Dr. Jake C. Miller Ph.d.

The Rich Heritage of Stewart Memorial United Methodist Church Dr. Jake C. Miller Ph.d.

Building on Wings of Faith

In 1868, with the nation in general disarray following the American Civil War, the Methodist Church began to form mission churches for freed Blacks in the South. It was out of these mission efforts that the historically important Stewart Memorial Methodist Church was founded in 1893 Daytona, Florida.

In 1939, when several Methodist Churches reunited and assumed the title Methodist Church, Black Methodist Churches were included, but they were placed in the segregated Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church. Stewart Memorial Episcopal Church was renamed Stewart Memorial Methodist Church. There was still another change to come. When serveral Methodist-based churches united in 1967 and became the United Methodist Church, Stewart Memorial assumed its present name, Stewart Memorial United Methodist Church.

Since its beginning, more than forty ministers have served pastoral charges at Stewart Memorial. Through the years, the United Methodist Church evolved, and so did Stewart Memorial, but the basis foundation of Methodism was unshakable. Methodism, as perceived by John Wesley, emphasized small group worship, which was described as:

"A company of men having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their salvation."

Making up these small groups under Wesley were those who had "a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from their sins."

It is upon the sound foundation of Methodism, as emphasized by Wesley, that Stewart Memorial was founded and continues to exist.