A Tarpon Springs church celebrated a big milestone Sunday.
- Tarpon Springs church celebrates 125 years
- First United Methodist Church built in 1892
- Church moved to Tarpon Ave. in 1950
First United Methodist Church is 125-years-old.
"This church is very alive,” Pastor Herbert Lang said. “We have a message that goes to the bottom and the soul of a human being to know God, to share God’s love with this world.”
The first church was built in 1892.
“Two churches came together in the late 1800s,” church administrator Fran Antonellis said. “They built churches right beside each other over here downtown. Then in the 1930s—1939--they decided to merge."
That resulted in the building of the Faith Chapel at the church’s current site on Tarpon Avenue in 1950.
Since then, the church has built a new sanctuary and the Wesley Christian Center. The congregation has grown to 2,000.
"It’s amazing,” Antonellis said. “To know the community has been such a big part of this church and the church has given back to the families."