Main Street United Methodist Church has stood at 306 South Main Street in Kernersville, North Carolina, since 1837, when the founders of the local Methodist group were given a grant of land by John Frederick Kerner and built their first sanctuary. The congregation that anchors that site today looks like a small town in motion. Three Sunday morning services range from camp meeting gospel to a praise band in a stained glass chapel. A Wednesday night rhythm is built around a community dinner, children's choir, and Bible studies. A music program fields handbells and a chancel choir along with choirs for children and youth. A team of Stephen Ministers sits with people in crisis. A long partnership with Kairos Prison Ministry sends volunteers inside the walls of Central Prison in Raleigh. A churchwide Hands Together Day sends 70 to 200 members out into the Kernersville area to serve. And a half-day preschool has been welcoming the children of the community for more than fifty years.
Three Sunday Mornings: Informal, Jubilee!, and Traditional
Main Street offers three Sunday morning services, each in a different style and in a different room, so that worshipers can choose what fits the way they live.
The 8:30 a.m. Informal Worship takes place in the Sanctuary. Its music draws on American Methodist camp meeting hymns and gospel favorites. The 8:45 a.m. Jubilee! Contemporary Worship meets in the Chapel, a worship space built in 1922, surrounded by the church's stained glass windows and chancel area, where a praise band leads with visual displays, dramas, and lighting. Jubilee! is a come-as-you-are service; the chapel is set up with chairs so families can sit together, coffee is available at the entry, and a nursery is open for children from birth to age three. The 10:55 a.m. Traditional Worship is the more formal, liturgical service that reflects the Anglican heritage of the United Methodist Church.
At 9:45 a.m., between the second and third services, Sunday School meets for all ages. Twenty adult classes are offered on Sunday mornings, and there is a full program for children. There is also a Parlor off the Sanctuary where anyone who needs to step out of worship can still see and hear the service. For those who cannot be in the building, every Sunday service is livestreamed online, and a full archive of recent services is kept for viewing later.
Wednesday Connect: Dinner, Choir, and Bible Study
From September through May, Main Street runs a program called Wednesday Connect that begins at 5:00 p.m. with the Oasis service of Communion and Healing in the Sanctuary. At 5:30 p.m. the Fellowship Hall opens for a sit-down dinner that runs until 6:30. The menu rotates through favorites like meatloaf, white chili, baked potatoes, and fried chicken, and reservations are taken online through the church office.
After dinner, children head to Children's Choir rehearsal at 6:15 p.m., a variety of Bible studies and small groups meet at 6:30, and the Chancel Choir rehearses at 7:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary Choir Room. The pattern turns the church into something close to a community center for an evening, with a generation or two moving between dinner tables, classrooms, and rehearsal halls.
NOW: A Night of Worship in the Chapel
On selected Sunday evenings through the late summer and fall (August 16, September 20, October 18, and November 15 in the recent schedule), Main Street holds a service called NOW: Night of Worship. NOW begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel and is built around music, a message, and fellowship. The church describes it as a Wonderful night of Music, a Message, and Fellowship. Nursery care is provided for anyone who needs it, and the church encourages families to invite friends and neighbors.
Oasis: Wednesday Communion and Healing
Midway through the Wednesday Connect evening, the Sanctuary becomes a quieter space for the Oasis service. Oasis is a brief service of Communion and Healing that the church offers during the program year. It is one of the small but distinctive rhythms of the congregation, a chance to pause the busyness of the evening with prayer and sacrament.
Music for Every Age
Music is woven through nearly everything Main Street does. The Adult Choir, the Carol Choir, the Main Street Ringers handbell choir, and a ten-piece orchestra come together for an annual Christmas Cantata. Recent years have included "It Is Finished," a Lenten cantata by Mary McDonald, and "A Festival of Carols." For the 2026 Advent season the program is "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," scheduled for December 20 at 10:30 a.m., with a brass ensemble joining the Adult Chancel Chorale and Choir.
Chancel Chorale (the 8:30 service choir) rehearses on Monday evenings. Chancel Choir (the 10:55 service choir) rehearses on Wednesday evenings. The Jubilee! Praise Team rehearses on Thursday evenings in Chapel Hall and leads the contemporary service each Sunday. The Main Street Handbell Choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings. Adult ensembles include the Blackwell Singers, a mixed ensemble that rehearses on the second Sunday of the month, and the Singing Kirkmen, a men's ensemble that meets on the second Monday of the month. A worship band rehearses on Sunday evenings, and the Main Street Orchestra plays for special services.
