About Our Church
First Methodist ChurchHistory
The Methodist Movement reaches back to 18th Century England through the ministry of John and Charles Wesley who experienced a powerful evangelical conversion that led to revival in England and America. In 1784 the Methodist Episcopal Church in America was born and in 1968 the United Methodist Church formed when the Methodist Church united with the Evangelical United Brethren Church. There are now more than 11 million professing members in the United Methodist Church worldwide in more than 45,000 local churches.
FMC of Crane History
The first post office opened in Crane in 1908 but the county was not organized until 1927. The Methodist Church was officially organized in October of 1927 as part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Soutb with Rev. C.D. Hibgee as pastor, meeting in Crane’s first school building. The North and South branches of the Methodist Episcopal Church united in 1939 to form the Methodist Church. In 1968, the Methodist Church and the United Brethren in Christ united to form the United Methodist Church and the local church name became First United Methodist Church. Construction of the sanctuary began in July of 1954. First services in the new sanctuary were held on March 19, 1955.
In 2023, the local church voted to join the Global Methodist Church and has now reverted to the pre-1968 name of First Methodist Church.