www.HopeandHelpCenter.orgOriginal POST-DISPATCH Article (6-20-2009)
Metropolitan Community Church pastor, congregants revel in new home
The Rev. David Lafary of St. Louis and Steve Pursley of Maplewood ready the lobby for Sunday by installing light covers at the Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St. Louis in Soulard. The 22,000-square-foot building on South Broadway has been transforming into a church since the MCC congregation bought it a year ago. (Elie Gardner/P-D)
By Doug Moore
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/21/2009
ST. LOUIS — The stained-glass windows are not yet in place. Neither is the large aluminum cross that will mark this building as the new home to Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St. Louis.Senior pastor Carol Trissell will deliver her sermon Sunday from behind a round folding table draped with a cloth. The smells of fresh paint and new carpet will fill the sanctuary. For leaders of the church that caters largely to gays and lesbians, having a permanent place to worship for the first time in 11 years is all that matters.The 22,000-square-foot building on South Broadway, most recently used as the YouthBuild charter school, has been transforming into a church since the MCC congregation purchased it a year ago. Church members have been meeting for the past 18 months in a rented banquet room at River Bottom Saloon, a special events space in Soulard run by Patty Long Catering. The room, with its paneled walls, mounted moose head and a bar, was not ideal, but it was appreciated.
"A church is the congregation, not the building," Trissell said Thursday, as workers listening to loud classic rock scrambled to install the sanctuary carpet in MCC's new home.Before the banquet room, MCC worshipped for 10 years at St. John's Methodist Church in the Central West End. MCC used the sanctuary, and the Methodists worshipped in the chapel. The MCC congregation moved there from a church it owned in Lafayette Square but sold because MCC could not afford to maintain the upkeep.But when St. John's decided in 2007 to shutter the church, MCC had to find a new place to go. Church leaders looked at 62 places, "but nothing felt like home," Trissell said. Until a cold morning in December 2007, that is, when church leaders were moving out of St. John's and into the banquet hall.Danny Gladden, head of communications and volunteer ministries, pulled the moving van onto the YouthBuild parking lot to run into a St. Louis Bread Co. next door. He looked up and saw a "For Sale" sign. A capital campaign assisted in the purchase and renovation of the building. The goal was $1 million. Pledges have topped $1.46 million.The sanctuary is largely finished, with its brown carpet and tan and blue walls, chosen to represent earth and sky. A crying room is in the back, in case any of the 30 to 50 children who attend on any given Sunday get fidgety, hungry or cranky.Eventually, the church will put stained glass into the trapezoid-shaped windows designed specifically for the worship area. The round folding table will give way to a commissioned altar table. The cross should be in place on the side of the building by the formal grand opening, scheduled in September.And for the next three years or so, the congregation will work to renovate the rest of the building. That includes finishing the chapel, fellowship hall and kitchen, followed by work on the building's exterior and installing an elevator to access second floor offices.
JUNE 18, 2009 - The sanctuary is prepared for Sunday service at the Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St. Louis in Soulard. After 11 years without a permanent home, the church holds its first service Sunday in a building it purchased last year, a shuttered charter school. (Marc Lourdes/P-D)
Contractors were hired for the bulk of the work, but church members painted walls in the sanctuary and laid ceramic tile in the bathrooms.
GALLERY: A home for Metropolitan Community Church
With the new space, MCC has started a nonprofit group that will operate within the building but separate from the church. Called One St. Louis, the social service agency will focus on providing access to services that cater specifically to the gay community. DIVERSE CONGREGATIONIn keeping with its mission statement of inclusion, the outreach also will focus on serving those in Soulard, the church's neighborhood."We're not just a gay and lesbian church," Trissell said. "
Our congregation reaches across race and sexual orientation. We have one of the most diverse congregations in the city."The church already does some community outreach but wants to increase its efforts with the nonprofit group. By setting up a separate agency, there is a larger pool of grants from which to apply, Trissell said.
Finding out what services are lacking is the first step, said Gladden."We're going to hire an executive director and do a needs assessment to find out where the gaps are," he said.Trissell expects a large crowd for the first sermon, which will start after a ribbon cutting. The church has 337 members, although 862 people attended one or more services last year.
The new sanctuary holds just over 500 people. Beginning next month, the church will go back to holding two services each Sunday morning.A HUMBLE BEGINNINGThe beginning of the city's MCC church was a humble one, with the first service held in 1973 in the living room of a house on Waterman Boulevard. Today, the St. Louis congregation is one of more than 200 Metropolitan Community Churches in 48 states and 23 countries.
The church leaders did a run-through Thursday night of Sunday's service, including choir practice. And Trissell has had her sermon ready to go for several days. It is titled "Building Together: A Place to Call Home," which was also the name of the fundraising campaign for the new church.It sums up the growth of the congregation, the long journey to find a permanent home and the church's goal to provide a safe environment for those of all backgrounds to grow their spiritual lives."God has brought us to this point," Trissell said. "We're so excited to worship here."
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(22) Comments
djmartineau June 20, 2009 9:39PM CST
I'm so pleased that MCC has a permanent home, and that they will be ministering to the broader community with the non-profit One St. Louis - mazel tov!
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danielmccree-org June 21, 2009 2:18AM CST
It will be exciting to be a part of the wonderful things happening at MCC, they really are on a mission "your cause-- is my cause" is where they are now... Thats how we may find unity.. when we stand up for Equality & Justice at every opportunity. One St. Louis is definately and extension of that vision. And the transformatiion, while a work in progress, has already made some great strides with The Hope and Help center, which provides access to information & resources to anyone in our community. I sincerely wish all the best as they make a home for ALL PEOPLE, bold and Inclusive, is what I have found MCCGSL to be.
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