The children's music program is led by the Director of Music Ministries and includes the Angel Choir for three and four year olds, which meets on Sunday mornings during the Sunday School hour, and the Cherub and Carol Choir for kindergarten through fifth grade, which meets on Wednesday evenings. The Alpha & Omega Youth Choir, for sixth through twelfth graders, rehearses on Sunday afternoons in the Chapel basement. For very young children, the Children's Music Ministry has adopted a four-quarter system so families can opt in or out of choir based on their own seasonal schedule.
Jill Gardner serves as the Director of Music Ministries. She has been active in church music since she became organist for her home church, Mizpah Moravian Church in Rural Hall, at the age of thirteen, and has served Moravian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, and Catholic congregations. The church recently welcomed a new staff organist, Keith Maxey, who holds a Bachelor of Music from Appalachian State University and a Master of Music from Indiana University.
Children, Nursery, and Safe Sanctuary
The Director of Children's Ministries, Victoria Smathers, oversees a Children's Ministry she describes as built around "some of God's most precious gifts, our little ones." She herself was baptized and confirmed at Main Street and continues to serve in the church that raised her.
Children are welcome inside any worship service at Main Street. For families who prefer child care, the nursery on the first floor of the Education Building offers rooms for infants (Room 313) and toddlers three and under (Room 311) for all three Sunday morning worship services, for small groups on Wednesday nights, and for other special events. The nursery staff is described as "a loving, energetic staff."
Main Street is a Safe Sanctuary congregation. The church maintains a written policy covering the safety of all children and youth age 18 and under, with expectations for parents, children, and volunteers. The same policy applies to all children's Sunday school meetings. The Bookbag Ministry, Vacation Bible School each summer, Kids in Action Summer Camp for second through fifth graders, and the Pumpkin Patch fundraiser each fall are all led or coordinated by the Children's Ministry team.
Youth in Grades 7-12: Sunday Nights and Appalachia
UMYF, the United Methodist Youth Fellowship at Main Street, is for youth in grades 7 through 12. The group meets on Sunday nights from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. downstairs in the Chapel Building. The program is described as a time to get to know other youth in the community, learn more about God, and have a great time, with games, Bible studies, mission projects, and trips throughout the year.
Wayne Purdy, Minister of College and Youth Ministries, leads two summer mission trips each year through the Appalachia Service Project (ASP). The high school and college group travels in June, and the middle school group travels in July. Main Street celebrated its twentieth year of service with ASP in 2024 and typically sends around thirty-four youth and twenty adults to repair homes in rural Central Appalachia. Past trips have served Breathitt County, Kentucky, and Johnson County, Tennessee.
Two named youth trips round out the year: a Spaghetti Lunch fundraiser, a Christmas Cantata trip, and a Stock Program. The youth ministry also maintains three named scholarships for young people connected to the church: the Linville Scholarship, the JC Grose Scholarship, and the Frank and Mary Palmer Scholarship.
Twenty Adult Sunday School Classes
Main Street describes its adult Sunday School as the number one small group in the church. Twenty adult classes meet between the second and third Sunday services, from 9:45 to 10:40 a.m. The classes range in age and in style. Seafarers is an open discussion class for adults forty and older in the Sanctuary Building. Becoming is a singles women's class that meets in the Sanctuary Building. Christian Fellowship, for adults fifty and older, meets in the Connections Building. Cornerstone, for adults fifty-five and older, meets upstairs in Connections. Genesis, for adults around forty, meets in the Adult Education Library. Grose-Kirkman is for those sixty-five and older. Great Expectations, Journey, Rise, and New Horizons fill out the Adult Education Building. Each class has a contact person listed in the church's directory.
Beyond Sunday School, the church runs a Wednesday Morning Bible Study at 11:00 a.m. in the church library during the program year, a Wednesday Evening Prayer Meeting, four Disciple Bible Study groups that meet at various times, Sisters Study groups for women, a Men's Bible Study Group, five ChristCare small groups that meet throughout the year, and Spiritual Formation Retreats. A Heritage Club for older adults meets on the third Tuesday of each month for a covered dish luncheon and organizes day and overnight trips.
