Historic church in Wichita Falls to close

A landmark church in Wichita Falls will close its doors.

Floral Heights United Methodist Church on 10th Street will cease operations after more than 100 years in existence.

Senior Pastor Brian Bosworth said the decision to close came on a 61-1 vote on Sunday.

The congregation will merge with two other churches, First United Methodist Church and University United Methodist Church.

At one time the Floral Heights church had nearly 3,000 members, including prominent business and civic leaders. Bosworth said the number is about 300 now, and not all are active.

He said the congregation at the church noted for its gilded dome had been dwindling for the past 10 to 20 years as the neighborhood in an older part of the city became transitional.

“We have lots of people with food insecurities, which became our main outreach ministry. We have homeless, people with mental health challenges, addictions of all sorts,” he said.

Bosworth said the food pantry is a separate nonprofit and will remain open.

He said a rift in the ranks of the United Methodist Church was also a factor. Nationwide, United Methodist churches have spilt over homosexuality and related issues.

Methodist News estimated 7,658 churches had withdrawn affiliation between 2019 and the end of 2023. That’s about a fourth of all the congregations in the First United Methodist Church.

Bosworth said Floral Heights United Methodist decided to remain affiliated, but “there were people who were unhappy and drifted away.” He described his congregation as “more centrist” on the dividing issues.

“Darkness is not going to overcome the light,” he said. “It’s getting more difficult and challenging to do ministry, so it’s an opportunity to strengthen two other churches. We’ll infuse good DNA into some other good congregations.”

The church was consecrated in May 1921 at a cost of $200,000 for land, parsonage and church structure in what were new neighborhoods at the time. Members of First Methodist Church in Wichita Falls had agreed a new congregation should be formed to accommodate the growing population of the city.

Bosworth said part of the property has already been placed on the real estate market and the rest will follow soon. He will leave Wichita Falls for another pastoral post this summer.

The last service will be April 28.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Historic church in Wichita Falls to close