A corner at 11th Street and Orange Ave. NW marks the site of the initial meeting place of a small group of people who believed in the saving power of Christ and the biblical principles of grace. They gathered to worship in a small storefront and held their first service on January 4, 1914. Rev. Percy E. Baily Sr., then serving a charge in West Virginia, conducted meetings for the little group until he became the first pastor in June when the church joined the Wesleyan Methodist denomination. Five years later, in 1919, a lot was purchased at 16th Street and Melrose Avenue. Here the growing congregation worshipped for the next fifty years. In July of 1968, under the guiding hand of Rev. Walter M. Phaup, construction began on the present church building at 3706 Peters Creek Road. The new sanctuary and church school complex was dedicated by the Rev. W. N. Miller, district superintendent, on April 19, 1970. The multipurpose building currently housing the Children’s Discovery Center was built in 1976.