Riverside Church’s existence has always been marked by the faith and dedication of its members.

The church had its official beginning on June 23, 1965, when fifty men and women met in the basement of the Jackson Public Library.

    The church’s first official service was held on June 27, 1965, with Rev. B. K. Hardin conducted the service, in the Arlington Room on the twelfth floor of the Robert E. Lee hotel, known then as “The Roof.” On July 14, 1965, the church was officially named “Riverside Independent Methodist Church.” At that time, there was no assurance that the church would be officially located on Riverside Drive in Jackson; there was only the great hope that it would be.

    Having already adopted the name “Riverside,” the Building and Properties Committee was busy trying to arrange the purchase a piece of state-owned property located on Riverside Drive. After much hard work, a Bill enabling the Land Commission to sell the desired property was passed by the Mississippi House of Representatives by a vote of 100 to 18 and by the Senate with a vote of 39 to 17.

In the first months, Riverside was able to have only Sunday services, as the hotel facilities were not available for mid-week use. In September of that year that the church secured the use of the cafeteria of the Allstate Insurance Building for Prayer Meeting and choir practice on Wednesday nights. The Roof was used for Sunday Services for about nine months until the hotel announced that it was closing and Riverside would have to leave.  The last service at “The Roof” held there was on March 27, 1966.

    Although a pastor had not yet been called, the church continued to meet in temporary locations, which was perhaps one of the greatest reasons for Riversides’ success and the congregation quickly grew to more than three hundred members as they continued to complete the task of organizing as a church. The adversities only seem to draw the people closer together.

    Arrangements were made to use the chapel and the attached classrooms of the old Baptist Orphanage on Woodrow Wilson Avenue.  Riverside held its first service there on Palm Sunday, April 3, 1966.  One big advantage of the new location was that all services could be held at the same location.

While holding services at the Baptist Orphanage, plans started to be drawn up for a new and permanent church building. Unfortunately, the process of converting a contract, blueprints and specifications into a finished church building takes time and time was running out for the few remaining buildings of the Baptist Orphanage.  The chapel and classrooms being used by Riverside, along with the rest of the buildings, had to be torn down to make way for a new shopping mall, which forced Riverside to make arrangements for another temporary location.

Belhaven College permitted Riverside to use their Fine Arts Building auditorium for Sunday worship services and the Science Building for Sunday school. During this time, Allstate once again allowed Riverside to use their facilities to conduct Wednesday night services

     On September 29, 1968, with Dr. Ivan Howard, Dean of Whitworth College as speaker, Riverside held it first official church service in their newly constructed church at 835  Riverside Drive.

     The move into the new facilities meant that the days of wandering from one temporary location to another were finally over.  In its first three years the congregation had become a mature church even without a home of its own. The completion of the sanctuary and its furnishings and appointments was a special labor of love by many people, enjoyed by all who worship in it.

The church remained and served God faithfully at the 835 Riverside Drive location for 34 years.

   In January 2002, the church signed an agreement with Belhaven College to sell the large complex to the college and the church once again sought out a place to hold regular church services. The church’s first temporary location was Wesley Biblical Seminary on Northside Drive in Jackson and then 4294 Lakeland Drive in Flowood.  On October 17, 2004, the congregation voted to purchase more than five acres of land in Flowood for the purpose of erecting a new church building. A ground breaking ceremony was held Sunday, February 6, 2005 on the corner of Luckney and Cooper Road, the location of a beautiful new house of worship. The first service in the new building was held on Easter Sunday March 23, 2008.

       Of special interest in Riverside’s new spacious sanctuary is the large cross on the wall beyond the pulpit, a special cross was a contribution of Mrs. Cecil Inman, which was part of the original church structure in Jackson.  It is made from the wood of West Coast Cedar trees, some of which are believed to have been growing at the time of Christ.

      It is Riverside’s prayer that the church will draw new members to God and be a continual blessing to His kingdom.