Our History
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
Lafayette Park United Methodist Church has a rich history of resilience, community, and outreach that spans nearly two centuries. Our journey began in the late 1830s as the Wesley Chapel Society, a small group of Methodists who met in a private home. The congregation grew and moved with the expanding city of St. Louis, finally marching to our present location at 2300 Lafayette Avenue on Easter Sunday 1888, adopting the name Lafayette Park Methodist Church. After a tornado severely damaged the building in 1896, the congregation rebuilt and completed the beautiful stone sanctuary you see today in 1900.
Our history is defined by our commitment to our community. In 1998, we adopted an official statement of welcome and inclusion, embracing people of all ages, genders, races, and sexual orientations. This spirit of welcome extends to our mission work. We are proud to have supported the founding of Bridge Bread in 2011, which provides jobs to individuals experiencing homelessness, and New Beginnings in 2012, which has furnished hundreds of homes for families in need.
We invite you to join us as we continue to write our story, grounded in faith and a deep commitment to serving our neighbors.
In the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, our church stood as a place of refuge and unconditional love. We opened our doors and our hearts to welcome and support those living with HIV/AIDS. Each flower in this bouquet represents a beloved member of our community, a person whose memory we hold close. This bouquet serves as a reminder of their courage and our church's enduring commitment to radical inclusivity and compassion for all.
In Memoriaum:
Terry Boyd: Sunflower
Ann Hummert: Dogwood
Andy Johnson: Red Rose
Marcus Langston: Bird of Paradise
Tom Mounts: White Lilly
Rick Pennock: Peace Lilly
Phillip Tidwell: Daffodill
John Woodall: Stargazer Lilly
Important Events in Our History
A small group of Methodists met at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Carter. This became the Wesley Chapel Society, later the Chouteau Avenue Methodist Church.
The church moved to the northeast corner of Eighth Street and Chouteau Avenue. The church was destroyed by a storm while under construction but was rebuilt and dedicated in 1850. The building was replaced by a larger building in 1873, at which time the name was changed to Chouteau Avenue Methodist Church South.
Easter Sunday 1888, families from the congregation at the Chouteau location march from there to their new church home at 2300 Lafayette Ave. At this time the congregation adopted the new name "Lafayette Park Methodist Church."
The church was unroofed and badly damaged by the tornado in 1896 and services were temporarily held in the Y.M.C.A. and later in the rebuilt chapel. The present stone church, fronting on Lafayette Avenue, was completed in 1900 after designs by architect Theodore C. Link. The sanctuary features a glowing theater style octagonal interior with four balconies, an inclined seating design, cherry pews, a center isle, and lovely stained glass windows.
Our sanctuary is adorned with our historic 2 manual, 14 rank Opus 7050 Kilgen Pipe Organ. The instrument has seen two extensive renovations in its lifetime, and has been marked for third as funds are available.
The basement was dug out resulting in a Fellowship Hall, kitchen, meeting rooms, preschool room and a bowling alley. To this day, we hold meetings, meals, and fellowship after worship in this space. The Lafayette Park Preschool still operates as a parent cooperative and our youth group spends fun evenings bowling.
Lafayette Park United Methodist Church commits itself to being a caring and diverse church in our worship, prayer, and action by supporting the Reconciling Ministries Network. In January 1998, the LPUMC Church Council adopts the following language:
As a people of faith, we recognize the diversity of people created in the image of God. We welcome to this congregation people of any age, gender, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, health status and any element of humanity created by God.
As part of our ongoing outreach and ministry efforts, two of our church members, Fred and Sharon Domke founded Bridge Bread with the aim of empowering individuals experiencing homelessness by providing them meaningful work and marketable skills. It has since grown into its own non-profit social enterprise continuing its mission to empower the housing-insecure with restorative employment, marketable skills, and financial assistance for housing, helping them become self-sufficient community members.
In 2011, a group of church members met for a discussion series on the many challenging aspects of poverty. Afterwards, a few of these members felt empowered to address one of the most difficult aspects - affordable housing. They established a 501(c)3 non profit organization and over the years purchased 4-unit properties, renovated them with the help of many Methodist churches around the region, and successfully housed the unhoused. They created a program for people who were experiencing housing instability that helped to get them back on their feet while paying a marginal rent each month. Now merged with another non-profit, Mission: St. Louis, HomeFirst continues to provide housing to people in need in our city.
New Beginnings, an outreach of Lafayette Park UMC, started in May 2012 as a furniture ministry to help individuals and families transition from homelessness to permanent housing. The idea was born after two individuals who were getting their first apartments needed help furnishing them. Since then, the ministry has furnished approximately hundreds of residences and helped over a thousand families, with over 90% of those served being veterans and their families.
Our Continued Commitment
To feel welcome and accepted—just as you are—is important to a sense of belonging. For too many members of the LGBTQIA? Community, however, “Church” may not have been the safe place they were seeking. Scripture tells us that Jesus welcomes everyone into His circle of love.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
This gift of love is not limited to only a specific group of people but is available to all.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28
Lafayette Park United Methodist Church firmly and faithfully supports this message. Roots of acceptance and inclusivity run deep at Lafayette Park UMC. The large stained-glass window on the north side of the church features Jesus welcoming women and children; members of the population who, during both Jesus’ time and the time of the commissioning of the window (the 1920s), were seen as insignificant in their patriarchal societies. For 100 years, however, they have held a place of prominence in this church.
In the 1970s, Lafayette Square was a neighborhood in the midst of change. Once the home of riverboat captains and wealthy industrialists, it was largely abandoned during the urban flight of the 1950s. Then the tide turned once again, and renewed interest in city living brought in a diverse population of those wishing to reclaim and restore the once-grand homes that surrounded Lafayette Park. In came first-time homeowners, young professionals and a fledgling group of gay men and women looking for a community where they could feel safely and comfortably at home.
Tom Raber, pastor of LPUMC during this time of neighborhood change, was passionate about community outreach. He actively practiced an open-door policy and worked tirelessly to welcome all residents of the Square into the church. Others in the church were prominent in making members of the same-sex community (LGBTQIA+ was yet to be formulated) feel welcome, as well. One of the pastors years ago had two brothers who were gay, so she was personally sensitive to and aware of the feelings of those who had felt outside the warm circle of church life. An organist and his partner were active in the St. Louis Gay Men’s Chorus, and they invited members of the group to experience the welcoming environment of Lafayette Park UMC. Several women from LPUMC attended Chorus performances on a regular basis. They became familiar to the singers and were affectionately referred to as the “Crazy Aunts.” Those who came, who learned what it was like to be welcomed “just as you are,” invited others and the make-up of the church became a more true reflection of God’s creation.
In 1984, the greater United Methodist Church developed the Reconciling Ministries Network, an organization seeking the inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in both its policies and practices. Lafayette Park United Methodist Church hadn’t felt the need to wait for the practice to become official. They already knew it was the loving thing to do.
- If you have ever felt that you don’t really fit in, you are welcome here.
- If you have ever worried that you needed to mask your sexuality in order to protect yourself, you—your authentic self–are welcome here.
- If you have ever felt that being honest about who you love would result in people not accepting you, you and the one you love are welcome here.
LPUMC accepts people as they are, and wherever they are on life’s journey. Don’t have it all together? It’s very likely there are others struggling, too. Looking for answers to some of life’s tough questions? This is a safe place to be while you figure things out. Don’t feel like you belong in church—or maybe anywhere? Please give LPUMC the opportunity to change your mind about that.
AT GOD’S TABLE AND AT LAFAYETTE PARK UMC EVERYONE IS WELCOME!