THE HISTORY
of
Battle Ground Community
United Methodist Church
our HISTORY:
The Methodists established a church in the Battle Ground, Washington area in 1879 at the southwest corner of NE 199th Street and 132nd Avenue. In those days, this was known as Scotton’s Corner and is one-fourth mile east of the current Maple Grove Primary School. It was the first protestant church in the area and was served by a circuit-riding minister.
This one-room church building was destroyed by fire in 1910. The church met in the Maple Grove School while they rebuilt the church. The new church was constructed on the same spot as the previous building and was identical to the Maple Grove School building. The only difference was the addition of a wooden bell tower.
With the improvement of 132nd Avenue, which is today named Parkway, the church was moved in 1918 to the southwest corner of Main Street and Parkway in Battle Ground.
Battle Ground community church
On September 19th, 1920 the members of the Methodist Church merged with the Christian Church located at First and Clark Streets in Battle Ground and became known as the Battle Ground Community Church. Although the two congregations resolved not to let their doctrines come between them, they sometimes did.
In 1932, Reverend Jimmy James, a Methodist minister on leave from the Methodist Pacific Northwest Conference for health reasons, was asked to come and serve this congregation. He did a great job of getting the congregation to grow until he had to step down because of his health in 1949.
After several other ministers, the church found the right match in 1955 in the Reverend George Schubert, a pastor with a dream for expansion. On Father’s Day 1957, a ground breaking ceremony occurred. On Palm Sunday, 1958, the congregation moved into the new building, which was built around the old building.
Battle Ground Community
United Methodist Church
On January 12, 1969, after the Methodist Church and the United Brethren Church merged into the United Methodist Church, the congregation voted to become part of this new denomination. This solved the problem that they had of finding a new pastor when one retired or moved away. At the Pacific Northwest Conference in Walla Walla, Washington, in June, the first United Methodist pastor was appointed as pastor of the Battle Ground Community United Methodist Church.
