Church History

Building History

In June 1960 the Rev. Charles Rehfus called on the Phariss, Bernal, Tucker, and Ross families living on Brenner Way, and the DeRemer family on Joseph Lane, to enlist founders for the new Almaden Hills Methodist Church. Organizational meetings were held in their homes. After holding services for six months in the Los Gatos Seventh Day Adventist Church, the congregation began meeting in the Youth Center which is still located behind Toys R Us on Blossom Hill Road and Almaden Expressway. The building required a lot of clean-up and painting before it could be used.  Everything needed for the service had to be carried in each Sunday morning, including the portable organ. Sunday School classes were held in a rented house next to the present Pioneer High School.

Church board members almost named the church "University Methodist," because it was thought that a university was to be built behind the church property. The name "Almaden Hills" was finally chosen because the property was near Almaden Road, now Almaden Expressway. Groundbreaking for the church's first building, a chapel, was in 1963. A five-room classroom unit was built in 1966. In 1980 a larger formal sanctuary was completed, and the first worship service was held there on Mother's Day, May 11. In 1985 the chapel, now called the Fellowship Hall, was remodeled to include a large kitchen. The church's office, with a fireside library and three classrooms, was finished in 1989, and the grounds were landscaped.

From the beginning, the church's emphasis has been on its welcoming friendliness, and on its outreach to the community and to the world. Many people in this congregation of 400 have been active in this congregation since the 1960's.

Local History

Blossom Hill Road used to go by three names -- Downer Avenue, Kooser Road, and Blossom Hill Road. East of Almaden, it was Downer Avenue. Between Almaden and Meridian it was Kooser Road. Past Meridian it was Blossom Hill Road. The original address for our current location was 1200 Kooser Road.

Pastors Appointed to AHUMC

1960 - 62	Charles Rehfus
1962 - 71	Charles F. Cordes
1971 - 76	Claude H. Friesen
1976 - 83	Glenn S. Fuller
1983 - 90	Robert J. Hawthorne
1990 - 01	Glenda C. Thomas
1999 - 03	Dale M. Weatherspoon
2001 - 05	David Fewins-Pittman
2003 - 05	Amy Beth Durward
2005 - 09	Carole L. Vincent
2009 - 17	Jane E. Schlager
2017 - present	Mariellen Yoshino