On Sunday morning, August 24th, Duffey Memorial Church will celebrate 175 years of gathering for worship at the same corner in the heart of Moorefield. After worshiping in the same chapel shared with other denominations, the Methodists of Moorefield built their own building in 1850 at the location of Duffey Memorial’s present building on the corner of Winchester Avenue and North Elm Street. The 1850 building was replaced by the congregation’s present sanctuary in 1922. This 1922 building was the Heritage weekend tile building in 2022.
Methodism has a long history in Moorefield. Francis Asbury, who would be elected as one of the first two Methodist bishops in the whole world later that year, recorded in his journal a trip to Moorefield in 1784. It seems likely that the first Methodist congregation in Moorefield was organized at least two hundred years ago, but that cannot be documented. Because the date of the construction of the first church building on the corner of Winchester Avenue and North Elm Street can be documented, the church has chosen to celebrate the anniversary of this event.
The celebration will begin with the morning worship service at 11:00 AM, and will continue with a meal in the church’s Family Life Center. Several former pastors of the church have been invited to attend or to send letters sharing some memories of their time in Moorefield. Among these are pastors Ted Osgood, Bob Fulton, and Paul Mateer.
The congregation which built the first church building on this site belonged to the Baltimore Conference of The Methodist Episcopal Church, the first formally organized Methodist denomination anywhere in the world. In the 1860’s, the Moorefield Church switched from one Methodist denomination to another. It then belonged to the Baltimore Conference of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South. There is still a window over the main entrance with “Duffey Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, South” spelled out in glass.
In 1939, The Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Methodist Protestant Church united to form The Methodist Church. Duffey Memorial then became part of the West Virginia Conference of The Methodist Church. Then, in 1968, The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church united to form The United Methodist Church.
Duffey Memorial belonged to The United Methodist Church from 1968 to 2024, when it withdrew from the denomination. The congregation is now giving serious consideration to becoming part of The Global Methodist Church. The GMC is a new Methodist denomination which adheres to traditional biblical principles which were rejected by the UMC at its General Conference of 2024. The West Virginia Conference of the UMC required the congregation to pay more than $260,000 to keep the Duffey Memorial building, which had been built at the congregation’s expense but legally belonged to the conference.
Duffey Memorial has Sunday School for all ages each Sunday morning at 9:45 and worship at 11:00. Beginning September 2, Awana will be offered on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 for children age 3 through sixth grade. Duffey Youth, for young people in grades 7-12, will be held on Mondays at 6:30. The church has a women’s circle and is making plans to start a new men’s ministry. For more information about Duffey Memorial, you are invited to look at the church’s website at duffeylife.org, or call the church office at 304-538-2024. You can watch the livestream of worship services, or watch archived videos of worship and recent funerals on Facebook at duffey memorial methodist church. The church also has a radio program Sunday mornings at 10:30 on WELD. The Rev. Mark Flynn has been the pastor of Duffey Memorial since 2019.
