Email contacts :

Rev.LaVon Post, Susie Delavan, Secretary / Jill Connelley Barnett, Youth /

First United Methodist Church of Malvern is the outgrowth of Rockport Circuit, which was organized in 1836 and included Rockport, where the church had its beginning.  In 1877, the congregation of the Rockport Methodist Church voted to move their church building to the new town of Malvern, since most of their members had moved there. 

  The site where the present church now stands was secured and the deed for the lot was dated October 8, 1878 . The church building at Rockport was dismantled and moved to this new location in Malvern where the congregation worshiped for 10 years.  In 1888, needing a larger church, Malvern Methodist voted to raze the frame church and erect a brick church on the present site.  A new church was built and the old building was moved back to Rockport where it now stands today.  The building completed in 1889, was destroyed by a disastrous cyclone on March 8, 1908 .  The congregation then erected a temporary tabernacle on the south part of the present church site for use during the construction of the new building.

  The sanctuary unit of the next church building was constructed between 1908 and 1910.  The first service was held there on June 17, 1910 .  In 1923, a three-story brick Sunday school annex was added to the rear of the church.  The Fellowship and Recreational Hall was added at the south end of the church in 1949.  This hall contains several Sunday school rooms, a large recreation hall, and a stage with dressing rooms on each side.

  The Children’s Educational Building was completed in 1961.  Cornerstone laying ceremonies were held on May 7, 1961 , and the building was used for the first time on Sunday, June 18, 1961 .  The present sanctuary was built on the site of the former sanctuary, and was first used in 1976.  Stained-glass windows that tell biblical stories were used in the new sanctuary, and the open arms of a resurrected Jesus welcome people on Page Avenue .  The chapel and classrooms were built in the renovated building that was formerly the Malvern Post Office.

The space for this web site has been provided courtesy of the General Board
of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church . The content of these
home pages is the responsibility of First United Methodist Church Malvern, Arkansas.

©2011 Donna McDonald Langston