Stephen Ministry: A Listening Presence
Main Street became a Stephen Ministry congregation in 2011, the first in Kernersville. Stephen Ministry is a lay caring ministry in which trained Stephen Ministers walk alongside people going through difficult seasons, such as grief, job loss, hospitalization, divorce, or home confinement. Stephen Ministers are not counselors and do not give advice; they listen. One care receiver described her Stephen Minister's weekly visits as "an anchor in my life - something I could rely on when everything else was so uncertain."
The Stephen Ministry team at Main Street joined more than ten thousand Christian congregations around the world offering this confidential, one-to-one care. Members of the congregation who would like a Stephen Minister assigned to them can contact Phil Kuntz, Emily Dreshfield, or Melissa Dreshfield for additional information.
Kairos Prison Ministry and Central Prison
Main Street's longest-running mission partnership is with Kairos Prison Ministry at Central Prison in Raleigh. The relationship began in the 1990s, when Sam Martin and Chip Leonard became involved. Since then a long line of Main Street members have served on the inside and outside teams, including Chip Cole, Rick Carter, Chadwick Stamper, Don Stutts, Kemp Baker, Mike Witt, Reginald Turner, Bob Langlais, Steve Reid, Richard Hedgecock, Jacob Hanks, and Mike Tozer.
Kairos is a three day short course in Christianity, led by lay volunteers, that brings Christ's love and forgiveness to incarcerated individuals and to their families. The MSUMC team supports the program through prayer, financial giving, and one of the most concrete acts of all, baking cookies. Each inside volunteer is encouraged to bring one hundred dozen home-baked cookies to Central Prison, and every resident and staff member receives a dozen cookies during the weekend. The cookies are described as a tangible sign of the love of God, and the team needs to bake about 120 dozen each season.
The team also helps prepare the special meals that the outside team cooks and serves inside during the weekend, and members of the congregation sign prayer chain links that are gathered from around the world and draped inside the prison walls where residents can see them. Each resident also receives a personal letter of faith, hope, and love from a team participant. Kairos is, in the words of the MSUMC team, "a remarkable gift to many, many people."
Main Street also supports the Forsyth Jail and Prison Ministry, which sends volunteers into the Forsyth County Jail to lead worship services and share fellowship time. Personal hygiene items are collected at various times throughout the year for these residents.
Bethany Cafe and Hands Together Day
Bethany Cafe is Main Street's monthly community meal. On the third Saturday of every month, volunteers serve breakfast and lunch at the church and deliver meals to homebound neighbors. The cafe has been part of Hands Together Day, the church's annual day of service, for years, and the role of team leader has rotated among members.
Hands Together Day is the biggest single day of service on Main Street's calendar. In 2024, more than seventy workers served at nine organizations or church projects, including Open Arms Ministry, the Next Step Ministries Thrift Store, Shepherd's Center, Crisis Control, the Hope Center, and projects on the church campus. In 2016, the year drew about 150 members to local non-profits including Next Step Ministries, the Mt. Zion Community Center, and the Open Arms Community Center in Winston-Salem. In 2014, more than 200 members fanned out across the area to serve alongside Bethany Cafe, Bethesda Center, the UMC Children's Home, Kids' Cafe, Next Step Ministries, the Prayer Shawl Ministry, Samaritan Ministries, Shepherd's Center, and Trustees church improvement projects. The Creation Care team also uses Hands Together Day to collect old cell phones, tablets, and other small electronics for the North Carolina Zoo's Gorillas on the Line recycling program, which reduces demand for newly mined coltan.
United Women in Faith and United Methodist Men
United Women in Faith (formerly United Methodist Women) is a faith-based membership organization of laywomen within the United Methodist Church, organized for mission and committed to growing as disciples of Jesus Christ in community with other women. The Main Street unit is organized into seven Circles, smaller groups that meet once a month for worship, study, and fellowship. The circles cover a range of demographics: Circle 2 is mostly retired women aged 55 to 90 with grandchildren; Circle 4 is retired women aged 60 to 75; Circle 5 is working women aged 50 to early 60s; Circle 8 is mostly working women aged 35 to early 60s with school aged children and meets in the Parlor with childcare available; and Circle 17 is a mix of ages from 40 to 60s. The Reading Program, the UWF Prayer Calendar, and a social action emphasis that has recently collected girls' and boys' undergarments and hand sanitizer for Kernersville elementary and middle schools round out the work of the unit. A set of UWF cookbooks is sold for $25 through the church office.
