Collection

Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St. Louis Records, 1970-2011

Span Dates: 1970-2011
Bulk Dates:
Volume: 17 cubic feet

Description

This large and comprehensive collection includes administrative files, publications from other LGBT groups and churches, artifacts, correspondence, and conference materials, which reflect many of the activities of the church and some of its members. This collection offers significant information concerning the gay and lesbian community in St. Louis. Of interest are 76 reel to reel tapes from 1974 through 1996 of sermons, conference speakers, and events including noted MCC leaders.

Hist/Bio Note

MCCGSL 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. On Monday, March 11, 1974, MCC’s global founder, Rev. Troy Perry, came to St. Louis and spoke to a group of nearly 300 people, declaring that "God does not want you to change that part of you which God created," Rev. Perry admonished the congregation to "learn to love yourself" even if others hated you, explaining 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, UFMCC had about sixty congregations 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," MCCGSL 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. On December 1, 1980, Rev. P. Thomas Jordan was called as the new Senior Pastor of MCCGSL. His tenure lasted until February 21, 1988. 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 at 1120 Dolman. Constructed in 1870 as St. John's Episcopal Church, the 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." Rev. Brad Wishon was called as the next Senior Pastor on December 17, 1989. The congregation grew under Rev. Wishon's leadership, through outreach to the growing LGBTQ communities. 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. On March 1, 1998, the Rev. Teena Carpenter was called as the next Senior Pastor. She began her tenure here on June 8, 1998. MCCGSL experienced tremendous growth during her tenure, with average Sunday attendance stretching from around 100 to over 350 people. During this time the church staff also expanded greatly to accommodate the needs of a much larger church community. On Sunday, October 26, 2003, Rev. Carol Trissell was called as the next Senior Pastor of MCCGSL. During her tenure, the church saw the decline of the St. John UMC rental property, and began to plan a move to a more permanent location. That search eventually led to a property at 1919 S. Broadway. The historic ground-breaking for the $2M renovation project was reported by the Vital Voice Magazine on Sunday, September 7, 2008. Our first worship service in that building was recorded and occurred on Sunday, June 21, 2009. On Sunday, October 6, 2013 Rev. Wes Mullins was called to be our next Senior Pastor. Rev. Wes was our longest serving Senior pastor. He helped us continue to build our ministries and find greater financial health. In 2018, seeking better long-term financial health, the congregation voted overwhelmingly to sell our building at 1919 S. Broadway, and the property is now the home of the Lift for Life Academy Elementary School. Our last service in that building was on Easter Sunday, 2019. Since then we have enjoyed a wonderful partnership with Carondelet United Church of Christ as we share their building at 7423 Michigan Avenue. Since the Covid pandemic, our congregation also worships almost an equal number of virtual members as in-person members. It is an exciting time to see how church and ministry changes and adapts with new technology and transformational times of ministry!
https://www.mccgsl.org/st-louis-gay-friendly-church

Finding Aid

A preliminary, but comprehensive inventory is available online.
https://files.shsmo.org/manuscripts/saint-louis/S0543.pdf?_gl=1*ce1nwi*_ga*NzQ3MDM1MjY4LjE3NTc0Njc2NzQ.*_ga_5NX7BTMQ2H*czE3NTc0Njc2NzMkbzEkZzEkdDE3NTc0Njg5MTUkajYwJGwwJGgw

Location

The State Historical Society of Missouri. 605 Elm St, Columbia, MO 65201
https://collections.shsmo.org/manuscripts

Tags

MCC | Smith, Freda | St. Louis | Missouri | Perry, Troy