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Loving God

Loving Others

Sharing Christ

Our History

Early in the 1970’s, a group of people, led by the Decatur District Council of Ministries, began to dream of a local United Methodist Church. They went door to door in the Mt. Zion area asking, “If there was a United Methodist Church in Mt. Zion, would you attend?” And so was born the Mt. Zion United Methodist Congregation. The first worship service was held optimistically in the Dawson & Wikoff Funeral Home Chapel on Feb. 3rd, 1974. In just four months, they were officially chartered as Mt. Zion UMC, recognizing 46 people as charter members. The current property was purchased just a little over a year later in the summer of 1975.

By May of 1976, with great excitement, ground was broken for the first phase of the brand new building. That is now the north half of the building. Work went quickly and the first Sunday in the new facility was Nov. 21, 1976. Spurred on by their success, the second phase of the dream church began, and with that, the sanctuary, classrooms, and conference area on the south half of the building were finished and ready for worship in November of 1979. Much has changed, with remodeling and landscaping, a new roof and kitchen, and repairs along the way, but here we are 45 years later.

In 2013, there was an extensive repainting and sprucing up. There have been nine pastors in these 45 years, and three of the original charter members are still attending today. In 2018 the Mt. Zion Co-Op PreSchool was reorganized where the church is more involved with an administrative board.

During 2019-21 UMC has received numerous additions to the existing memorial fund in the form of memorials from various families. The memorial fund has supported the following projects with input of family members and pastor. They include a travel communion set for the Pastor, improving the gardens at the front door, a new set of sanctuary banners, modernization of the church’s sound and video system and new flooring in the Food Pantry building.

We look to the future and with God’s continued help, worshiping, serving, and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ for many more years!