodist Protestant Church in 1939, the Church's name changed to Mount Lebanon Methodist Church. By 1952, the church became a station church with a pastor of its own. By 1956, a new brick sanctuary was completed that replaced the clapboard church. Furthermore, a new education wing completed in 1962.
In 1957, the church changed its name to Colonial Heights Methodist Church to reflect the growing community in which it sat. And in 1968, with the merger of the Methodist Church with the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the congregation adopted its official name that continues this day, Colonial Heights United Methodist Church.
In 1970, the church burned to the ground on the eve of a planned groundbreaking ceremony for a new sanctuary. For a while, the congregation was forced to meet in the nearby Colonial Heights Middle School.
In 1971, the current sanctuary was completed and in 2004, the Ministry Center was constructed.
In 2020, the church launched its online worship service at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although our story has changed over the years in terms of people, names, and buildings, we remain committed to living out God's call for our congregation in the Colonial Heights Community and beyond.
Far Left: A drawing of the 1845 log cabin; Left: the clapboard church completed in 1888; Right: Brick sanctuary completed in 1956; Far Right: Current sanctuary completed in 1971
A history of pastors at Colonial Heights United Methodist Church
Beginning with the first full time appointed Pastor in 1952
- Rev. Dan Kelly (1952-1957) *Known as Mount Lebanon until 1957*
- Rev. C. Byron Waites (1957-1963)
- Rev. Sam Leidig (1963-1968)
- Rev. Charles B. Bryan (1968-1974)
- Rev. Henry Lenoir (1974-1980)
- Rev. Moses Beecher Dunsmore (1980-1983)
- Rev. Roger Hilton (1983-1988)
- Rev. Henry J. Holt, Jr. (1988-1992)
- Rev. Eugene Lovell (1992-1998)
- Rev. Meg Taylor (1993-1996) - Associate
- Rev. Annette Flynn (1996-1998) - Associate
- Rev. Freddrick L. Long (1998-2002) - Co-Pastor
- Rev. Judith Anna (1998-2001) - Co-Pastor
- Rev. Katherine C. Hale (2001-2004) - Associate
- Rev. Robert Smith (2002-2007)
- Rev. Crystal Smith (2004-2007) - Associate
- Rev. Thomas Seay (2007-2011)
- Rev. Angela Hardy-Cross (2007-2009) - Associate
- Rev. Robert Burlingham (2011-2018)
- Rev. Christopher J. Brown (2018-present)