United Methodist Men meets every Thursday morning in the Fellowship Hall for breakfast and a short devotion from 8:00 to 8:40 a.m., with men welcome to come early for fellowship over coffee. The men also gather for dinner with interesting speakers once a quarter. Annual projects include a chicken pie fundraiser, serving Easter breakfast, adult mission trips, and local service opportunities.
Prayer Shawls Made in Prayer
The Prayer Shawl Ministry is led by a group of women who knit or crochet shawls, lap robes, and baby blankets for people in need of comfort and prayer. The making of a prayer shawl is described as "a spiritual practice which embodies our thoughts and prayers for the receiver." Shawls are made in prayer, as prayer, and for prayer, and are passed on hand-to-hand and heart-to-heart. New members are welcome, and assistance is available for anyone who is an inexperienced knitter.
Open Arms Community
Main Street helps support Open Arms Community, a sister ministry in Winston-Salem whose primary mission is to share the love, hope, and joy of Christ by offering programs on-site to mitigate poverty, low educational achievement, substance abuse, and societal prejudice. Programs include a Youth Group that meets at least once a month for middle and high school youth with lunch, a Biblical discussion, and activities; weekly tutoring for elementary students in grades K-5 with dinner served beforehand; a Bible Study en Español offered through partner congregation Marvin UMC/Comunidad de Gracia; participation in the North Carolina Congress of Latino Organizations; a Blessing Box and indoor pantry that neighbors can use at any time; a Free Little Library; and special events such as soccer clinics or mobile food pantries. Mentors, especially bilingual adults and especially men, are needed for the youth group, along with volunteers and donors for the tutoring meals.
Worldwide Missions: Guam, Mozambique, and the Dominican Republic
Beyond Kernersville, Main Street supports a network of missionaries and global projects. Grant and Jenna Hodgins serve with Trans World Radio in Guam, and the church maintains a long newsletter archive of their work across Asia. Daryl and Leah Burnette serve with WorldVenture in Mozambique and South Africa. The Outreach Committee is also a partner in a medical outreach ministry in the Dominican Republic with Big Hope, the Good Samaritan Clinic started many years ago by the Western North Carolina Conference of the UMC. Nick and Katie Riddle from the Main Street congregation served as missionaries at Egbe, and the Egbe Foundations Academy is supported as part of this work.
Regionally, Main Street supports Bethlehem Center in Winston-Salem, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Curamericas in Bolivia, Volunteers in Mission building teams across Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Alaska, Red Bird Mission in western Kentucky, Henderson Settlement in Appalachia, UMAR's nineteen group homes across Western North Carolina, Hinton Rural Life Center, The Children's Home in Winston-Salem, the United Methodist Campus Ministry, and Hispanic Ministry in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. Local mission projects include Kids' Cafe, CareNet Counseling of Kernersville (housed on the Main Street campus), Shepherd's Center of Kernersville, Camp Close Encounter (a weekend residential camping program for at-risk children from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools that is funded and staffed entirely by Main Street members), and Next Step Ministries, Inc.
Scouting and Other Ministries
Main Street serves as a charter organization for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. The Scouting ministry includes Eagle Scout projects that benefit the church and the wider community, with the cemetery cleanup on the grounds as one ongoing project. The Pumpkin Patch fundraiser, the Really Really Free Market, Books-A-Palooza, the MS Support Group, the Bookbag Ministry, the Homebound Visitation Team, and the Homeless Food Bags program round out the church's calendar of service.
A History Going Back to 1837
Main Street UMC is rooted in the early nineteenth century, when Methodist representatives came to Kernersville to begin forming a presence. For several years the local Methodist group worshipped with the Quakers at the Muddy Creek Meetinghouse, located about a mile outside the hamlet, of which only the cemetery remains today. In 1837, thanks to a grant of land from John Frederick Kerner, the initial Kernersville Methodist Episcopal Church was constructed on what has been the church's site ever since. The original structure was built during 1837 and 1838 by John Ross, whose remains rest in the church cemetery. Each subsequent sanctuary has stood on that same land.
