First Methodist Church
First Methodist Church is a United Methodist church at 2 S. College St. in Athens, OH 45701. It is one of 50 churches in Athens, and one of 2 United Methodist congregations in the city.
2 S. College St., Athens, OH, 45701Phone: (740) 593-3977 · Website: https://www.firstumcathens.org/
First Methodist Church is part of the Methodist family of churches in The American Church Story. 1,576 congregations of the Methodist family gather across Ohio — 25,370 across the United States on The Church Map.
Methodism gave the church the class meeting, the circuit rider, and the Sunday school, and gave America the conviction that grace is genuinely for everyone — carried into prisons, mines, and mill towns by preachers who owned almost nothing. Charles Wesley's hymns are still sung in nearly every tradition, most of them by people who have no idea whose they are.
Find First Methodist Church on The Church Map, explore nearby congregations, and pray for its community.
Watch
Latest from Athens First Methodist Community's YouTube channel: Traditional Worship 08/02/2026 (all videos).
The community around First Methodist Church
Within a few blocks of these doors, more than 5 in 10 renting households pay over half of everything they earn just to keep a roof over them. More than 4 in 5 the children here are growing up below the poverty line, and about 2 in 3 the people here live below the poverty line. That is two thousand neighbors — and some of them are already in these pews.
Pray for the families one rent increase away from moving, and for this church to know their names.
- Child Poverty: 87.0%
- Poverty Rate: 70.5%
- Social Isolation: 47.4%
- Depression: 39.5%
- Food Insecurity: 35.2% (25.3–44.7%)
- Transportation Barriers: 23.4%
- Utility Shutoff Threat: 18.6%
- Fair/Poor Health Status: 26.0%
- Housing Insecurity: 21.1%
- Unemployment: 10.0% (4.9–15.1%)
- Obesity: 36.1%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, CDC PLACES (2019-2023, 2023), aggregated across 4 census tracts near this church.
Athens city is served by 13 churches — about one congregation for every 1,235 residents.
Churches near First Methodist Church
- Christ Lutheran Church — 0.1 mi away
- First Presbyterian — 0.1 mi away
- Saint Paul’s Catholic Church — 0.1 mi away
- Brookfield Church — 0.1 mi away
- Reach Out On Campus — 0.1 mi away
- Central Venue — 0.2 mi away
- First Christian Church — 0.2 mi away
- Christ the King Catholic Church — 0.2 mi away
- Christ the King University Parish — 0.2 mi away
- Athens Catholic Community — 0.2 mi away
More Methodist churches nearby
- Central Venue — 0.2 mi away
- Offices of Central Avenue United Methodist Church — 1.6 mi away
- Richland United Methodist Church — 2 mi away
- Clarks Chapel United Methodist Church — 2.2 mi away
- Canaanville United Methodist Church — 5.5 mi away