Home

Schedules

Staff

Programs

History

MethodistLinks

History

As the oldest church in Naperville, Wesley United Methodist Church was founded as a circuit church in 1832. In the early days of the Methodist Church in America, particularly in frontier areas like Naperville, one pastor would be assigned to a "circuit"--a set of churches that he served by riding between them on horseback. At our founding, we were probably just known as "the Methodist Church" or "the Methodist meeting". We know that the church has existed as an uninterupted entity in our town since 1832 as we have a roll of Pastors assigned to the congregation since our founding.  The stirrup in the logo used on these pages reflects our heritage as a circuit church. Eventually the church became the First Methodist Episcopal Church, which is the name on our cornerstone when our present sanctuary was built in 1925.

Mahalia Jackson

In 1955 we suffered a terrible fire that destroyed much of the building. The congregation pulled together and raised the money to rebuild. Among the fund-raising activities was a concert given by Mahalia Jackson at North Central College's Field House--pretty progressive for a small Illinois town in the mid-50's! The current sanctuary is a result of the reconstruction in 1956.

When the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged to become the United Methodist Church in 1968, Naperville's First Methodist Church and the First Evangelical United Brethren Church across the street both had to choose new names. First EUB chose to become Community United Methodist Church and we picked Wesley United Methodist Church to honor the founder of Methodism.

At our Sesquicentennial celebration in 1982, we published a book covering the 150 history of the congregation. As time allows, we will scan and publish online the entire contents of this history, as well as the entire roll of pastors dating back to 1832.

Although we are proud of our heritage, Wesley United Methodist Church looks to the future and we still strive to to bring the words and the love of Jesus Christ to Naperville just as a Methodist circuit rider did in 1832.