CHURCH HISTORY

CHURCH HISTORY

136 years of Service & Ministry

A Rich History . . .

Missouri Avenue Methodist Church in 1908.

Dallas architect James Edward Flanders designed distinctive churches, usually for Methodist congregations, throughout North and East Texas. Typically, he stationed a tall tower at the corner. At this church, he instead inserted a curved porch that spans towers of different heights. The taller tower is clad in metal shingles on its upper stages and has round corner buttresses that rise to pinnacles alongside the spire. The shorter tower, built of the same buff brick as the rest of the church, has a pyramidal cap that flares out to become a widely projecting eave, all signature Flanders features. Horizontal eaves and emphatic stringcourses reflect the influence of the Prairie School, even though some windows have pointed Gothic arches. Like most of Flanders’s Methodist churches, the building is based on the curved seating arrangement of the Akron Plan. A contiguous room could be opened onto the worship area if extra space was needed. This layout was changed with a remodeling in 1950, St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church. The education building to the west was added in 1915.

Saint Andrews United Methodist Church

was organized in 1888 with a small membership of 15. As the membership grew, the church moved locations three times due to the need for additional space. In 1950 we moved to our present location on the Historic South Side Area of Fort Worth, Texas.

Over the years church members have been strong supporters of education in the community. Church members have served as principals, teachers, nurses, doctors, University Board of Trustee members, and civil rights leaders. For 125 years Saint Andrews United Methodist Church has led the community through education, music, mission, and worship.

The church housed, at one time, a child care center, and a Boy Scout Troop, and provided a safe community space in its gym for youth parties, lock-ins, and basketball games. In recent years, we have conducted a children/youth program called Sidewalk Sunday School.

Presently we partner with our community school, Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary School in several youth activities, provide spiritual and social activities at a local apartment complex HOME SERVICES SERVE ABOUT CONNECT for HIV/AIDS patients, provide a community garden, participate in outreach activities for the homeless, and participate in the “clothes closet” at Bethlehem Center.

The church received designation as a historical landmark in 2002. We have a Board of Trustees who services the legal and corporate needs of the church and an Administrative Council of elected leaders who give final approval for all matters and directs all mandates.