Methodist worship in the Elkhart area began in 1840, when a small congregation met in private homes. A Methodist mission was established in Elkhart in 1878 under the Rev. J.F. Henderson, a circuit riding minister responsible for this and seven other missions in his district, and during its first fifteen years the church was served by nine different clergymen. By November 1892 the congregation had grown enough to plan a sanctuary, and a white frame structure with a high steeple and bell tower on one corner was erected. The church later began a Sunday school program, created a youth ministry in 1907 that continued over the years to form the Methodist Youth Fellowship, and the women of the church formed a missionary society in 1915. In late 1930, under the leadership of the Rev. J.L. Webb, a new church building program began; a one-story structure was completed in 1933, a second story was added in 1939, a brick parsonage was built near the church in the 1950s, and after the need for a new sanctuary arose by 1971, an addition on the northeast side of the old church was consecrated on September 15, 1974.