Ford's Chapel United Methodist Church

Ford's Chapel History
Ford’s Chapel History
James Gwinn, a Methodist Missionary Circuit Rider, was sent to our area in October 1808. The Rev. Gwinn called his area the Flint Circuit, and Richard and Betsy Ford allowed the 2 1/2 acres where the church now stands to be used as a summer campground for the Methodists. By 1815 there was an established Methodist congregation large and strong enough to start a church building, which was completed by 1819 at this place.
Today we are the Ford's Chapel Church. In 1870, the original building was deteriorating, so members tore it down. However, when they reached the floor joists they stopped - for here they found fourteen-inch hand-hewn Oak timbers. The old chapel rested on these.
From 1963 - 1976 many structural changes took place at Ford's Chapel. The sanctuary was bricked and the steeple was added with a bell installed in it.
In 2004, the congregation celebrated the opening of the new sanctuary and classrooms.
On April 27, 2011, a devastating tornado pulverized the church's historic chapel, bowed the walls of the Family Life Center and left the steeple impaled on a utility pole. The loss of more than 100 large hardwoods robbed most of the shade from the church grounds, but the 2004 sanctuary was left standing. Rev. Dorothy Ann Webster preceded over a very moving service the next Sunday although the building had no power.
Wood from the demolished church was used to build a new outdoor pavilion, which is used for picnics and special worship services. Over the next four years after the devastating tornado, Ford’s Chapel has received a new pastor in Dr. Calvin Havens, a new building to replace those destroyed, and a new bright outlook to the future.