The Church of the Good Shepherd was founded on July 16, 1887, when twenty-seven communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church signed a petition and received permission to form a separate congregation under that name. This group had been meeting and continued to meet in the "Old Grange Hall" (a meeting place for farmers and the community of Darvills, Gunn's Hill, Champ and McKenney). Enough money was raised to hire an English carpenter, Mr. Bently. Communicants provided him with room and board and a horse and buggy and driver. They donated the land and the lumber - each man, woman and child helped in any way they could. Seven years later, on July 15, 1894, the first service was held in the church building, with the Reverend F. G. Ribble as preacher and celebrant.
For fifty years there were few changes in the Church. She lost some of her most ardent and faithful leaders. Some died, some were married and went to other churches. There was the influenza epidemic, the roads were bad and the country was at war. Good Shepherd's spirit of love and the faith of it's people kept the church alive and anxious to grow during those days.
In January 1955, the Parish Hall was built and the stained glass windows were placed in the church. The pine woodwork and heart pine church pews are still visible and used today.
Many of the members of Good Shepherd today are descendants of those first twenty-seven communicants whose vision and faith cultivated deep roots in the community. As then, we are now a faithful congregation with a spirit of love and faith in it's people, and we are anxious to grow - both in numbers and in faith.
