A Diamond on the Diamond

What an amazing journey it has been! A celebration marking the hundredth anniversary of the dedication of the imposing stone structure overlooking the southern end of Diamond Park in the city of Meadville, Pennsylvania, kicked off on Sunday, March 31, 1968. Marking the occasion, a volume detailing the early years of the Methodist Church in Meadville was produced, putting access to the history of the congregation in easily accessible form. The current volume has been designed to apply that tradition of one-stop accessibility to the subsequent half century. To bring that dream to fruition, a devoted group has devoted countless hours to researching and compiling the years 1968 to 2021. Continuing to build on the kind of firm foundation that grows from an awareness of where Stone United Methodist Church has been, its move into the always unknown future is underway. Greetings, reader! Thank you for joining us in a look back at the past fifty-plus years of the ministry of Stone United Methodist Church. My heartfelt thanks to Dr. Armendia Pierce Dixon for compiling the material and writing the text. Her attention to detail and faithful accounting of events has been invaluable. Thanks also to those who have given of their time, resources, energy, and expertise over these past decades to make possible the ministry you read about in these pages. Honoring our past with confidence, we look to the future while embracing our mission statement: Compelled by God's love, Stone UMC is an inclusive community of faith, meeting people where they are, connecting them with Christ and one another, helping them live as disciples of Jesus Christ. To God be the glory. --Rev. Sarah Daniels Roncolato