A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHURCH OF THE MASTER

The origin of Church of the Master United Methodist can be found in the old German Protestant denomination known as the United Brethren in Christ Church. Otterbein College was a UB college and later became a EUB college with the merger of UB and Evangelical denominations in 1946. The Evangelical Association was also a German Protestant denomination mostly centered in Pennsylvania. Otterbein College and Church of the Master both became United Methodist institutions from the merger of the of the EUB denomination with the Methodist Church in 1968.

Church of the Master was founded on the Otterbein Campus in 1851 at nearly the inception of the school which was founded in 1847. The "campus church", known as White Chapel hosted worship from the churches organization until 1861. At that time worship was transferred to a new Chapel on the campus which shared space with the Administration building until it burned to the ground in 1870. The first pastor was President Lewis Davis. A new site was selected at the corner of Grove and Main for the church to have its own building. This was the site of the home owned by one of the churches early pastors Rev. William Hanby, who was a co-founder of Otterbein. Rev. Hanby, who later became a bishop in the UB Church, was father to one of the best known early America song writers Benjamin Hanby.

As construction began on the Grove and Main site excitement grew in Westerville about the church's outreach and ministry. While it took nearly 4 years to raise the money needed for the project of constructing the new church, over 900 attended the dedication service on April 30, 1916.

Since that time Church of the Master has been known regionally and nationally for its Education, Mission and Music programs. Major building expansions and renovations were successfully completed in 1954 (Sanctuary), 1961 (adding the Education Wing), 1971 (extensive remodeling of the entire church building) 1985 (Sanctuary) and an additional renovation in 2005 (Sanctuary) which included a revised Chancel area with the addition of state-of-the-art video and sound equipment.

 On April 23, 1968, the 10.3 million-member Methodist Church and the 750,000-member Evangelical United Brethren Church merged. In uniting, the church also ended the segregation of African American congregations into a separate Central Jurisdiction. This video from the United Methodist General Commission on Archives and History features footage filmed at the historic event. (UMC History) (This is why Church of the Master and Church of the Messiah are so close to each other!)

During our history many mission ministries have been sponsored in Africa, the Caribbean, and places in the United States, such as the Alaskan Missionary Conference and McCurdy School in New Mexico. This is in addition to local projects such as Habitat for Humanity, Faith Mission and Open Shelter, as well as, the Westerville Area Resource Ministry and the Near Northside Emergency Material Assistant Program known as N.N.E.M.A.P.