Methodist circuit riders began pioneering work in Northeast Texas in 1815 under the Rev. William Stevenson, who preached on both sides of the Red River even though Protestant services were then illegal in the Spanish territory of Texas. Methodist societies appeared in the area during the 1820s and 1830s, and Dr. J.W.P. McKenzie started a Methodist mission in DeKalb in 1836, five years after the town was founded, when the area was considered part of Miller County, Arkansas. The Rev. John B. Denton served the church in 1837 and was later killed in the Village Creek Indian Battle in Tarrant County; the city and county of Denton were named for him. The first church building was a log structure that also served as a schoolhouse and stood in the southeast corner of Old DeKalb Cemetery. After the Texas & Pacific Railroad arrived, the congregation moved in 1882 to a new building at Fulton and Church St., which the Presbyterian and Christian churches also shared. A Sunday school program began in 1883. The congregation moved to its present location in 1913 and has occupied three buildings there, while Austin Chapel, Oak Grove, and Springhill later merged with the fellowship.