History: 

Carrboro Methodist Church was organized in July 1910 with approximately 30 members.  Services were held on Sunday afternoons in a frame structured called “The Union Chapel”.  The site is now home to the Carrboro Century Center.  Shortly after its organization, the congregation moved to the school building located on Main Street.

The church functioned as a mission of the Methodist Church of Chapel Hill from 1910-1915.  General Julian S. Carr, President of Durham Hosiery Mills, donated a plot of land adjacent to the school property where a church was erected.  The first services were held in early 1912 and this site continued to be the place of worship for the next forty-one years.  By 1915, membership increased and Carrboro Methodist was no longer a mission of the Methodist Church in Chapel Hill.  Rev. W. A. Shelton, a young ministerial student at Trinity College, presently Duke University, was assigned as pastor.

During this time, Carrboro Methodist Church depended on fund-raising suppers to meet its budget and operating expenses.  These suppers were held regularly in the Junior Order Hall above a grocery store on Main Street.  In late 1936, a building was erected beside the Main Street Church property and was referred to as “the Hut”, which accommodated many people for various parties and meetings, including Boy Scouts.  Today, our church continues its support of the Boy Scouts.

For over thirty years, Carrboro Methodist Church was part of a five-point charge circuit, which included Orange Church, Merritt’s Chapel, Massey’s Chapel and Clover Garden.  This meant one pastor alternated Sunday services with two or more churches in the Methodist Circuit.  Today, Carrboro United Methodist Church is one of 63 churches in the Burlington District that is part of the North Carolina Conference.

With an increase in membership, a larger church was constructed at 200 Hillsborough Road.  This church was completed in 1953.  The sanctuary was renovated and enlarged in 1966, as well as the addition of the education wing.  Soon after construction, a day care center and after school program were opened at this facility.  Today, our Four Star Childcare Center is one of our vital ministries to the community.

Today, Carrboro United Methodist Church is part of the diverse and vibrant Carrboro community.  Family drama ministries, refugee resettlement ministries, partnerships with Stop Hunger Now, IFC and the CROP Walk, as well as scouting and recovery ministries, keep us in Carrboro’s heart and mind.

Despite changing times, there are similarities that bind us.  Our unity is based on ‘One Call, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism’.  It is given to us by ‘One God and Father of all, Who is above all, through all and in all’.

In 2010 we will celebrate our centennial!  Check back for our special activities that will run throughout the year.