With acceptance, Love unconditionally, With compassion,Reflecting God’s love with support, Helping those in need with integrity, Guided by God’s word.

Address:
Elmgrove United Methodist Church
1500 Spencerport Road
Rochester, NY 14606
Church Phone: (585) 247-4973
Church Fax: (585) 247-0956

Pastor: Rev. Cynthia Beth McCune, Pastor

Ministers: All Who Worship Here

Director of Music: Andrew Dunlop

Administrative Coordinator: Kathy Heaton

Custodian: Steve Millard

Office Hours: Mon, Tues, Wed and Friday 9:00 AM – 2:30 PM Thursday 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Worship: Every Sunday at 9:30 AM

Sunday School: Sunday at 10:50 AM

Rent our Fellowship Hall: $75/$200 Click here for more info

Did you know?

* We have Personal Assistant Hearing Devices to loan if you are hard of hearing at the service.
* Our Weekly Bulletin is available in Large Print.
* We love to see new faces at our Services.

The History Of Elmgrove United Methodist church

The Elmgrove United Methodist Church was originally established in October, 1828. At that time it was called the first Society of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Although there wasn’t an official building to meet in, the members of the church met in their homes and a local schoolhouse/circuit rider depot located on Elmgrove Road. The first pastor of the church was Rev. John Copeland, who was a frontier circuit rider. Rev.Copeland was a popular preacher in the area and served the church for several years as its leader.

The church thrived in the early years and quickly became a very important part of the local community. In the year 1848, monies were raised to construct a church building on the southwest corner of Elmgrove Road and Spencerport Road. The land was purchased for the sum of $30.68.

This land also included grounds dedicated for a cemetery area that remains today. Although the church building was not large, it was very active and continued to grow rapidly. Elmgrove became well known for it’s culinary talents and delicious community dinners were frequent. These included oyster stew dinners and strawberry socials. The monies raised by these dinners were used to sponsor many church and community activities.

In 1904 there was a major fire that destroyed the church building. The members of the church were devastated by the loss, but undaunted, they quickly pulled together and rebuilt on the same lot. In just over a year, the church was completely reconstructed on the same site and open again to the community.

In 1967 a new church building was constructed at 1500 Spencerport Road to meet the needs of the continually growing membership. This included a larger sanctuary as well as an education wing.There was no bell tower in the new church so the bell from the old church was brought over and placed on display by the front door of the new building. The bell was refurbished and is rung on special occasions.

The church continued to grow and in 1973 a large Fellowship Hall was added to the back of the building. This area included a new kitchen area as well as a large group room. As the church continued to grow, this room was used for many activities such as Sunday School classes, dinners, shows, choir practice, holiday celebrations, etc.

Monies raised from the lunches and dinners catered by the Women’s Society helped cover the expenses of kitchen equipment and hall decorations.

Always very actively involved in community service, the Women’s Society and the Men’s Club hosted many events that included community involvement. Two such events were very well known. One was the annual Chicken Barbecue, usually held in June and Harvest Supper held in November. Several hundred meals were prepared and served at these events. Profits raised from these activities were frequently put towards mission projects.

Throughout the years, commitment to mission service has always been a priority at Elmgrove. Outreach has included support of many local families and organizations in our immediate community; support of church communities in third world areas such as Africa and South America; support of Christian Jail Ministries; Habitat for Humanity, SWEM, Community Food shelf and many others.

During the late 70’s under the guiding hand of Rev. Wm Calkins, a major mission outreach project was undertaken for the Red Bird Mission in Appalachia. On a mission trip there Rev. Calkins found a need for a fire truck to service that area. Upon his return, he challenged the children and the congregation of Elmgrove to raise money for this project. For more than two years the members of the church worked very hard raising funds for this outreach.

During each weekly service, children were encouraged to place their donations to this mission in a large toy fire truck kept by the altar. When the goal was finally reached, a used fire truck, in excellent condition , was purchased. to celebrate this accomplishment, the fire truck was brought to church and the children who had worked so hard raising funds, had the opportunity to ride around in the parking lot on it, ring the bells and sound the siren. The truck was then driven down to the Red Bird Mission by Rev. Calkins.

Other mission highlights included the support of an African family by our Sunday School children for several years. Monies were sent from the children’s collection to help educate, feed and clothe the members of this family while they resided in a Christian compound. Another outreach program was done through the Heifer Project. Monies were raised and donated to purchase chickens, fish and sheep to distribute in our local community.

Each Christmas our church adopted families in need. Through the generous support of the congregation, we made the holidays a much happier time for these families. In the late 80’s, through Christian Jail Ministries, the church outreach adopted a family of an Attica inmate. For the next seven years, the church became a integral part of this family’s life. As you can see, the rich history of our church continues it’s strong support of outreach missions. From the very beginning mission work was a priority of our church, and it remains so today.

Through our history we have had nearly one hundred ministers serve our church. In the early years, the usual term of service for a minister was one year. Some only stayed for a few months, others stayed longer. In the past 25 years, we have had six ministers serve from our pulpit. They are: Rev. William Calkins, Rev. Wayne Ostrander, Rev. Rick Danielson, Rev. Gailey Carpenter, Rev. Bonnie B. Nolen, and our current pastor, rev. Cynthia Beth Klopfer McCune. Each of these pastors has brought their own unique talents to our church and have served our church well. We have been truly blessed with their strong leadership and guidance.

Since our 150th anniversary in 1978, our church has physically changed in many ways. The continual growth of our membership made the need of a larger facility necessary. Funding was not readily available for building, so creative use of the existing facilities took place. Sunday school classes would meet in the sanctuary, the hallways and the kitchen. Fellowship Hall was partitioned off to house up to five classes at one time. Finally a long range planning committee was formed in 1991-92, and a study was begun on how to add to the existing church.

Hundreds of hours of volunteer work went into the planning of the building project, the financial arrangements and fundraising to support it and in 1996, a capital fund campaign was undertaken to raise money to build a new education wing and to modify the existing building. In early 1998, the existing wing was build and later that same year the construction of the new education wing started.

Work was completed in the early spring and the Bishop attended the dedication service in March, 1999. It took many, many years of volunteer time to finish the interior decorating of the new wing, but it has turned out beautifully.The addition of a beautiful stain glass window wall in the front of the sanctuary was done in 1999 to honor the memory of Ron Reinhard. This window has been a inspiration to all who come to worship at Elmgrove.

Our church continues to be an integral part of the communities of Gates, Spencerport, Greece and Chili. Our members continue to be the living history of our church.

Through their generosity of Christian spirit, the good works of the church continue to reach out into the local community as well as around the world. We have a long heritage to be proud of, and a bright future. As we look forward we will build on our history and continue to carry on the wonderful Christian work of our church.