Keller Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'll tell it to you. Way out in Keller, there's a story that starts not with walls and a roof, but with neighbors making do. From 1886, the Christian denominations of Keller and other areas did something you don't see every day.

They shared their facilities. Different flocks, same floor, making it work the way folks out here have always made things work. That went on for more than a decade.

Then, in 1897, Pastor W. K. Simpson was serving the area when the Keller Methodist Church was organized.

A congregation with a name, with a purpose, but not yet with a building to call its own. They kept at it, though. Kept at it for sixteen years, until 1913, when the church erected its own building.

Now that's a moment. After all those years of borrowed space, finally a place that belonged to them. The story doesn't stop there.

By 1946, the Reverend R. V. Holt was serving a full-time station, and that congregation had grown to a membership of 136.

One hundred and thirty-six people calling that church home. The congregation kept acquiring new buildings as the need arose, growing right along with the community around it. Then came 1968, and with it a new name: the First United Methodist Church of Keller.

And under that name, the members brought something back to the community that started this whole story, that spirit of neighbors looking out for neighbors. Programs like the Christian Community Storehouse and the Building Blocks Preschool. They started by sharing space with anyone who needed it.

Turns out, that was never going to stop being who they are.

What the marker says

From 1886, the Christian denominations of Keller and other areas shared their facilities. Pastor W. K. Simpson served the area when the Keller Methodist Church was organized in 1897. In 1913 the church erected its own building; by 1946, the Rev. R. V. Holt was serving a full-time station with a membership of 136. The congregation acquired new buildings as needed. Renamed the First United Methodist Church of Keller in 1968, the members have brought such programs to the community as Christian Community Storehouse and the Building Blocks Preschool. (1997)