Lewis Coburn, a horse riding Pastor from DeWitt, Michigan found a ready hearing from men with long beards and women in homespun cotton dresses and bonnets who gathered in the parlor of the crude little cabin on Wall Street, Lansing, Michigan in 1845. By 1846 the first Methodist Class was organized. By 1848, one year after the Michigan Legislature selected Lansing as the site for the State Capitol, the Methodists were meeting to worship in Lansing's first school house, later the Cedar Street School. The schoolhouse was a crude affair. In fact, it was described as "wretched and primitive" with holes cut in the sides for windows. Entrance was through a door with leather thongs for hinges. It was the first school in Lansing.
The numbers grew. By 1855 the congregation in North Lansing was worshipping in a warehouse chapel, dubbed "God's Barn." A barn on the north side of Wall Street, between Center and Cedar Streets, owned by James Seymour, was sold to the Methodist Class and Presbyterians. The Presbyterians built a church and we purchased their share of God's Barn and continued our worship there until the wooden church was built. The wooden church was built on the corner of East Grand River and Cedar Streets.
In 1868, under the ministry of Rev. W. W. Baldwin, the Society began building the Wooden Church. The basement was completed and dedicated in 1869. The church was completed in 1870 at a cost of $10,000.
The farewell service in this church was May 25, 1904.
The Stone Church was dedicated in February, 1905, under the leadership of Rev. William E. Doty. Cost was $9,255. A pipe organ installed in 1912 cost $2,200. The stained glass window, now hanging between the narthex and the sanctuary of our church came from the Stone Church. It bears the name of Rev. W. L. Holmes, who served the Wooden Church from 1895 to 1896. It, along with the other windows, was removed to be used in the Brick Church. The antique white pew now in our church is of the same vintage. It had been thought that this church would meet the needs of the people for many years to come, but in 1915, the church was once again inadequate and plans were made for a new church.
The Brick Church was erected on the site of the Wooden and Stone Churches. Dedication services were held April 7, 1918. It was called Liberty Sunday because members contributed their Liberty Bonds to pay for their new church. The cost was $44,000.
In 1956 the congregation began to explore moving. The neighborhood around the church had changed from residential to commercial. Parking space was limited. The church building was sold.
During the five years between the summer of 1962 and 1967 the congregation worshiped at the Northwestern School. Rev. Richard H. Beckett led the congregation during this transition time.
Then after much planning and effort, the first service was held in our beautiful new sanctuary here at the corner of Delta River Drive and Waverly Road on December 3, 1967.
Less than one year later, in October 1968, the Seymour Avenue Methodist Church joined with the First United Methodist Church.
Seymour Avenue, a German speaking Methodist congregation, was founded only eight years after the first Methodist Class began. In 1864 the congregation was named the German Episcopal Church. A beautiful brick church was constructed on the corner of Seymour and Saginaw Streets.
This congregation, having celebrated its sesquicentennial year in 1996, has an inspired vision for the future.
A new pipe organ was installed in 1995. The cost was $210,000. Chancel renovations were completed. Worship, through music on the new organ, began with "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow" on July 9, 1995. William McHarris was the organist.
Our united congregation continues many of the favorite traditions of the two former churches, one of which is the annual sauerkraut supper which began in the German congregation.
The goal of the congregation has not changed over the past 150 years. It is to nurture the faith of Christians and to witness to our neighbors near and far, concerning the Gospel of Christ.