History of the Midway Wesleyan Church

“A body of seven people of the Randleman and Worthville Communities desiring to be organized into a Wesleyan Methodist Church met at the home of C.C. Stevens on Monday night, January 6, 1936, with the Reverend D. C. Stone officiating. The body was organized into a class according to the book of Discipline. On January 12, 1936, two members of the Official Board of the North Carolina Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church met with the class and, acting upon the instructions of the President of the North Carolina Conference, declared the above class to be a Wesleyan Methodist Church and a member of the North Carolina Conference.”   Thus reads the earliest minutes of our church. Reverend D. C. Stone served as pastor until Conference of that year, followed by John W. Simpson. To this nucleus of seven were added three members on January 17 and six more on February 9. This growth trend continued so that by Annual Conference of 1936, the membership had reached twenty-one.  From the organization of the church in January 1936, to the completion of the first building in April, the people worshipped in the home of Mr. And Mrs. John Slack. Mr. Slack donated a parcel of land on which the first church was built, with a value listed in the 1936 minutes of $800, with an indebtedness of $215. All indebtedness was cleared and it was dedicated debt free on June 6, 1938. The next building project included the building of six new Sunday School rooms, declared debt free on July 13, 1942. A six-room parsonage was next constructed beside the church and dedicated without indebtedness on January 17, 1943.  During the 1950’s, because of numerical growth, the first church building was too small to take care of the crowds and plans were made to build a larger house of worship. Land was purchased across the road from the first church and construction began in February 1963. The new building was opened for the first service on October 10, 1963. Total cost of the new building and furnishings was $97,000 with a fifteen-year loan secured for $60,000 of that amount. This load was paid off in nine years with a note burning ceremony held May 14, 1972. While at the former building, people had lined around the church, looking in the windows! Midway needed this new building.