The West Morris Street Free Methodist Church sits on the west side of Indianapolis, a couple of blocks east of the White River and a short drive from the Indiana State Capitol. From a doorway on Morris Street the congregation runs a neighborhood food pantry, hosts an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting each Tuesday, and sends groups of neighbors out across the near westside for monthly "micro-church" gatherings in front yards and kitchen tables. The mission statement at the top of everything the church prints - "Awakening Hope with the Transforming Light of Jesus" - is lived out in those practical, weekly rhythms. Officially renamed the West Morris Street Free Methodist Church in 1952, the congregation celebrated a century of ministry on the hill in 2014 and still calls that same corner of the city home.
100 Years on the Hill
The congregation traces its beginning to 1913, when a small group of Free Methodists began holding meetings in an abandoned church at South Ray Street and Warren Avenue. The flood that spring forced the group west to higher ground, where they met first in a woodshed at Tremont and West Ray, and then rented a small store for twenty dollars a month. On Thanksgiving of 1915 the mission served 176 dinners to the poor and shut-ins of the neighborhood. In 1916 the group organized as the "Second Free Methodist Church" with twelve charter members under the leadership of Mrs. H.E. Perigo, who had come over from the First Free Methodist Church on the east side of town.
By 1952 the society had formally renamed itself the West Morris Street Free Methodist Church, and on April 6 of that year services began in a new building on the present site. A fire destroyed the structure in 1967; it was rebuilt and rededicated in February of 1968, and the larger sanctuary with seating for 1,300 was completed in 1975. Over the decades West Morris has "mothered" three congregations: Mars Hill Free Methodist on West Farnsworth, John Wesley Free Methodist on West 46th Street, and a Hispanic-language fellowship called "Comunidad Cristiana" that meets in the same West Morris building.
Awakening Hope: Mission, Vision, Values
A thirteen-member Vision Team worked through the summer of 2021 with an outside consultant to put the church's calling into fresh language. Their mission is "Awakening Hope with the Transforming Light of Jesus," and their vision is "partnering with God to cultivate flourishing and unleash revival in West Indy." Seven core values shape the work: Love First, Kingdom Living, All In, Empowered Missionaries, Diversity Enriches Community, No Perfect People, and Better Together.
The whole of that "West Indy" vision is built around the streets, schools, and blocks immediately around the building. A downloadable notebook walks adults and kids through each value with the Scripture passages underneath them. Plain words about being a neighborhood church, in other words - not a regional attraction.
Sunday Mornings at West Morris
Worship is held each Sunday at 10:30 AM, both in person in the main sanctuary and through a Facebook livestream. The service blends musical styles - both traditional hymns and contemporary Christian songs - alongside prayer and the sermon. Children from birth through fifth grade begin the service in the sanctuary with their families and are dismissed for Children's Church after the singing; a quiet play area is also kept at the back of the room for the youngest children and their grown-ups.
The morning actually starts well before the service. At 9:15 AM a free breakfast - coffee, juice, and pastries - is served in the New Day Cafe on the main level. By 9:30 the building is full of classes: Adult Bible Study and Sunday School for everyone meets in the Susanna Wesley Room, kids' Sunday School for all ages meets in the Coffee Shop, and middle and high school students head to the second floor for Youth Sunday School. A prayer time is held in the Prayer Room while the worship team rehearses in the sanctuary. New Day Kids Church for kindergarten through sixth grade runs three Sundays a month.
Visitors enter through doors 1 or 11 on the east end of the building. The facility is handicapped accessible, with elevator access down to the lower level.
Midweek and Other Weekly Rhythms
Wednesday nights at 7 PM the church hosts "Midweek Refresh" on Zoom, with a link and a dial-in number for landline callers posted on the home page. Tuesday at 7 PM the building opens door 1 for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that anyone is welcome to attend. On the first and third Fridays of each month, from 9 AM to noon, the New Day Pantry and Thrift Shop operates out of Daniel Webster IPS 46 at 1450 South Reisner (door 5).
