In 1821, Henry County came into being. In 1822 the first place of worship was a crude shelter on the southwest corner of the public square, a place where Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians met to hold religious services.

The village of McDonough was incorporated in 1823 and the Methodist used a small building, presumably a log hut, for a church. Methodism did not come with the organization of the county or town. It was inherited from the earliest settlers. It is believed that Methodism entered the county formally with the arrival of Allen Turner, brother of Wade Turner, who lived in the eastern part of the county

Regularly, Allen Turner would cross Peachstone Shoals and ride up the Indian trail that is now known as Keys Ferry Street in McDonough. He would stop here and there by the side of the road to hold prayer services with a congregation of one. His one possession was the Bible. With no home, he would use his brother Wade's home as his "church" headquarters.

In January 1822, Wade Turner, in whose honor Turners Church was named, and his family had come to Henry County and had built a log cabin for worship. This log cabin is in the main body of Mrs. Mary Lou Crumbley's home today. Whether the "headquarters" story is fact or fiction, one thing is certain: Allen Turner did a good job of establishing Methodism in Henry County. In 1834 Allen Turner took the floor of the Georgia Conference and insisted that the leaders of the Methodist Church create a college in Georgia that would train preachers instead of continuing to send these young men to Virginia for training. As a result, Emory College at Oxford, Georgia was established. Allen Turner was one of its founders. Today, Oxford College is a two-year division of Emory University in Atlanta, where the Candler School of Theology trains ministers as Allen Turner so wanted it to do. Allen Turner is buried in the cemetery at Oxford College in Oxford, Georgia.

On April 20, 1830, when McDonough was seven years old, a sight for a Methodist church was purchased from Tandy W. Key for $50. The sight was approximately one acre. 230 feet from east to west and 191 feet from north and south. It is recorded that a house or place of worship was erected, but no date was given. Mr. Tandy W. Key's name has been preserved by the naming of the Indian trail leading into McDonough on the east as Keys Ferry Street.

"Where You Are Welcome In our Worship and Wanted In Our Fellowship"