About Us

We believe that the Bible provides the basis for salvation, the Christian walk, the Spirit-filled life, and the afterlife. Martindale Christian Fellowship adopts the following statement of beliefs from the Foursquare Church. However, Martindale is not affiliated with Foursquare.

Our History

On June 22, 2008 we celebrated our 20th year anniversary here on Martindale Road. Someone once said, “Days have a way of going slow, but the years go by so fast.” That is the way it seems since we have been here at Martindale. Here is a brief history of what the Lord has done since my Mom and Dad decided to give their lives to Christ Jesus.

Brother and Sister Manko were the founding leaders and felt lead by God to start a church in the mid 1960’s after preaching on the radio, W.T.O.F. The funny thing was it started in our family living room on Dueber Avenue with my Mom and my brothers and sisters singing and playing the music.

A new goal was set to find a church building; a church building instead of our home. We didn’t realize at first how right we were meeting in a home like they did in the book of Acts.

A church building was found and purchased at 313 Elgin N.W. and we named it Full Gospel Temple. The building had a list of repairs that had to be done before church services could be held there, but we were determined to accomplish all that was asked of us to do.

Full Gospel Temple was in full operation with the “Jesus Saves” sign being lit every night. The community knew our location by the sign. There were many great memories at that church located right across from the city parks.

Whether you have been a part of this congregation since we had church on Dueber Avenue, Elgin Avenue, or Martindale Road, we are all responsible to be found faithful to the Lord for using our gifts and talents to maintain and further His Kingdom. We are now on our way to continue making new memories and history for our future generations. on one side of the road and if you parked in front of a certain person’s house, he would flatten your tires!

There was only one restroom for the men and one for the women in the church, and that was a little tricky especially when you finally made it up the 28 steps to the front door. If you came in the back, you only had to go up 8 steps, but there wasn’t much parking there either. We definitely had some disadvantages, but the good outweighed the bad and it didn’t stop us from having church! What a great way to keep our hearts in shape. These little issues made us start to look for a new location.My brother John went past the property on Martindale Road while picking up a mantel for a fireplace and had to make a turn. When he did, he happened to see a "For Sale" sign lying down in the grass. This is where it all started; 6.5 acres and a Canton address. The asking price was $125,000.00. The land was purchased with all we had in the bank at the time for $84,000.00. We sold the church on Elgin and a year later in March parking 1988 we moved into our new church home known as Martindale Christian Fellowship Church.

On June 26, 1988, we dedicated the new church building to the Lord, who had provided it for us. Several years later we put on a 7500 square foot addition of offices, Sunday school rooms, a fellowship hall and a gym. In November 2006, along with our Annual Thanksgiving Dinner, we celebrated with a Mortgage Shredding Service and became debt free!