Historical February 1986 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
There’s no longer a crowd of people filing into that building on the northwest corner of Kingsbury Boulevard and Des Peres Avenue every Sunday carrying Bibles, guitars, and casserole dishes. Grace and Peace Fellowship, a fixture at 6003 Kingsbury Blvd. since 1970, moved last November to what was formerly called Bethesda Temple at the corner of Clara Avenue and Delmar Boulevard.
But it’s not as if this congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America believes it has left its old neighborhood. “We’ve grown with the neighborhood,” said Grace and Peace pastor the Rev. Egon Middlemann.
When we came here in 1970, Skinker-DeBaliviere was a welldefined community. Over the past few years, with all the changes, it has lost its clearly defined lines.
It has expanded toward Union.” Formed in 1969, Grace and Peace consists largely of young families and a large minority of single people.
The Rev. Middlemann said the church always has stressed the importance of each member contributing to the common good. Accordingly, individual members pray and share teachings during Sunday worship and initiate ministries.
While some churches leave every decision to their pastor. Grace and Peace puts the major ones to a vote.
One of these democratically-wrought decisions was moving to a new building. Cramped conditions was one reason why. Grace and Peace has been blessed—and burdened—with overcrowding ever since it began in the living room of Ted and Gladys Smith, who live at 6325 Washington Ave.
In response to rapid growth, the church moved to 6003 Kingsbury, expanding from one to eventually three worship services each Sunday.
In the mid-1970s, the church decided that burgeoning numbers should not lead to the formation of a “super-church” in a larger building. Mission churches were created instead to split the beehive.
But in the 1980s, growth levelled off, and church leaders saw that some visitors never came back because the homestead seemed pinched for space.
The children of the young and very fertile congregation also were needing room for Sunday school and other activities.
Another impetus for the move was the closing of Des Peres Avenue at Delmar Boulevard.
It limited access to Grace and Peace from north of Delmar, an increasingly important ministry area for the church.
The opportunity to move into larger, more accessible quarters materialized when the congregation of Bethesda Temple made plans to raise a new roof at Interstate 70 and Bermuda Road.
With a capacity of some 350, their old building at Delmar and Clara was too small for them, but a good fit for Grace and Peace.
The brick church near the St. Louis Regional Medical Center was built in 1906 by Central Presbyterian Church, which had migrated from Lucas and Garrison.
In 1931, Central Presbyterian moved to its present location in Clayton, selling its Delmar site to a Jewish synagogue. It, in turn, sold the building to Bethesda Temple some 25 years ago.
The congregation of Grace and Peace— some 200 strong—is rolling up its sleeves to fix up its new home and make it reflect its own character and mission.
Since moving in, the church has sponsored two music concerts there. Cornerstone Corporation, a low-income housing ministry of the church which owns and manages apartment buildings in Skinker-DeBaliviere, also has its office in the new church quarters. Grace and Peace has long defined itself as a church serving the community surrounding Forest Park.
So despite moving a few blocks east, church members feel at home.
Some of the 90 worshippers who live in Skinker-DeBaliviere still walk to Sunday services. Grace and Peace is saying hello to new neighbors in DeBaliviere Place, but it is continuing to minister to low-income families in Skinker-DeBaliviere with its housing corporation, food program, and youth clubs. Other emphases of the church remain unchanged: Biblical preaching, community living, supporting the arts, and helping professionals integrate their careers and faith. “The new location allows us to expand (these) ministries,” the Rev. Middelmann said.
The church will hold an open house at 7:30 p.m. March 8 to celebrate its new address.
The Sunday service begins at 10:45 a.m., with Sunday school starting beforehand at 9:15 a.m. Church office hours are from 9 a.m. to noon.
For more information, call 367-8959.
Original photograph caption
Grace & Peace Fellowship’s new location at Delmar and Clara. Photo by King Schoenfeld. The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February 1986, page 1.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February 1986.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Source alternates pastor surname Middlemann and Middelmann; original variants retained.
Original source: SD_Times1986_02.pdf, printed page(s) 1; PDF page(s) 1.
