Winchester Church Celebrates 50 Years of Faith and Ministry

Members and friends of the Winchester Church, Ky., gathered on August 8, 2026, to celebrate the congregation’s 50th anniversary, marking five decades since the church was officially organized on Aug. 21, 1976.

The history of the Winchester Church stretches further back than its founding. For approximately two decades, Adventists made several attempts to establish a Branch Sabbath School in Winchester, a small outreach group with the potential to develop into an organized church. Although those efforts ended, members continued praying for a permanent congregation.

In 1976, a group connected with the Lexington Church, Ky., tried again under the leadership of elder Volker Schmidt. The Branch Sabbath School held its first service April 3 with 29 people and, just weeks later, purchased 10 acres on Mount Sterling Road for a future church. On Aug. 21, the group officially organized as the Winchester Church with 25 charter members, including Lillian Berryman as its first member.

The congregation broke ground for its church building in 1978 and worshipped there for the first time on May 19, 1979. The building was unfinished, with a bare concrete floor, no heat or lights and makeshift pews made from boards and buckets, but members finally had a church home of their own.

Christa Schmidt, one of the original founding members, remembers that establishing the congregation required commitment from the small group. She was initially hesitant to leave the Lexington church, where she had friends and was involved in children’s ministries, but eventually joined her husband in the new church plant.

The couple thought they might remain in Winchester for only two or three years before helping establish a church elsewhere. Instead, Winchester became home.

“To me, the Winchester church is my family, my church family,” Schmidt said. “Sometimes you give credit to so-and-so and so-and-so, and I don’t really want to get any credit for anything because we are the body of Christ. He is the head, some of us were the feet, some of us were His hands, and some of us His eyes, and some of us His mouth. But we are all together as a family.”

The anniversary celebration brought together current members, former members and friends of the congregation to recognize the milestone. Today, Winchester Church has 88 members, along with 22 nonmembers who attend regularly. For the 50th anniversary celebration, the congregation welcomed more than 120 people.