Main content

Gap United Methodist Church records

Notifications

Held at: Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church [Contact Us]235 N. Fourth Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Methodism is a protestant Christian faith based in the teachings of John Wesley (1703-1791), who preached "practical divinity," emphasis on Christian living, and putting faith and love into action. The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1784 in Baltimore, Maryland with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as its first bishops and held its first general conference in 1792. In May of 1939, the Methodist Episcopal Church; the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and the Methodist Protestant Church united to form the Methodist Church (U.S.). In 1946 the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution) and the Evangelical Church united to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. In 1968 the Methodist Church (U.S.) and the Evangelical United Brethren Church united, forming the United Methodist Church (U.S.).

Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church was established 1821 in Sadsbury Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. By the early 1870s the church building in use by the congregation was in need of several costly repairs. The congregation decided to abandon that building around 1872 or 1873 and build a new church, Gap Methodist Episcopal Church, in nearby Gap, PA, where the population was larger. Until the new church building was completed in 1876, services were held in Gap Hall.

Gap Methodist Episcopal Church and Georgetown Methodist Episcopal Church constituted the Georgetown-Gap Circuit in 1873, part of the Susquehanna District. In the early 1980s, Gap United Methodist Church and nearby Atglen United Methodist Church became a two-point circuit, and in 1997, these two churches merged to establish Asbury Community United Methodist Church, which held its meetings at the Atglen location in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Gap church building was sold in 2000, and Asbury Community United Methodist Church was discontinued in 2002. Remaining congregants and assets of Asbury Community United Methodist Church merged with Grace United Methodist Church of nearby Coatesville to establish Faith Community United Methodist Church in Parkesburg (Chester County), a congregation which is still active as of 2014.

Bibliography:

Ellis, Franklin, and Samuel Evans. History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883. Accessed August 20, 2014. http://books.google.com/books?id=WsQxAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.

This collection consists primarily of Official Board minutes, 1914-1990, and membership and vital records such as baptisms, marriages, and deaths, 1902-1992. Also included are Charge Conference records, Quarterly Conference records, Board of Trustees minutes, and membership directories. A small amount of records relate to Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church (Sadsbury Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania), which became Gap Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872 or 1873. A folder-level inventory for the collection is available.

Some church records at the Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, particularly membership and vital records, are available in digital form through Ancestry.com or on microfilm at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and/or the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church is the repository for records of member churches when they close.

Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.

In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church directly for more information.

Publisher
Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church
Finding Aid Author
Finding aid prepared by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories using data provided by the Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church
Sponsor
This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Access Restrictions

Contact Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church for information about accessing this collection.

Collection Inventory

Charge Conference Records.
Box 1 Folder 1
Membership directories.
Box 1 Folder 2
Official Board Minutes, 1914-1922.
Box 1 Folder 3
Official Board Minutes, 1922-1925.
Box 1 Folder 4
Official Board Minutes, 1932-1939.
Box 1 Folder 5
Official Board Minutes, 1939-1947.
Box 1 Folder 6
Official Board Minutes, 1947-1960.
Box 1 Folder 7
Official Board Minutes, 1961-1968.
Box 1 Folder 8
Official Board Minutes, 1968-1990.
Box 2 Folder 1
Quarterly Conference Records.
Box 2 Folder 2
Quarterly Conference Records, 1921-1926.
Box 2 Folder 3
Trustee Minutes, Asbury and Gap, 1871-1972.
Box 2 Folder 4
Trustee Minutes, 1985.
Box 2 Folder 5
Church records, 1904-1962.
Volume 1
Church records, 1962-1992.
Volume 2
Church records, 1902-1939.
Volume 3

Print, Suggest