Mission :
Our mission is to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Jesus reached out to include everyone in the world. He included especially the poor, the outcast and the oppressed. Jesus in so many ways took on the suffering and sorrows of all people, those who were rejected or had experienced discimination

History :
After the 1870 Los Angeles Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, a lone circuit rider headed east across the hot and barren Mohave Desert, then into the Sonoran Desert ... his destination, the few isolated settlements that dotted the vast Arizona Territory.

One hundred and twenty five years later we look back with gratitude for the courage, vision, and faith of that lonely rider, Alexander Groves, and the small but hardy group of men and women who welcomed him to their humble community on the banks of the Salt River in the middle of the desert. That fledgling group began gathering regularly for worship under the spiritual leadership of Rev. Groves, and was the inception of what we now know as Central United Methodist Church.

Methodism had been pivotal in forging the American frontier, for the circuit riders had planted new congregations all across the North American Continent, knitting persons togetherwho were otherwise widely separated by miles. An extension of the tradition of Christian mission and outreach led by Charles and John Wesley in the mid 1700's in England, it had begun as a reform movement within the Church of England. But after the Revo-lution in America, the Anglican priests all returned to England, and Methodism became its own movement.

The purpose of the Methodists was to methodically practice spiritual disciplines through acts of piety and acts of mercy, while agreeing to be held accountable to a small group of peers called a "class." The Methodists cared tremendously about their brothers' and sisters' spiritual growth and walk with God through Jesus Christ... and this newly formed group in the Arizona Territory was no different.

In the beginning they gathered for worship on the banks of the Salt River under a grove of Mesquite trees, and "classes" were formed. This small congregation then moved to the County Courtroom in the Hancock Monihon Building where the first public school classes were also being held. When an adobe schoolhouse was built, the congregation met there.