Between the Hope of Heaven and a Hurting World”

We are a Biblical community of faith, in which people from all walks of life experience the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, find acceptance and friendship and discover practical answers to life’s problems as together we strive to live holy lives.

As God’s covernant community, we are called to:

• Worship God together
• Grow in Christlikeness and Wholeness together
• Connect to each other in caring community
• Serve both our community and the world together

• Go and make disciples

At Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church, we believe that the Body of Christ goes beyond denominational groups and includes all who trust and follow Jesus. We also believe that the Bible is God’s written Word, uniquely inspired by the Holy Spirit and completely trustworthy in all it affirms. God is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth and is sovereign, perfect and holy. Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God who came to offer Himself on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins and to provide salvation to all who respond in faith. Salvation, which is solely by personal faith in Jesus Christ, manifests itself in the life of the believer in the sincere desire to live life according to God’s will, primarily as revealed in the Bible. The experience of the Spirit-filled life is God’s promise to every follower of Jesus and occurs as one is given totally to God and results in a life of holy living and loving witness for Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ will return to earth someday. Those who died in the faith will be resurrected, and as followers of Christ will be taken to Heaven, along with all believers then living. All who have rejected the good news of life in Jesus will spend eternity separated from God.

Benjamin Titus Roberts and the “Free Methodists” (1860)

Nearly a century after the Methodist revival took hold in England, and over 70 years after the movement was organized officially as the “Methodist Episcopal Church”, John Wesley’s message of salvation and his method of field preaching and small cell discipleship had given way to a “more civilized” and somewhat impotent institution. The causes of this downfall are attributed to five things:

• A neglect of the Biblical message of salvation and cleansing of heart and life by faith
• The death of lay-led small cell discipleship and the return to a”spectator” faith where the Christian life was completely contained within the church pew.
• A money-making system of church pew rental to families of influence that put the church (and the gospel) beyond the reach the poor.
• A refusal among the church to formally condemn slavery

• An increasing web of church politics that were under the control of powerful clergy who were also members of the Masonic Lodge and other secret orders.

  Not all of the leadership in the western New York area of The Methodist Conference were content with the way things were. The Genessee Conference of the Methodist Church had among its members a young, devout, and articulate minister in Benjamin Titus Roberts. His publication of an article in 1857, entitled, “New School Methodism” sharply criticized most of the developments mentioned above. Roberts’ name quickly became wrongly associated with fanaticism and discontent. For the next four years he would fight an increasing number of accusations and trumped up charges from the conference. His courageous attempts to reform his own Methodist Episcopal Church failed. In 1861 he, along with several others, were finally expelled without a license to preach. A number of sympathizers joined them. They had no recourse but to organize themselves as a separate body.

  Wishing to continue in the spirit of authentic Methodism, the reformers issued a call for a convention in Pekin, NY to meet at the close of a campmeeting there in August.

  Wishing to continue in the spirit of authentic Methodism, the reformers issued a call for a convention in Pekin, NY to meet at the close of a campmeeting there in August. The ad was given through a new publication edited by Roberts, The Earnest Christian. On August 23rd, 15 preachers and 45 laymen organized as a church and took a name for themselves that was already in use by a like-minded group from St. Louis, Missouri.

  They became a new order called “Free” Methodist based on the following principles:

  Follow the doctrine of primitive Methodism, such as the witness of the Holy Spirit, entire sanctification as a state of grace distinct from justification, attainable instantaneously by faith. Free seats, no slaveholding, no connection with secret and oath-bound societies, congregational singing, without instrumental music in all cases; plainness of dress. An equal representation of ministers and members in all the councils of the church.

  The Free Methodist Story (1871-2005)

  The history of the Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church now bridges three centuries. In 1863. E.P. Hart, a leader in the early Free Methodist movement, and his wife, Martha, were at a rural railroad station in Ida, Michigan. They were pioneer church planters for the growing denomination. The drooping spirits of the Reverend E. P. Hart were encouraged by this wife, Martha, on that cold January day as she emphatically said:

  While there’s a track, I’ll never go back, But go on at the risk of my all.”

  Those simple words were set to music as revival fires swept across Southern Michigan, reaching Spring Arbor during the winter of 1870-1871. A.V. Leonardson became the first pastor of the fledgling flock of members. An old stone schoolhouse a mile west of Spring Arbor was the first home of the little church. Then, it was on to the dilapidated buildings remaining from a Free Will Baptist School in Spring Arbor. The next home for the congregation was the Music Hall of a new Spring Arbor College and then on to the chapel of a boy’s dormitory.

  The Early Years

  In 1922, a lovely stone church just north of M-60 on Cottage St, was built under the leadership of the Rev. James G. Fortress. You can see the bell at the west entrance to our sanctuary and some of the original stonework in our Fellowship area immediately to the south of our sanctuary.

  The stone church was outgrown within a few years, and in 1963 a new sanctuary was constructed under the leadership of the Rev. Herbert Sebree. Sixteen years later, in 1979, the sanctuary was decreased in size to become our current Chapel and was replaced by our present sanctuary under the ministry of the Rev. John Hendricks.

  In 1993 a major facility update took place under the Rev. Darold Hill. The Community Family Center, our current offices and additional classrooms were constructed. Today, many years after Martha Hart gave those determined words in 1863, the same spirit remains among our people. “While there’s a track, we’ll never go back, but go on at the risk of [our] all.”

  Path to Success

  This past February, we introduced a comprehensive and ambitious Vision Plan to our congregation. While building a bridge to the future, we rejoice in our past and gain inspiration from such a great “cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us. Our journey includes thousands who have come to a life-transforming faith in Jesus Christ. We have see a number of men and women who have gone on into vocational ministry as pastors, missionaries, and educators. Many more lay leaders have been nurtured here and are now serving in Kingdom work around the world. Though the Free Methodist Church and Spring Arbor University are two separate institutions, they have benefited from a strong and close relationship that has benefited generations of students as well as the local community. Pastor Mark Van Valin arrived in August of 2003 as the 47th Senior Pastor of the Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church.