Trinity Wesleyan Church developed out of the Spray Mission which was a non-denominational work, founded by Rev. William Bryant Tillman and his second wife Beulah Stone Tillman in 1942. Reverend Tillman before starting the Spray Mission was pastor of Spray Wesleyan Methodist Church. When Brother Tillman started this new work he gave it the name of Spray Mission because he did not want to distract from his previous work at Spray Wesleyan Methodist Church.
In a short period of time there were 30 to 40 people who began attending Spray Mission. Rev. Tillman called Rev. F.R. Cooper from the Pilgrim Holiness Church in Asheboro, N.C. and ask him to come to Spray Mission to hold a tent crusade as the special speaker. Under powerful preaching starting May 27th in 1942 the results of this revival were amazing. Many were saved and sanctified. The crusade which ended on June 28, 1942 saw more people attending the mission. At that point Rev. Tillman concerned about his age thought it was best for this new work to have a younger and more energetic pastor. To accomplish this, one day before the end of this month long crusade, the work was turned over in an agreement to the Pilgrim Holiness Church. This agreement was sealed in writing on June 27th 1942 and signed by Rev. O.L. Ruth assistant district superintendent of the Pilgrim Holiness Church of the North Carolina East District , Rev. Tillman and Spray Mission laymen D.A. Pulliam, D.C. Yarborough, H. Harvey and Sanford Light. This agreement called for the property and the work to be a part of the Pilgrim Holiness Church (North Carolina East District). Because of the great success of the revival, Reverend Cooper was called as the first pastor of the church.
In the fall of 1942, Reverend James Green came to Eden and held a second crusade. The location chosen for the ”Green Crusade” was at the corner of 521 Turner Street and West Aiken Rd in Spray.
Following the crusade, the young church decided to buy the lot where the crusade was held. The church borrowed $6000 to build the original building. Construction began in 1943. Built by volunteers, 4,500 handmade cement blocks formed the walls of the main structure. Bricks were then added to the face to aid the appearance.
Following several men who pastored the church from 1942 to 1959 Rev. F.W. Henry became pastor of the church. It was during this period of church history that a groundbreaking ceremony was held and construction began on an educational unit behind the main building. The brothers of Hall construction in Eden donated some labor and church member Sanford Light and his brothers performed carpentry work.
In June of 1968, the Pilgrim Holiness Church and Wesleyan Methodist Church signed an agreement to merge together as a brand new church organization. This new church denomination was simply called The Wesleyan Church. When this world-wide merger took place, Spray Pilgrim Holiness Church became a part of the new Wesleyan Church. It was at this same time Spray Pilgrim Holiness changed it's name to Trinity Wesleyan Church to celebrate it's association with the new denomination.
Once again in 1972 the church took a leap of faith and embarked on another building project to meet the need. A fellowship area was added to the church along with an expansion of the educational unit.
In 1980 Rev. Wayne Johnson became the pastor of Trinity Wesleyan Church. During 1982 the church needed more space once again and added 1100 square feet to the building by enlarging the sanctuary, added a baptistry and two small Sunday school rooms. The church continued to increase and quickly was outgrowing the property that had been home for over 40 years.
Looking toward future needs, in 1985 the congregation purchased 22 acres of land located at 186 East Aiken Rd. from Fieldcrest Cannon Textiles. Construction on a new church building began in 1991 and once again with the help of volunteers and thousands of hours of back breaking work a new facility was completed. In August of 1992 services began at the new location. The official dedication service was held October 4, 1992. Dr. O.D. Emery, retired general superintendent of the Wesleyan Church presided over the service and gave the dedication sermon.
By faith,Trinity Wesleyan Educational Center was founded in 1991 as an extension ministry of the church. A separate childcare facility building was added to the property in 2003. Construction of a gym, classrooms, and cafeteria was completed by adding onto the educational building in 2006.
After serving as Pastor for nearly 35 years, Rev. Wayne Johnson suddenly passed away in June 2015. After two short-term interim pastors, Rev. Michael Brady became the pastor of Trinity in 2016 where growth and new ideas of ministry are flourishing.
May God continue to bless Trinity Wesleyan Church as it strives to do Kingdom work. The mission of all who enter Trinity is to make Jesus the Subject of their lives and in the lives of their families.