Established in 1871, Chandler's Grove Church is a beautiful, historic church, neighboring Badin Lake, the Uwharrie National Forest and a quick drive to other local lakes along the Yadkin River chain.  We celebrated our 150th anniversary in 2021.  Our congregation supports many missions, actively serving to help make our community better.​

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  In 1871, Kendrick Chandler donated the land for Chandler's Grove. The church began services sometime prior to August 8, 1871. The original building was replaced in 1911 by the building in the black & white photo above. Reverend George William Bumgarner said that Chandler's Grove was probably the oldest Methodist Episcopal Church in Montgomery County.

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  Our first pastor was S. R. Roper, who served one year. For the first 60 years, Chandler's Grove was an active rural church. Vernon A. Morton became pastor in 1929 and had a membership of approximately 75, mostly farmers with large families.

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  The depression hit the community very hard, and the young people moved away to find work. By 1956, the membership had fallen to approximately 28 people, most of whom did not live in the community.

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  From 1954 - 1991 lay preachers served the church. Some of them were Lee Roy Hunt, Hal Varner, P. H. Pholk, Jack Luther, and Elsie Hardister. Some of these men went on to become ministers in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. For the larger part of 21 years the church was kept alive by the perseverance of the lay preacher Elsie Hardister. He held services on the first and third Sunday of each month from 1970 - 1991.

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  Reverend Vernon Morton retired to this area in 1972. He and others of the faithful few members conducted a survey to help spark interest in the church, and made many home visits to area residents. At this time, the area consisted of mainly families who had come from nearby towns and built homes around the lake. The visits worked and the attendance began to grow.

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  In June of 1991, Chandler's Grove was reunited with the Western Conference of United Methodist Churches and joined the Eldorado Charge which included three other churches, all pastored by Reverend Derald Smith. Under Derald's leadership, the church continued to grow and thrive while adding Sunday School programs, Children's Church, a Bus Ministry, as well as the Yard Sale and Food Pantry missions.

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  On July 4, 2004, Chandler's Grove officially went station with Derald Smith as the full-time pastor. In early 2005, church membership stood at 174 and grew strong with the Lord. Then, in November 2005, the church embarked on Phase I of a multi-phased building project that included moving the church back 300 feet from the road, added 30 feet to the sanctuary, doubled the size of the fellowship hall, and added classrooms. During the move and expansion, the congregation met at Lane's Chapel to worship for over a year. We are grateful to the people of Lane's Chapel for letting us use their chapel during that time. We moved back to our newly remodeled church in November of 2006 and began the work of landscaping the property.

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  A meditation garden was completed in 2012, and includes the traditional 3 crosses, an open tomb, a stream with a waterfall, small pond, and granite tile walkway. The tiles in the walk way include many inscriptions in grateful appreciation of some and in memory of others who are and were special to our church.

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  After 24 years of dedicated service, Derald preached his last service and retired on June 28, 2015. Steve Phillippi joined as our next shepherd on July 1, 2015. Steve led our church family through many miracles and blessings for 9 years. Under Steve's leadership our missions expanded to include: the Community Table, Clothes Closet, and Pastor's Pantry. Steve came up with the idea for our annual Jubilee which is a fun day of free activities, food, and music, for the community.

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  Chandler's Grove Church left the United Methodist Church and joined the Global Methodist Church in June of 2023.

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  Steve Phillippi retired June 30, 2024. Our church family celebrated Steve's retirement with his family, former church family, and members from the Cherokee nation church that Steve shepherded early in his service to the Lord.

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  From the time Pastor Steve retired, through June14, 2026, the church has received amazing support from multiple pastors. Mark Key, Chris Thore, Matt Jones, and Andy Lambert have helped guide and lead as we searched for a new, permanent pastor. We can't thank these men enough for their efforts!

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  As of June 15, 2026, Pastor Paul Strahan has joined as the full-time pastor to lead CGC forward. Today, we are blessed with a membership of approximately 200 individuals and growing. The Lord has blessed Chandler's Grove Church in more ways than we can count. Our prayer is that our Lord and Savior continues to use us in our community and allow us to minister through our missions.

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Matthew 25:35-36

  "...for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."

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