According to a pamphlet entitled "Recollections of Wm. E. Gaskins from 1890", it was in the family home of J. B. Cummins, that Mt. Horeb Church may have had its true beginning. The pamphlet said,"Still another appointment was at the residence of the late Mrs. John Cummins when it was changed to Mt. Horeb Church.” The Cummins home is believed to have been about two miles south of Bristersburg road near what is now called Courtney School road.

Methodist services were being held in the home of Mrs. Cummins, prior to 1809, before Mt. Horeb was officially established as a Methodist church. According to a biography of Bishop Waugh, who at that time was Rev. Beverly Waugh, “it was from the hearth-stone of Mrs. Cummins that Bishop Waugh preached his first sermon". He was "assigned to pastoral charges within the boundaries of the Baltimore Conference from 1809 to 1828".

On a spring day in 1848 on April 29, one acre of land was deeded to the trustees of Mount Horeb Methodist Episcopal Church, South, on which was to be built a house of worship to be used "to preach and expound God’s Holy Word therein." Thus the Mt. Horeb Methodist Episcopal Church was officially established April 29, 1848

The earliest conference minutes found show Mt. Horeb as part of the Fauquier-Stafford Conference, which was part of the Fredericksburg District of the Virginia Conference. Mt. Horeb was subject to the administrative rearrangement of the Methodist Church and was transferred from the Fredericksburg District to the Alexandria District in 1865, and from the Fauquier-Stafford Charge to the newly-created Fauquier Circuit in 1873. The new circuit consisted of seven churches spread over four counties. These congregations could not count on hearing their pastor preach every Sunday as it was just not possibly for one preacher to be at all seven churches every Sunday. Mt. Horeb was moved again in 1878, to the Stafford Circuit. Whatever its current administrative linkage, the Mt. Horeb flock evangelized, and its numbers increased.

The first fifty years of Mt. Horeb’s existence as a congregation, 1848 to 1898, was a time of conflict for our country. At first there was a war with Mexico and then war with Spain, but the effect of those military actions on the state of Virginia, Fauquier County, and Bristerburg was insignificant compared to the turmoil that swept the area during the Civil War. During the Civil War, families were separated, loved ones were lost, and buildings and crops were destroyed. Virginia lived through a difficult period of war and reconstruction.

The State of Virginia grew from 1.1 million people in the census of 1850, when it was the 4^th largest state, to 1.9 million in 1900 when it was 17^th. With the arrival of wave after wave of new immigrants, the population of the United States tripled in 50 years to 76 million.

Life in 1848 when Mt. Horeb was established is difficult for us to imagine. There was no call-waiting (in fact, no telephones); no internet (that is, no computers, no typewriters); no cable (in fact, no television or radio); no HOV lanes (not even an automobile). No airplanes or pizza or Big Macs or even ice cream cones. No health insurance, and no income tax! It was a very different world!

The early members who shepherded the Mt. Horeb congregation toward the end of the nineteenth century were true pioneers. An early pastor, Rev. Covington, had a salary set at under $50 a year, and the normal practice was to pay only three-quarters of the total promised.

The building erected on the original one acre parcel became inadequate. A second parcel of land was given to the church in November 1892 by Joseph and Cora George. It was located on the same road about a quarter of a mile from Br istersburg. Rev. Tackett was the first minister to preach in the new one-room structure which was built there.

Mt. Horeb looked forward to the beginning of a new century with space to grow and continued enthusiasm for spreading the gospel message. As good Methodists, they sang praises to their Lord, Jesus Christ, thanking him for that grace which is the most amazing gift of all.

In the 1800s, the average salary of many pastors was $35-50 per month. The practice in those years was to pay 3/4 of the amount promised. With such unrealistically low salaries even for the late 19th century, many church families shared their resources. It was not unusual for a minister to leave a parishioner's home with his saddle bag or buggy loaded with donations of food and other supplies.

The second half century of Mt. Horeb’s history, from 1898 to 1948, witnessed both conflict and a tremendous burst of technological innovations. By the end of this period we did have automobiles, airplanes, radio, television, and the beginnings of a computer--but not yet the Big Mac. We also had two bloody world wars which involved most of the world’s peoples and brought devastation to many lands. Our country was also laid low by its most severe economic depression in history, with 15 million unemployed, some 30% of the work force. The Blue Ridge and other nearby areas were sites of some of the earliest projects to provide employment to young men, the- Civilian Conservation Corps or CCC camps.

Immigration slowed, but the United States still managed to double its population over these fifty years, reaching 151 million in 1950. Virginia grew from 1.9 million to 3.3 million while the population of Fauquier County decreased, from 23,374 in 1900 to 21,248 in 1950.

Mt. Horeb’s second fifty years again brought change, growth, and a new building. The church became part of the Fauquier Charge in 1900, together with Trinity, Midland, Wesleyan, and Auburn Churches. Another administrative change came in 1939, when Mt. Horeb Methodist Episcopal Church, South, became simply Mt. Horeb Methodist Church as a result of the merger of the three major branches of Methodism.

In 1927 during the ministry of Rev. Thrasher, the old one-room church building was replaced by a larger structure on the same site. It was of frame construction with a sanctuary seating 100 persons and four classrooms. The building still stands today but was sold after a new building was built in another location nearby. The parsonage for the Fauquier Charge underwent a major remodeling in 1931. General repairs and improvements were made, including the installation of an indoor toilet and running water.

