In 1976 the United Methodist Church at New Brunswick celebrated 100 years of the church building. Methodism in New Brunswick dates back to 1739 and the history of the Methodist Church at New Brunswick was compiled in a pamphlet for the celebration. Read the forward below and then explore the pages of the original pamphlet in a .pdf file and/or visit pictures of the 100th anniversary service.
The Forward from the pamphlet entitled The United Methodist Church at New Brunswick reads:
We, as Methodists in New Brunswick, New Jersey are celebrating two important events in 1976 - the founding of our nation two hundred years ago, and the dedication of our present house of worship one hundred years ago.
Since our nation was conceived and born on religious convictions and principles, and since John and Charles Wesley, along with George Whitefield and Captain Webb, brought their "dissenting" theology - Methodism - to the New World in the early 1700's, the Christian denomination of Methodism has been an integral part of our nation’s history. Rev. George Whitefield preached Methodism in New Brunswick in 1739, and Methodism grew here in this tiny wayside “coach stop” between New York and Trenton to the extent that when Bishop Francis Asbury came in 1798 to start a congregation, he found there were already active Methodists meeting here.
In the year of our nation’s Bicentennial and our sanctuary’s Centennial – a sanctuary which grew out of those early beginnings and subsequently became the Mother Church from which the Saint James and the Pitman churches in New Brunswick, the Milltown Methodist Church, and Trinity Methodist Church in Highland Park evolved – it appears appropriate to compile this short history of Methodism in New Brunswick.
To read the whole pamphlet and learn more about the history of the New Brusnwick church, use this link: The United Methodist Church at New Brunswick