About Redmond United Methodist Church

Redmond United Methodist Church has been part of Redmond’s history since before the city was incorporated in 1899. The church was originally part of a three-church Methodist Episcopal circuit overseen by the Rev. Blahbty Blah. Townspeople built a small frame church for Rev. Blah in 18??. A new church building was constructed in 1910 on property donated by city co-founder Warren Perrigo and his family, some of whom remained members into their ‘80s.  In 1928, the building was loaded on a truck, moved three blocks northeast to the current location, and rotated 90 degrees.

The church outgrew this original building in the 1930s. A building campaign resulted in the original building’s renovation and enlargement into what is now the chapel, and addition of a bell tower and a two story matching education and fellowship wing under a common pitched roof. In the 1950s, another building campaign culminated with construction of what is now the education wing behind and attached to the original structure, housing the nursery, restrooms, four classrooms upstairs, and a large fellowship hall downstairs (now leased to the Redmond Cooperative Preschool). The tradition of ringing the church bell for the Sunday morning worship continues to the present.

The congregation, through the 1960s and 1970s, debated whether to remain in “the heart of Redmond”—the rapidly commercializing downtown area where thousands of new apartments were raised and filled to capacity in Redmond’s skyrocketing growth of the 70s and 80s—or to sell the valuable property and relocate farther up “Education Hill” where the city’s other churches were moving. In the end, Redmond UMC stayed true to its original calling, to serve the community from its location in the downtown area.  It is within walking distance of the civic campus and the church kitchen is often used as a base to feed displaced youth at the city’s teen center.

In 1986, ground was broken for a new 5,000 square foot sanctuary to replace the smaller (and often overflowing) chapel. The new building also includes the church offices, a large basement fellowship hall—which was completed with sweat equity by the congregation, new restrooms, sacristy, and a loft attic for possible addition of a full pipe organ. The new sanctuary, dedicated by Bishop Melvin Talbert on Mother’s day 1987, seats 250 and is often used for weddings, scout courts of honor, and other community activities. The older building, separated by a pleasant covered breezeway, remains an active part of the church’s outreach to the Redmond community.