The Methodist Protestant Church was introduced into Indiana in 1826 when John Burton, with a group of his neighbors, started a class and later, in 1831, erected a log church on land which he donated. He became the first minister of the church – the Liberty Church – which was the first Methodist Protestant Church in this state. He had made the trip by horse-back to Baltimore, Maryland, the previous fall to attend the M. P. Constitutional Convention.
At the Liberty Church, the first Annual Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church in Indiana was held beginning September 30, 1840. At this meeting, the Indiana M.P. churches left the Ohio Conference to become a conference by themselves. The log church was replaced by a frame building in 1867. The present building was erected in 1885, and the congregation remains active. The adjoining cemetery has monuments to the church’s history and pioneer graves.
The location is northeast of Stinesville on Liberty Hollow Road, one-half mile south of Wampler Road, in Bean Blossom Township, Monroe County.
The GPS reading is 39 19 56.43, -86 36 26.74.