Micro-Churches in West Indy
Perhaps the most distinctive ministry at West Morris is the Micro-Church network. Rather than gathering once a week as one large group, the church meets monthly as multiple "sent-out" groups across Indianapolis neighborhoods and online. These gatherings happen in front yards, on back porches, in parks, around kitchen tables, in living rooms, and on Zoom. Pastor Kristen teaches that this is closer to the first-century pattern - households of parents, kids, extended family, and neighbors practicing the fifty-plus "one-anothers" of Scripture together. Worship guides for adults and children are downloadable for anyone who wants to host their own gathering, and a three-week Missional Leadership Training covers what a church is, how to plan a gathering, and what the early Christian community actually looked like in Acts.
Those sensing a call to lead one are invited to email Pastor Kristen. Project Lydia, another outreach arm connected to the same missional impulse, is also run out of the building.
New Day Kids and New Day Students
Children from birth through sixth grade are welcomed into New Day Kids each Sunday during the 10:30 worship service. The rooms are set up for creative, age-appropriate learning, with the aim of letting kids explore who Jesus is, what hope looks like, and how to follow Him in everyday life. Pastor Penny Jones, the church's Family Ministries Pastor, oversees both children's and student ministries; she can be reached by text with questions or to arrange a ride for a child who needs one to get to church.
New Day Students is the ministry for seventh through twelfth graders. Students serve on the tech and sound team during Sunday worship and gather for special events throughout the year. The framing is simple and direct: "Students matter - they are not just the future of the church; they are the church NOW." The Wabash Conference, the Free Methodist regional body that includes West Morris, runs youth events that students plug into across the year.
A Young Adults ministry for ages 18 to 30 meets for Bible study and fellowship under the leadership of Olesya.
Serving West Indy: The Little Free Pantry and Beyond
The Little Free Pantry stands on the corner of West Morris and Tremont, available twenty-four hours a day. Stocked with canned goods, fresh produce, bread, snacks, toiletries, winter items, and baby supplies, the box invites neighbors to "Take What You Need - Share What You Can." A second pantry has been installed at Purpose Park at 58 North Holmes Avenue, and the two were dedicated together at the church in September 2020. Larger donations that do not fit in the box itself can be brought to the church office for storage and restocking.
A free Clothing Closet at the church sorts, stocks, and helps guests shop. The church is also developing a community coffee shop for the neighborhood and is asking for volunteers to help build out the space, local artists who want to display work, and eventual baristas to staff it.
Free Methodist Roots and Beliefs
The congregation belongs to the Free Methodist Church, a denomination that began on August 23, 1860, in Pekin, New York, when a group of nineteenth-century Methodists led by B. T. Roberts broke from the larger body over issues of pew rentals, slavery, and worship formalism. They advocated free pews - so that the poorest could sit anywhere - freedom from slavery, and freedom in worship from needless ritual. West Morris carries those distinctives forward.
Their statement of belief begins with the doctrine of the Holy Trinity: one living God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They affirm that Jesus Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, joined full deity and full humanity, suffered and died as a blameless sacrifice for sin, was raised, and now sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for His people and one day returning to judge. They confess the Holy Spirit as the administrator of salvation, the agent of conviction, regeneration, sanctification, and glorification, the ever-present self of the Lord indwelling and empowering the believer and the church. Worship follows the "free church" tradition of Free Methodism - a simple pattern that invites the full participation of everyone present - with tithes and offerings presented, the Word opened, and a benediction that sends the congregation back out into the city.
Getting Connected
Visitors are invited to come as they are. The church office is open Monday through Thursday mornings from 9 AM to noon; the phone is 317-632-8311 and the email is wemofmc@gmail.com. Pastor Kristen Marble welcomes conversation over coffee or Thai food; her email is westmorrispastor@gmail.com. A weekly newsletter can be subscribed to online, prayer requests can be left on the interactive prayer wall, and giving is handled through Breeze or by mailing a check to the church address at 2302 West Morris Street, Indianapolis, IN 46221.