History

For over 170 years, Smyrna First United
Methodist Church has been serving
Christ and the community.

For over 170 years, Smyrna First United Methodist Church has been serving Christ and the community. We can trace our roots back to 1833 when Methodist pioneers established a meeting place near the present-day downtown Smyrna area in which traveling ministers would come and hold worship services. A brush arbor under which people would gather for these services was built near a fresh water spring that ran through the area. It was through these gatherings that a fellowship of believers began to emerge and around the year 1838 this fellowship would become the Smyrna Episcopal Methodist Church and later be renamed the Smyrna First United Methodist Church. All historical records and deeds during these early years were housed in the Marietta Courthouse and were burned by General William Sherman during the Civil War so the exact dates and purchases of property during those earlier years no longer exist. It is believed that in 1846 a log cabin church was built on this site and the Methodist congregation established the Smyrna Memorial Cemetery as well. The church expanded its facilities in 1911 and again in 1968.

In the narthex of our church one will see various pictures and paintings of the church facilities and how they have changed over the years. The observer will also find pictures that are of greater importance for they are pictures of church members who made up the congregation of the Smyrna First UMC during the years of transformation. We consider these pictures as being more important because they represent the thousands of men, women, and children that have been and are being blessed through the ministry of the Smyrna First United Methodist Church.

The history of our church is a history of people, people just like you and me. As we look to the past we give God thanks for the many blessings we enjoy because of those who served God through the Smyrna First UMC. At the same time we are excited about our future as we see these blessings being multiplied as our church family continues to grow both spiritually and numerically.