This is our story

Marvin United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, was originally named after Bishop Enoch Marvin. Mr. Marvin was a Methodist bishop and author from Warren County, Missouri. Marvin is the fifth-oldest church in the Fayetteville area.

The church's construction was completed around 1873 with free local labor, materials, lumber, brick, etc., and was built as the farming carpenters had time to work on it. It was a neighborhood project; all denominations helped. The original sanctuary consisted of one room.

The land for the church was given by Mr. James Marsh (Mary Marsh's father), a Baptist, and Mr. Neill McQueen, a Presbyterian—each giving one-half in 1831—where the land lines of the two estates joined. The church is built on the line and faces the Wilmington-Fayetteville public road (Highway No. 87). Mr. Marsh laid out his "family cemetery" next to the church line on his side of the church property.

Services were originally held by James Cain, a local preacher, under the trees in the grove while the sanctuary was under construction. The first pastor sent from the Methodist Conference was Reverend Gentry, and the Presiding Elder was Reverend Dr. Cunningham—both beloved gentlemen. James Cain, representing the church, presented the church register on June 4th, 1881, bringing it under the Cumberland Circuit of the North Carolina Conference and also stating the official name of the church as Marvin Methodist Episcopal Church South.

Some of the early family names of Marvin Methodist Church are as follows: Williamson, McMillan, Kriner, Gainey, Davis, Evans, Marsh, Blake, Registar, Caine, Yarborough, and Edge.

Around 1912, the vestibule and wings were built by two men from Hope Mills. They would walk from Hope Mills on Monday morning and stay at the church all week. Farmers in the community would bring them meals using horse and buggy and would sometimes take them back to Hope Mills on Friday or Saturday. Additional construction projects have taken place over the years. The Sunday School rooms in the back of the sanctuary were built in 1951; the parsonage was built in 1965. The steeple was installed in 1989.

Old Marvin Church has been enlarged and modernized and now has a large, influential membership. Some of the older family names still remain, like Cain and Davis. New families have since joined the church and helped it grow; Williams, Brockett, Elliot, Roberts, Walters, Roller, Johnson, Wheeler, Orsbon, Melvin, Armour, Bledsoe, Chase, Craig, Duran, Herndon, Lawrey, Young, Talton, and Tellefsen, just to name a few.

May the Marvin family continue to grow, prosper, and shed its light and influence for many years to come.

That was our story

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