The earliest Methodist services held on the West Coast of South Australia were conducted by William Simmons, in his home at Port Lincoln in the 1850s. Services at Penong, several hundred kilometres away, began when a circuit was established there in 1893. The gradual extension of the railway from Port Lincoln brought more settlers to the area, and more church groups were formed as a result. Generally services were first conducted in private homes by a lay preacher until a circuit was formed with a visiting home missionary. Eventually a young probationary minister would arrive to take charge of the local flock. Penong Methodist Church was built in 1911-12 and the minister, William Harris, helped to quarry the stone for the church. The turnover of ministers in the country was high, with Penong having 23 ministers in the first 37 years after the circuit was formed. Means of transport could also be an obstacle to church attendance in the bush.