The History of Nortonville Pleasant Grove Christian Church
At Nortonville Pleasant Grove Christian Church, we have a simple hope: to see people come to know Jesus Christ and grow in their Christian faith. For more than 160 years, we've been helping spread God's good news here in our hometown and throughout the world, and we pray that God will continue to use our congregation.
Nortonville Pleasant Grove Christian Church has a wonderful dual history that dates back over 160 years ago. Throughout our long and rich history, we’ve met in several different buildings with numerous different ministers. As different ministers and people came and went, a few things have remained the same: we love Jesus and we want you to know Him.
Pleasant Grove Christian Church was organized on May 1st, 1862. The Congregation met in Noffsinger School House under the direction of Pardee Butler and L.D. Cook. As an abolitionist and early church leader, Butler was instrumental in the organization and start-up of both Pleasant Grove and Nortonville Christian Churches. Eventually the Pleasant Grove congregation built a church building 3 miles south of Effingham, Kansas and it was dedicated in 1883.
In February of 1880, Nortonville Christian Church was organized and had their own building dedicated in 1884. Most of the early records of NCC were believed to have burned in a fire that destroyed the Locklin home. The original building for the Nortonville congregation stood until March 7th of 1949.
In 1948 the Nortonville Christian Church and the Pleasant Grove Christian Church united and the name was changed to Nortonville Pleasant Grove Christian Church. The original building of Nortonville Christian Church was torn down and a new building was built on the same site. That building was dedicated on September 18th, 1949 with a full house including former members and visitors from neighboring churches. Miss Adeline Balf was minister at the time.
In late 1979 and early 1980, NPGCC took up offerings and began a new building project. The last service at the original location was held on August 3rd, 1980. The following week, August 10th, 1980, services started in our current building. The church on the hill was dedicated on October 19th, 1980 with W. Keith Shrum as pastor.
NPGCC has had many ministers over the years that have each served for various amounts of time. The most notable in length were: Keith Shrum (11 years) and Leroy Riley (14 years). Most recently, Bob Carter served as our minister for 11 years and then retired in 2022. Dr. Rick Wright served as interim minister for more than a year as NPGCC continued their search for a new minister. The current minister, Robert McGuire, began in January of 2024.