Rev. Raymond Wrenn was called to the Fauquier Charge as a student pastor during the summer of 1941, just before our country entered into World War II. Rev. Wrenn was a temporary replacement for Rev. Jesse Holman, who on the previous Easter had preached at each of the five churches on the charge, plus two sunrise services! Rev. Holman died the following morning of a heart attack.

That summer’s activities included four vacation bible schools, four revivals, and a Youth Caravan. Four young people and a counselor, from five different southeastern states, came to work with the youth of the charge. The annual salary for the pastor in 1941 was $1,500.

Mt. Horeb welcomed back its heroes from World War II and hoped for a better and more peaceful world as it celebrated its one hundredth birthday in 1948. The interior of the church was painted for the anniversary celebration, and the building was wired for electric lights.

During this half century, Mt. Horeb was part of the Fauquier Charge that included five churches. Preaching services at Mt. Horeb were held on the first Sunday of the month at 8:00 pm and on the third Sunday, at 11:00 am. Sunday school convened every Sunday at 10:00 am. Songs of faith echoed from the rafters of the church, spreading the story of Christ’s love for us all.

Dad and mom and all ten children moved from Culpeper county in the fall of 1930 where we attended the Presbyterian church at Mitchells. After getting settled here, we made our way to Mt. Horeb Church. It was not easy to get to church then as it is now. We lived about 3 and a half miles down Route 616. We did not have a car that all of us could come to church in, so Dad would hitch up two horses to a wagon and off we would go.

My mom played the piano several years at church and Dad was Superintendent of Sunday School for many years. The church did not have central air or heat nor did it have indoor plumbing. We did not have the expense for upkeep of the church as we have today, but money was just as hard to come by as it is today.

On the national scene the third fifty years of Mt. Horeb’s existence saw its share of conflict and change. The United States fought and won a Cold War and shed blood in hot wars in Korea, Viet Nam, the Persian Gulf, Panama, and elsewhere. We experienced occasional recessions but watched the Dow Jones average rise from 164 in early 1948 to over 9,000 the summer of 1998.

On the political scene, Virginia moved from massive resistance to an acceptance of school desegregation. The state elected its first Republican Governor since reconstruction days, Linwood Holton, in 1969.

In this half century, Fauquier County’s population more than doubled, to an estimated 55,000. Battles in which the county was involved did not result in bloodshed but concerned plans to construct a Disney theme park, a retail superstore, and a new highway bypass. These fifty years were tumultuous on many fronts, with social change and political upheavals, but Mt. Horeb remained an anchor, exemplifying true values and demonstrating God’s love for us all. The congregation was destined to move to a new building once again, on November 20, 1966.

The impetus for the new building came about through a provision of money for this purpose by the great nephew of J. B. Cummins, a member of the first board of trustees. In 1959, the will of the late Joseph G. Eskridge disclosed the bequest of $75,000 "for the building of a new brick church at Mt. Horeb" in memory of his parents, Henrietta and John W. Eskridge.

On March 16, 1964, Mt. Horeb Church officials approved and recommended to the Church Quarterly Conference the purchase of three acres of land adjacent to the Bristersburg School on Route 806 as the site for the proposed new building. Plans were drawn by architect, Mr. J. Jansens and bids were taken for construction of the new building. On October 28, 1966, the Mt Horeb Building Committee accepted the new building from the building contractor, Algar Inc. as completed and ready for occupancy. Initially services were held in the fellowship hall of the new building until new pews and other furnishings were acquired for the sanctuary.

In 1968 Mt. Horeb Methodist Church changed its name to Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church as the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren. In 1975 the church became part of the Cedar Run United Methodist Charge, linked with Trinity Church in Catlett. With only two churches on the circuit, each congregation could for the first time have an ordained minister in the pulpit every Sunday.

Mt. Horeb, as a community of loving disciples, looked to its future with confidence, trusting that the grace provided through our Savior, Jesus Christ, would be sufficient to see us through every adversity. And as for at least a hundred and fifty years, we lifted our voices in singing his praise.

I first came to Mt. Horeb in 1950. I rode the bus from Washington D.C.to my farm in Bristersburg and walked the last two miles. One night, I was walking by the Mt.Horeb church and I overheard them singing enthusiastically. I walked to Bristersburg to wait for the bus but later found out I had missed it. Bob and Mabel Cooper came home from church and invited me to spend the night and took me the next day to Warrenton to catch another one. That was my first contact with Mt. Horeb church.

Mt. Horeb Church still meets in the modern brick building completed in 1966 but there have been a few changes. An addition was added to include a fully handicap accessible restroom and a media control room for operating sound and video equipment. A new modern, fully equipped kitchen was updated in 2019..

A large 12 foot wide projection screen was added to the front of the sanctuary and a video projector mounted in order to display words to songs, scriptures read, and an occasional video etc. during morning worship services Since COVID, a video camera is mounted mounted on the rear wall of the sanctuary and is used to record Sunday morning worship services which are live streamed to Facebook and YouTube.

Mt Horeb Church severed its connection to the United Methodist Denomination to become an independent community church. In June of 2023 Mt Horeb United Methodist Church became Mt Horeb Community Church.