History of Plymouth Park United Methodist Church

In 1955, motorists driving down two-lane Highway 183, which skirted the northern edge of Irving, might have noticed a small sign on a piece of bare, treeless land which proclaimed ''Future Site of a Methodist Church.''

The Board of Church Extension of the North Texas Conference had purchased five acres of this former farm land with the vision that this largely undeveloped area of Irving would expand. Shortly thereafter prominent members of First Methodist Church, Irving encouraged several young couples in the church to begin organization of a new congregation. Those couples started meeting in homes in early 1956 and chose Plymouth Park as the name for the proposed new church. The Bishop and Conference approved their organization and plans and issued a charter for the new church. At the annual conference in June 1956, the first minister was appointed.

Meeting first in Haley Elementary School and later in Crockett Junior High School, Plymouth Park Methodist Church was off and running with 145 members on the rolls by the end of that first "charter" year.

The decades to follow were filled with challenges to meet the needs of the growing congregation and the community as a whole. Major building programs were undertaken, from the completion of the first unit on the church property in 1959, completion of the present sanctuary in 1986, and addition of the educational wing in 1998. All programs of the church had to be expanded including the addition of full-time staff members. The children's division, youth division, and adult outreach were all undergoing rapid growth. Programs such as a kindergarten (because the public schools did not yet offer kindergarten), a CARE CORPS (organized under the leadership of the UMW), a food pantry, day care services, a well-baby clinic, volunteer drivers for Meals On Wheels, recycling and major leadership in establishing Irving Cares have all been ministries of the local church.

The vision, enthusiasm, dedication, and Christian spirit of those early members, developed and carried faithfully through 45+ years, allows us to celebrate what we know today as Plymouth Park United Methodist Church: a membership of over 1400, an impressive sanctuary and related facilities, an outstanding music ministry, a youth ministry which is a model for the North Texas Conference, Sunday School programs for every age level, a Christian outreach to the community through many programs, and a warm, friendly, caring fellowship that strives to be an example for the glory of God by following the teaching of Jesus Christ.