First United Methodist Church of Taft

First United Methodist Church of Taft. . , E. A. Hunter was appointed pastor to the Taft, Gregory, Portland and Ingleside circuit in 1910. Methodists in Taft and Gregory worked together to build Methodist worship and religious education in the area. A Methodist Sunday school had been meeting in Gregory since 1876. The Rev. Mr. Hunter organized the Taft Methodist Church in December 1910. The Rev. R. C. Aubrey was assigned to the circuit in 1911. The Taft and Gregory congregations held a joint revival, bringing in forty new Methodists. The entire circuit pooled its funds in order to raise a thousand dollars for the building of the new Southern Methodist University in 1911, as well., The Methodist and Presbyterian congregations in Taft shared the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company assembly hall and later the Taft School building. The two congregations built a new facility in 1921 on land given by the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company. It was the first permanent church building in Taft. The two groups separated in 1923 when Methodists decided to erect their own building. That year the Methodist and Presbyterian congregations in Gregory voted to merge with the Taft churches. In November 1924 a new Taft Methodist Church building was completed., The church continued to grow, erecting new facilities as needed. A new sanctuary was formally opened on Easter Sunday, 1949. Membership increased dramatically in the 1950s, and plans for a new educational plant began in 1954 and were expanded in 1955. The Taft United Methodist Church congregation has been active in the community, from the Epworth League (organized in 1924) to a lay witness program begun in the 1980s to the modern family programs organized in the 1990s.