History- About Homer Church

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The roots of Homer Congregational Church, can be traced back to the 1830's. A young missionary named Jeremiah Porter had planted several churches in the Midwest, including the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. He met with eight settlers at the home of Lieutenant John Blackstone on August 17th of 1833, to begin what was then called Union Presbyterian Church. Porter was part of the American Home Missionary Society which existed to support churches on the frontier until they were able to exist on their own. Porter was a man on a mission to glorify Jesus Christ, devoted to church planting and making disciples in the new frontier.

While Porter served as an itinerant preacher, the first full-time pastor of our church was called in April of 1834. His name was William Kirby. He was a graduate of Yale and part of what was known as the "Yale Band." The Yale Band was a group of men whose goal was to bring the hope of Jesus Christ to the frontier and train pastors so that those pioneers moving into the area would have churches in which they could worship in Spirit and in Truth by taking advantage of the wonderful opportunity to know the living Christ.

A fire destroyed our original church building in 1952, leading to a new building being built in 1954, which would recieve two subsequent additions. Another significant moment in our history occurred in the 1960's, when Reverend Raymond Scott became the pastor. Reverend Scott was a professor at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, IN, and was devoted to reestablishing Homer as a Gospel-centered church. Scott was evangelical, conservative theologically, and committed to teaching the Bible. Scott was followed by Reverend Lawrence Pote, who was a graduate of Grace Theological Seminary and continued to lead Homer where Reverend Scott left off. Homer differs from many modern congregational churches, because we have a legacy of being a church devoted to glorifying God as a Gospel-centered church, devoted to the authority of Scripture, and evangelical in our purpose.

Over our 177 year history,  our church has gone through several name changes and a governmental change from Presbyterian to Congregational, and people have come and gone,  but our goals remain the same.  We desire to be a church where people who love God, love others, and are devoted to making disciples, can come to worship and grow together. Come join us as we continue to make history by impacting eternity!