Our Purpose
Good Shepherd Church exists as an instrument of God’s grace to build a community of hope and peace where lives are transformed through grace into the image of Christ.
Our Vision
We envision Good Shepherd UMC being a church where: Christian hospitality is extended to all and diversity is celebrated. The love and grace of God are encountered, passion abounds and lives are transformed. We live out the Kingdom of God as a present reality through worship, education, care and mission. We live out of our baptism thus bearing fruit worthy of our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ. The light of Christ is carried forward into the community and world.
We will do our part toward arriving at this vision by:
Reaching: Reaching out actively to welcome others.
Belonging: Assimilating new members into the congregation so they know they belong.
Becoming: Creating opportunities for all who enter to grow deeper in their faith & more like Christ.
Living: Instilling in all who are part of Good Shepherd an understanding that “life is mission”.
Our History
In the mid-1960s, Richmond was a smaller city and Hungary Road was in the far West End. If you lived in the West End Manor subdivision, you were almost in the country. In fact, the ground that Good Shepherd United Methodist Church occupies today was once a chicken farm owned by George Eilers, a refugee from Hitler's Germany, who settled on Hungary road in the 1930s.
The Virginia Conference of the Methodist Church saw the need and potential for a new church in the West End. In June 1966, under the direction of Bishop Walter Gum, Good Shepherd United Methodist Church was formed. Rev. Paul P. Campbell was appointed as the first pastor. On September 11, 1966, we held our first worship service at R.C. Longan Elementary School. The average worship attendance was fifty-five.
At our charter service on November 20, 1966, the bulletin contained the following vision statement:
"We are grateful to all those who have displayed a stewardship of time, talents, and service as we worked together to make this day a reality. This is an historical day in the life of this church. There will be many other such days in the years to come. With God's blessings and His presence, we hope to build far more than a church building. We hope to build a fellowship of like-minded people who will give themselves to one another and to God that His Spirit may be brought to bear in our lives, our homes, and our community."
Forty years later, with an average worship attendance of 425, the members of Good Shepherd have created this kind of church community and our dream is this vision will continue for generations to come. The gift of the Holy Spirit is very much alive at Good Shepherd!
We worshiped weekly at R.C. Longan Elementary School until 1967 when the Richmond District Board of Missions bought 11 acres from George Eilers as the future site for Good Shepherd United Methodist Church. Mr. Eilers and his family continued to occupy the "little white house" until his death. Good Shepherd purchased this house in 1983 and it provided rental income for Good Shepherd until 1993 when it became a Hospitality House, a ministry of transitional housing for refugee families, allowing us to have a global mission on our own church campus.
