Unity United Methodist Church Northwood OH

Unity, a faith family reflecting the Kingdom of God, by empowering and engaging families and individuals in making disciples for Jesus!

La unidad, una familia de fe que refleja el Reino de Dios, mediante el empoderamiento y la participación de las familias y de los individuos en hacer discípulos de Jesús!

 

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In October of 1910, a little band of workers under the direction of Rev. C. N. Crabbs, for the East Broadway United Brethren Church rented a little old house on Homestead St. and opened a Sunday school for people in the Oakdale district. It was well attended and in November, a series of revival meetings were conducted ending with a total of twenty two members who organized a class and called themselves the "Homestead United Brethren Mission".

In 1911 Conference sent Rev. Turner, of Second United Brethren Church, to take charge of the work to be done for continued growth.

Early in 1912, work was begun on building a church on two lots on Oakdale Ave.; one donated by Mr. Elwell and the other purchased by the Church Election Board. It was a frame building and was dedicated on August 4, 1912. Neither Oakdale nor Pool Streets were paved at this time. The name of the church was changed from "Homestead United Brethren Mission" to "Oakdale United Brethren Church" and the church was now established as a Charge. In September 1912, Rev. W. F. Barber was placed in charge of the work at the church. In 1914, Rev. A. J. Smith was sent in. In Sept 1916, Rev. Rizley and in 1917, Rev. Wesley Mullenhour were sent in as acting pastors. In 1920, Rev. R. H. Turner became the pastor. In 1921, Rev. Turner helped raise $5,000 for the new church.

During the pastorate of John W. Shock, who became pastor in 1926, excavation for a building of brick was started and after it was finished the dedication took place on January 21, 2028. The cost was $58,000. Pastor Shock remained for 15 years and guided the church during the dark ages of the depression.

In 1941, Rev. Thomas Weisenborn came to serve 5 years. During this time the church building was renovated. The congregation re-decorated the church, cleaned the basement; which had been blackened by a fire; added a used organ and purchased a parsonage for the pastor. On November 16, 1946 we became Oakdale Evangelical United Brethren Church.

In September 1946, Rev. Dale F. Emrick became the pastor where he remained until his retirement in 1975. During his leadership the church grew rapidly. He was full of enthusiasm at the age of 33. A new Hammond organ was purchased in 1948 and in 1955 a home behind the church on Pool St was acquired as an annex. Classrooms were used for a Sunday school for the overflow of children. A bus was purchased to transport the children to the church. In 1970, the church was remodeled with a new facade after removing the outside steps. A narthex was added and other improvements were made. On June 10, 1969 the Evangelical United Brethren Church affiliation was with the United Methodist Church and became "Oakdale United Methodist Church".

Following Rev. Emrick's retirement in 1975 came Rev. John Beers, then Rev. Charles Miller who also retired from Oakdale. In 1983 Rev. Henry Lee was sent from the Conference. Oakdale UMC celebrated its 75 anniversary while he was appointed. Then came Rev. James E. Corbitt and Dr. Haskel W. Moore.

In July, 1995 Larry Keeler's became our pastor. He traveled back and forth every week form Chicago where he was attending Garrett Seminary. During the 12 years as pastor a lot of progress took place. He led us into building a new church as the biggest endeavor. As this was taking place Euclid United Methodist Church merged with Oakdale on January 1, 2002. Also, on January 1, 2002 we became officially renamed "Unity United Methodist Church". A campaign to raise money to purchase land was chaired by Mary Wilkolek. A kick-off dinner was held on February 3, 2001 pledges were made and many fundraising events took place. On July, 1, 2002 Bethany United Methodist Church joined our congregation.

In 2004, Grace United Methodist Church, along with Rev. Harold Black, their pastor, joined Unity. A few people from Unity UMC went out into the neighborhood and started a new ministry which became somewhat successful. They named themselves "U-Turn" but were still an extended arm of Unity. Their leader was Kenneth Dantzler who eventually became Rev. Kenneth Dantzler.

As we continued to grow, 9.2 acres of ground located on East Broadway and Andrus Road was purchased at a cost of $125,000. The land belonged to the Coy family (James Coy, James Hart and Deborah Petlow).

The property was completely paid off when the planning began for the new building. A Building Committee was appointed and years of hard work which ended up with many contractors and an estimated cost of $1,300.00. Ground was broken May 6, 2007 and the congregation moved in on May 4, 2008.

Consecration Day was May 18, 2008 with a big celebration. Rev. Keeler retired on June 22, 2008.

A few special ministries were born: - Living Hope - Haiti - Boy Scout Troup 151 began with Harold Lehman and George Saunders, Scoutmasters - Mountain Mentors- conceived by Rev. Everett Mills in 1984 - U-Turn which was transferred to Salem United Methodist Church January 2013 with Rev Ken Dantzler's leadership - Fish and Loaves Food Pantry lead by Norm Eck

Pastor Joel Schutte arrived in June 29, 2008 after Rev Keeler's retirement. Pastor Schutte remained until November 9, 2009. During his Ministry at Unity he worked very hard at bringing many youth from the community into the church. We had a bus that was sent out to pick them up for church activities.

Rev. Mike Denman from the Maumee Watershed District office was sent on November 16, 2009 and remained with us temporarily until Pastor Kevin Jobe arrived from Cincinnati, Ohio on June 27, 2010. Rev. Jobe was a fantastic musician and many changes in ministry took place during his stay. The congregation sang mostly praise songs which was taking place in most churches at this time. He also led us into a Cuba Mission with Pastores Jose and Yamy of La Senda Antigua. With our congregations connecting and creating prayer partners and leading mission trips to Cuba. He remained until June 23, 2013

During Rev. Jobe's stay, a Hispanic Ministry was brought in. Iglesia Torre Fuerte (Strong Tower Church) officially joined Unity UMC on Resurrection Sunday April 24, 2011. Pastor Guadalupe and Pastora Elvira Rios proudly lead their congregation on their new chapter.

On June 30, 2013, Rev. Melissa Steinecker arrived to fill the pulpit as senior pastor. She was our first lady minister. In July of 2015, she was transferred to Convoy United Methodist Church.

March 17, 2019 we welcomed Rev. James Nevel as our senior pastor and look forward to future growth under his leadership!