Our History
Turning Point has been around for a mighty long time.
The Turning Point story began in 1771, four years before George Washington crossed the Delaware river for the battle against the British which has come to be referred to as the “Turning Point” of the War of Independence. It was at that time 19 people, were meeting in Burlington, New Jersey to deepen their Christian Faith in a manner as suggested by John and Charles Wesley. These groups were known as “classes”. The decision was made to move to Trenton and erect a structure to serve as a meetinghouse. This society of Methodists was soon to be known as the Trenton Society. It was the first society mentioned by Francis Asbury who would become the first Bishop of The Methodist Episcopal Church. Upon completion of the meetinghouse, Francis Asbury was present for the laying of the cornerstone of that completed building on April 21, 1773.
The denomination known as the Methodist Episcopal Church was created some 11 years later on December 27, 1784. This band of Methodists replaced the original meeting house with one having a larger seating capacity in 1806. A lot on South Broad Street (then known as Greene Street) was the site of the third building which was erected and dedicated on September 9, 1838. It was then that the congregation was known as the “Trenton Methodist Episcopal Church”.
Later in 1894, the current facility was constructed and dedicated on May 5, 1895 having a capacity of 2000 people. Around the same time a group of members of First Methodist Episcopal Church formed a Sunday School which was later organized into a church in 1890, St. Paul Methodist Church. The congregation at St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church in 1923 began to meet in its new sanctuary on West State Street in the city of Trenton, New Jersey.
These two historic churches continued to individually spread the gospel of Jesus in the city of Trenton and beyond until 2007 when they merged to become Turning Point United Methodist Church.
