Mission :
Our Mission, with God's Help, is to be a community of believers who witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ, reach out to all who do not know Jesus as their Savior, and Nurture believers in their relationship with Chirst.
History:
First United Brethren Church became First Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1946 and in 1968 became the First United Methodist Church. When First Church was initially organized as a congregation, it was felt necessary to build a church for the denomination. The attendance at the preaching meetings had grown so large the members' homes could not accommodate everyone. The congregation felt it would be quite a challenge to raise the necessary money since there were already many churches in Chambersburg. Reverend Huber proclaimed "if we want a church then we must raise the money to build it." A subscription paper was prepared for that purpose and Reverend Huber raised $500 (a considerable sum of money) from residents of Main Street. Brothers Braiser and Flinder then raised $200 more. The first building went up at a cost of this sum, $700. Until 1847 the services were conducted mainly in the German language. The congregation at that time was mostly German. Due to the Mennonite influence in our origin, certain customs prevailed in the first church. Choirs had not been established. Organs were not tolerated in public worship. The wearing of gold and jewelry was frowned upon, and anything but the plainest of dress and manner of wearing the hair, especially among the women, was openly rebuked. Men and women sat apart in separate rows. In the early 1870's, men and women were permitted to be seated together. 1884 was the first time an organ was permitted to be used in the worship service.
When the present church was to be built in 1899, Reverend William Washinger requested the congregation to support the cost of installing ten bell chimes in a bell tower. The membership objected and voted down his request. They said they did not feel the bells were necessary. Reverend Washinger was so determined to have the bell chimes that he decided to raise the funds himself. He did just that by raising the $5,000 needed to purchase and install the ten bells and keyboard. Reverend Washinger was sincere and convincing; one of the contributors was John W. Wanamaker of the Philadelphia department store firm. First Church had the distinction of having the first and only hand operated bells in Chambersburg. These were installed at a cost of $5,000 and today are worth in excess of $100,000. Since the original installation, the bells have been changed from hand operated to electronic operation from the organ console.