Who are we at Sunrise?

We’re a congregation of regular, everyday people, trying to live as dedicated followers of Jesus Christ, growing in grace and love. We are passionate about bringing God’s light into the world, helping to build God’s kingdom in Holly Springs, Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, and beyond. The Holy Spirit is active in our church, equipping and empowering us to serve our community and help make the world a bit more like God dreams it can be. We’re excited about what God is doing—and can do—through our ministry together. As our name states, we are and will remain a congregation of the United Methodist Church. You can learn more about the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition of Christianity at this link.

Our History:

The mid 1990’s saw tremendous growth in southern Wake County. The North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church anticipated the spiritual needs of the growing population by launching a new church in the rapidly developing area between Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina.

On November 3, 1996 Sunrise’s founding pastor, Gary Allred, led our first worship service at Holly Springs Elementary School with about 223 people in attendance. One year later Sunrise UMC celebrated its official charter by recognizing 86 individuals as charter members.

In 1998, Sunrise purchased six+ acres on Sunset Lake Rd., and the vision of our current campus began to take shape. We broke ground in June of 2000 and held our first worship service in our sanctuary on Easter Sunday 2001.

By 2007, the classrooms in our building were filled with children and youth (and our Preschool). Adult classes were meeting in hallways, the kitchen, and the pastor’s office. To make space for our growing adult discipleship groups and to make room for more meeting space, Sunrise added a modular multi-room building to the campus.

By 2013, our parking lot was so full on Sunday mornings that we had people parking on the street.  (The town didn’t like this.)  So we greatly expanded our parking lot and prepared our campus for further growth.

In 2018, we expanded our facility again, adding a new wing to our building to bring all classrooms and meeting spaces into our central facility, removing the modular building and planning ahead for future growth.

Sunrise is a lucky and blessed congregation. We are so very grateful for God’s ridiculous generosity and faithfulness. In honoring our 25th anniversary in 2021, there’s a keen sense that we’re just getting started. As we look to the future, we’ve spent time crystalizing and naming our core values:

  • Intentional hospitality
  • Spiritual formation for all ages…especially children and youth
  • Mission and service in our local community and beyond.