wfn.org | First United Methodist Church, Grand Island, Neb., really is first

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Aug. 19, 1999 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.   10-71B{428}

By United Methodist News Service

Hundreds of United Methodist churches carry the name "First," but First
United Methodist Church in Grand Island, Neb., has the distinction of being
"really first."

Though not the "first" United Methodist congregation in the city, the church
was the first chartered after the United Methodist Church was created in
1968. During festivities Sept. 26, the church will be officially be
recognized as a United Methodist Historical Site, the first such designation
in the state.

The former Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Churches merged in May
1968 to form the new denomination.  Days after the vote was taken in Dallas,
the new congregation in the Capital Heights area of Northwest Grand Island
held its first worship service and received 43 members.  Today the
congregation has 450 members.  

At the request of  Nebraska lay delegate O.W. Poppe, the 1968 Uniting
General Conference recorded the fact that the Grand Island congregation
would be the first to be chartered in the new denomination. Members of the
congregation sent greetings to the delegates and expressed their gratitude
to the denomination's Board of Missions for helping make the new church
possible.  

"We often have calls from people who have seen our name in the phone book
and assume we are the big church downtown," said the Rev. Julie Bringelson,
pastor since 1993.  She said the historical  marker will be placed above the
corner stone at the church during an annual Sunday evening Fun Fest Sept.
26.  Games will begin at 4 p.m.; supper at 5:30 and a dedication service at
6.

The idea for recognizing the church came from Nebraska Conference curator
Maureen Vetter of  Lincoln, whose husband was one of the six pastors who has
served the Grand Island congregation.  "We saw a list of United Methodist
Historical Sites and were surprised to discover we had none in Nebraska,"
she said.  "We wanted to recognize a site and liked the idea of it being a
young church, something more future oriented."

Historic sites, of which there are about 390, are designated by vote of
annual conferences and registered by the denomination's Commission on
Archives and History, according to the Rev. Charles Yrigoyen Jr., staff
executive of the agency located in Madison, N.J. 

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