Randall's United Methodist Church
Stanly County, Stanly County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Randall's United Methodist Church. First services held ca. 1785 by Jesse Lee & Bishop Asbury in home of John Randle. Fifth building, 1974, 3/4 mile East.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
Around 1785, the pioneering Methodist preachers Jesse Lee and Bishop Francis Asbury held some of the earliest services in this area in the home of John Randle. Their visits were part of the sweeping circuit-riding ministry that carried Methodism across the young republic's rural frontier. The congregation has since built repeatedly, raising its fifth building in 1974 about three-quarters of a mile east.
Why it matters
It marks the reach of early American Methodism, whose itinerant preachers like Asbury planted churches across the countryside and helped shape the religious life of the new nation.
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Related people
- · Jesse Lee
- · Francis Asbury
- · John Randle
Themes & tags
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