The Main Street Preschool
Main Street UMC Preschool has been part of the church for more than fifty years. The preschool is a half-day program serving children from infant age through Pre-K and emphasizes love, fun, Christian values, academics, and a music program. The Preschool Director, Kellie Vinay, can be reached through the church office at 336-993-4089, and the preschool's own site is www.MainstreetUMCPreschool.org. The Pumpkin Patch fundraiser each fall is one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for both the Preschool and the Children's Ministry.
Stained Glass, the Chapel, and the Cemetery
Main Street's Sanctuary and its 1922 Chapel are filled with stained glass windows depicting the life of Christ, including windows on the Beatitudes, Christ on the Cross, Jesus in the Temple as a Boy, Jesus with the Children, the Resurrection and the Lamb of God, the Last Supper, and the Savior is Born. The Jubilee! Contemporary service meets in the Chapel, surrounded by the stained glass and chancel area, while the Informal and Traditional services meet in the Sanctuary. A Parlor off the Sanctuary provides a place to step away from worship while still being able to see and hear the service.
Worship bulletins can be recycled in receptacles at the Sanctuary exits. DVDs of recent services are available by contacting Kathryn at 993-3411 or by email at kathryn.jenkins@mainstreetumc.org. The church also maintains a cemetery and columbarium on its grounds, available for funerals and for members and their families.
Pastoral Leadership
Rev. Lanny Lancaster is the Senior Pastor. He has served as a pastor in the United Methodist Church for more than twenty-eight years and focuses his ministry on helping the church Connect with Christ, Connect with Each Other, and Connect with the Community. Rev. Sarah McIntosh is the Associate Pastor. A North Carolina native born in Asheville, she graduated from Appalachian State University in 2014 and from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in 2017, where she met and married her husband Shane. Dr. J. Alexander (Al) Ward Jr. is on the Leadership Staff; he is a Durham native, a graduate of Northern High School (1970), High Point University (A.B., 1974), the Divinity School of Duke University (M.Div., 1977), and Columbia Theological Seminary (D.Min.). Wayne Purdy has been working with youth as a volunteer or full time Youth Director for twenty-five years and previously served at Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church in Greensboro before answering the call to full time Youth Ministry.
Main Street is part of the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Yadkin Valley District. The church's mission statement reads: "We exist to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." The vision is: "Fostering vital communities through love and life-changing experiences."
What to Expect on a First Visit
The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and on Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Visitors can reach the office at 336-993-3411. On Sunday mornings the building is busy from 8:30 a.m. through the end of the 10:55 service, and most Sundays there is a hospitality meal or reception at some point during the day.
The 8:30 Informal and 10:55 Traditional services in the Sanctuary are appropriate for whatever you are comfortable wearing. The 8:45 Jubilee! Contemporary service in the Chapel is specifically a come-as-you-are service, with chairs set up so people can sit together and coffee always available at the entry. Children are welcome in any service. A nursery for infants and toddlers through age three is open during all three Sunday morning services, on Wednesday nights during Connect, and during other special events.
For those who cannot attend in person, all three Sunday services are livestreamed, and recent services are archived for viewing later. Sermon audio and notes can be searched by topic or by book of the Bible on the church's sermon archive, which reaches back many years and includes messages from a long line of pastors including Dr. Claude Kayler, Rev. Dr. Michael "Mike" J. Gehring, Rev. Lanny Lancaster, Rev. Rick Carter, Rev. Phil Kuntz, Rev. Wayne Purdy, Rev. Sarah McIntosh, and Dr. Al Ward.
Online giving is available through the church's website and uses Tithe.ly, with PCI Level 1 compliance. Visitors can also sign up to receive the church newsletter, request a prayer request, fill out a connection card, or sign up for events such as the Pumpkin Patch, Trunk or Treat, and Wednesday night dinners.
The address is 306 South Main Street, Kernersville, North Carolina 27284. CareNet Counseling of Kernersville has an office on the Main Street campus. Alcoholics Anonymous meets in the lower level of the Chapel Building on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. The Kernersville Pastoral Counseling Center is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. by appointment.