Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St. Louis was founded in October of 1973 by the Rev. Carol Cureton. The church began worshiping at Berea Presbyterian Church at 3010 Olive Street. Until that first worship service on October 28, 1973, St. Louis had no gay organization existing, since the Gay Liberation Front disappeared in 1971.

The first "public meeting" (according to an article in the Post Dispatch) of MCC in St. Louis, occurred on March 11, 1974. The Rev. Troy Perry spoke to a group of nearly 300 people that Monday evening. Declaring that "God does not want you to change that part of you which he created," Rev. Perry admonished the congregation to "learn to love yourself" even if others hated them. Explaining, Rev. Perry stated, that one could not change who they were created to be.

With about fifty St. Louisans attending their services, the congregation became an officially chartered member of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches on April 21, 1974. At the time, the UFMCC had about sixty congregations or missions with a membership of about 15,000 people in twenty-eight states, Canada and England.

In 1974, when members of the Berea Congregation began to object to the use of their facilities by a Church group that had a "special ministry to the gay community," MCC St. Louis began looking for other facilities.

On December 23, 1974, the Church, with nearly 150 worshipers, left the Olive Street facilities and moved into a new building at 5108 Waterman Blvd. Before the purchase of the Waterman building, several for-sale Church properties were investigated by MCC; however, in some cases, once the owners discovered the mission of MCC, they chose to remove the property from the market. The acquisition of the house/soon-to-be-Church on Waterman, according to the Post Dispatch, was believed to "mark the first time in Missouri that any self-proclaimed homosexual group has owned its own facilities."

On December 1, 1980, the Rev. P. Thomas Jordan came to MCC St. Louis. His tenure lasted until February 21, 1988. MCC of Greater St. Louis fulfilled Rev. Perry's prophecy by continuing to provide a contingent of people for the larger Gay and Lesbian community in St. Louis. In addition, by the early 1980's, MCC had served or was serving as a meeting place for Gay Alcoholics Anonymous, Washington University's Concerned Gay Students, Parents of Gays, Men's Rap Group, the Gay Hotline, Midcontinent Life Services Corp., Growing American Youth, and Gay Overeaters Anonymous.

After nearly ten years at the Waterman location, in 1984, the Church of about 130 active members, purchased a building in Lafayette Square area . Constructed in 1870 as St. John's Episcopal Church, the 1120 Dolman building was taken over by the St. Mary's Assumption Ukrainian Rite congregation early in the 20th century. Now, it belonged to what the Post Dispatch, in reporting the Church's relocation, called "the only congregation here(in St. Louis) composed of avowed Christian homosexuals."

The Rev. Bradley Wishon was called to the church on December 17, 1989. The congregation grew to over 100 active members under Rev. Wishon's leadership, through outreach to the g/l/b/t communities. And the 1980's became the 1990's.

In November of 1996, the Dolman church was sold, and the MCC congregation began renting space from St. John's United Methodist Church on the corner of Washington and Kingshighway. For the first month, the two congregations worshiped together, to help both congregations become familiar with the other. Rev. Wishon left MCC St. Louis in March of 1997. The Rev. Elder Dr. Charlie Arehart served the congregation as Interim Pastor from May 18, 1997 until March 1, 1998. The Rev. Teena Carpenter was called in March of 1998 to become Senior Pastor. She began her tenure here on June 8, 1998. MCC St. Louis has grown significantly in the past four years. Our average Sunday attendance has grown from around 100 to over 350 people. In June, 2000, we hired Rev. Sue Yarber to serve as the Director of Congregational Life. Rev. Teena Carpenter resigned as pastor as of September 15, 2002. At present, we are in the process of searching for a new pastor.

We've come a long way in twenty-nine years! What will the next twenty-nine years bring? Only God knows the answer to that question.
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History of UFMCC
Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches

In October 1968, a defrocked Southern Pentecostal minister gathered 12 people to preach the gospel with a twist: All people, including lesbians and gay men, were welcome to worship with him. The charismatic reverend, Troy Perry, was 28 years old when he founded the Metropolitan Community Church.

The several years preceding MCC's founding had been difficult ones for Perry. After coming out in 1963, he found himself without church and family: He was excommunicated by the church and abandoned by his wife and two sons. But inspired by a vision, he eventually moved to Los Angeles and became both a gay activist and the leader of a new church.

Perry's simple message of God's love for all was popular among gay men and lesbians, and by 1969 MCC had 150 congregants. "Most gays believe very strongly in God, but most churches simply refuse to let them worship Him," Perry said in a 1969 Advocate interview. "God made all of us. He loves homosexuals as much as any of his children." In March 1971, more than 1000 people attended the dedication service of MCC's first permanent home, located in downtown Los Angeles.

MCC continued to grow exponentially, with churches popping up in communities all over the country. But the increased visibility came with costs, including arson attacks in 1972 and 1973 at the newly formed San Francisco MCC. Two separate fires in 1973 destroyed the MCC mother church in Los Angeles as well. Today, MCC includes 52,000 members worshiping in 314 congregations in 16 countries. Last year the church presided over 5000 holy union ceremonies for lesbian and gay couples.

This article was taken from the May 26, 1998,

The Advocate

magazine. It was written by Don Romesburg.

To read more about UFMCC, past and present, go to the following pages:

EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE FOUNDING OF MCC

THE FIRST MCC WORSHIP SERVICE - OCTOBER 6, 1968

A PASTORAL MESSAGE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY

CELEBRATING A JUBILEE OF JOY!

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