The early pioneers of Murrieta first held church services at the Fountain House Hotel. The first recorded preaching was April 12, 1885. Sunday School classes, led by Rev. Boyden, began meeting the following June.

The pioneers faced a dilema of whether to build the church or the schoolhouse first. The decision was reached to build the school first because it was better to hold church services in a school than to hold school in a church. Daniel Buchanan was retained to build both the school and the church. The school was completed in October, 1885, and church services were moved there soon after completion.

Early trustees of the Murrieta Methodist Episcopal Church, in June of 1886, were Mr. and Mrs. R. N. Bollen, Mary Buchanan, A.B. Burnett, Dr. and Mrs. H. B. Lashlee, Josie M. Ogborn, N. N. Tower, and Horatio Warren. They filed Articles of Incorporation with San Diego County on June 29, 1886.

Daniel Buchanan built the church for $2000 and when it was completed, it was debt-free. The original church was located at the corner of Washington Avenue and A Street. Here were some excerpts from Daniel's Diary of 1887:

Services at the church were held on alternate Sundays by the Reverend Amos M. Ogborn, who was the first pastor assigned to the church. Rev. Ogburn also was responsible for the church in Winchester. Sunday school was held every week in Murrieta. In the spring of 1909, the congregation provided a new parsonage next to the church. In 1942, C.W. Sharer, the pastor at the time, made plans and did much of the construction on an addition to the church. The addition housed a social hall, kitchen and two classrooms. The hall was named Sharer Hall in tribute to the pastor.

It was early in the morning of April 10, 1963, when a neighbor saw flames coming out of the roof of the church. She called a friend who rushed to the fire station. Tom Warmer, the pastor at the time was sleeping next door in the parsonage. The same neighbor woke Pastor Tom.

The fire department was unable to save the church, which was a total loss, but saved the parsonage by spraying water on the walls. The windows on the side of the parsonage next to the church all broke. Among the ashes were the remains of three pianos, an organ, stove, refrigerator and the recently-installed kitchen flooring. Most of the church records burned. A few old journals remained safe in a private home. Mrs. Hale Curran, due to her interest in the recorded history of family and friends, hand-copied a few names and dates prior to the fire.

Reverend Tom Warmer, on the premise that the church is the people rather than a building planned his next service "...even if it had to meet under a tree." The following Sunday was Easter, and the traditional sunrise service was held on a hill at Sykes' Ranch.

Following the Easter sunrise service, District Superintenent Dr. Donald O'Connor met with the congregation and took immediate action to launch a building fund.

The new building committee included Gordon House, Chairman, Carl Cain, Louis Gagnon, Tavia Thompson, Jack Roripaugh, Shannon Morrison, Paul Thompson, Harold Smith, Jackie Sheld and Ross Rail. The goal was to locate a site for a new church to seat 150 people. For two years, Sunday school classes met in members' homes and church services assembled at the school.

Insurance money, private donations and many fund raisers, including children who sold flowers and nails from the burned church, made consturction of the new church possible. A final contribution, on the day before the dedication, left the church debt-free.

The funds went to purchase a parcel of land on the corner of Kalmia and Adams. Dedication of the 29 X 100 foot multi-use building was on March 28, 1965. That building housed a narthex, sanctuary, four classrooms, a kitchen and restroom facilities. Dr. L. F. Hawley, a senior pastor of the First Methodist Church of Ontario consecrated the buillding.

Mrs. Ethel Silva, daughter of J. V. Thompson and granddaugher of Henry Clay Thompson, presented the church with a new electronic organ. Mrs. Tavia Thompson, organist, accompanied the hymns on dedication day.

Robert Newkirk and Ted Holderness were co-chairpersons for the construction of a new sanctuary on the property as the church continued to grow. Members and friends of the church donated toward the new project. Grading began in March 1988 and construction started in May.

To a large extent, labor for building the new sanctuary was contibuted by members of the congregation with the help of Harold Campbell of the United Methodist Regional Construction Services. It was estimated that the volunteer labor saved approximately 25% of the $350,000 value of the new building.

Completion of the new sanctuary came nearly one hundred and two years after establishment of the original Methodist Episcopal church in Murrieta. Bishop Jack Tuell, District Superintendent Willie Foreman, and Pastor Isabelle Rimbach dedicated the church on June 4, 1989.

An important addition to the building was added and dedicated on October 20th, 1990. The stained-glass window, built by Richard Graff, is called the "Good Shepherd" window. Donations were raised for the construction and installation of the window. A video is available showing Richard Graff describing the window.

Fellowship Hall

In 1991, the church community was again growing, and it became necessary to expand further. It was decided that a third building was needed to provide a fellowship hall and classrooms.