A Faith Community at the Corner of Union and Enright
Union Avenue Christian Church has stood at the corner of Union Boulevard and Enright Avenue in St. Louis's Central West End for more than a century. Its sandstone sanctuary, designed by A. B. Groves in the Italian Romanesque style, has been a landmark on the city's near-north side since 1908, and a long tradition of choral music, stained glass, and visual art gives the congregation its distinctive character. As an Open and Affirming congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the church welcomes all people to Christ's table and has spent its history as a faith community in an urban setting, committed to justice, stewardship, artistic expression, and hospitality.
A Heritage Rooted in the Restoration Movement
The story of Union Avenue Christian Church reaches back nearly two centuries. The Disciples of Christ first appeared in St. Louis in 1837, twenty-eight years after the founding of Brush Run Church in West Virginia, the movement's birthplace. Early worship took place in members' homes, then in a building opposite the St. Louis Courthouse on Fourth Street, where First Christian Church was established. With the movement west, two more congregations formed in the city: Central Christian Church in 1871 and Mt. Cabanne Christian Church in 1892.
On October 13, 1902, those two congregations made the difficult decision to merge and create Union Avenue Christian Church. With courage and faith, members purchased the land at the corner of Union Avenue and Von Versen (now Enright) and began building. The educational wing was completed in 1904, with the sanctuary following in 1908. James M. Philputt, the church's first pastor, brought national attention to the new congregation and made biblical study in the light of modern scholarly interpretation a hallmark of its life, a legacy still felt in the church's adult education program.
The early twentieth century brought growth and hardship in equal measure. The panic of 1907 shook the young congregation financially, but it pressed on. In 1918, George A. Campbell began a twenty-year pastorate, and in 1921 a member named Oreon Scott gave the church a revolving cross that rose above the belfry and became a citywide symbol of Union Avenue's commitment to the Christian faith. By 1922 the church counted 1,259 members and had established an endowment fund to secure its future. In 1926 the congregation launched Our Church, a newsletter whose spirit lives on in the present-day publication In the Life of Our Church. The debt on the building was retired by 1927.
From the start, Union Avenue was an unusually welcoming place. In 1928, a group of deaf members formed the Silent Bereans and helped shape the life of the church for decades. By 1932 the congregation had grown to 1,760 members with 700 enrolled in the church school. When mid-century brought suburban migration and falling city populations, the members made a deliberate choice. In 1940 they voted to stay at 733 Union Boulevard, committing themselves to be a truly metropolitan church in the heart of the city.
The Sanctuary and Its Stained Glass
The Italian Romanesque building at Union and Enright has become a small museum of twentieth-century sacred art. Inside the sanctuary, the chancel is dominated by a magnificent stained glass window designed and executed by J. Whippell and Company of Exeter, England, given to the congregation in 1957 by Mellcene Thurman Smith in memory of her mother. The window depicts the Twenty-third Psalm with Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and across its center a great arch follows the arch of the chancel, said to symbolize the beneficence of God and the hospitality of the Christian faith.
Other gifts mark the sanctuary as well. A bronze plaque in the narthex honors Union Avenue members who served in World War I. A 1942 gift from local artist Alois Lang is a wood carving of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. A separate chapel, built in 1945 and honoring George Campbell's twenty-year pastorate, contains another stained glass window, designed and produced in the studio of Emil Frey, that symbolizes Campbell's understanding of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The first-floor spaces were renovated under Pastor Suzanne Webb's leadership, and what had once been the original worship area is now the Gretchen Brigham Gallery.
Worship on Sunday Morning
Sunday morning at Union Avenue Christian Church begins at 9:00 a.m. with Christian education. The Faith and Daily Life class is a hybrid gathering, meeting on Zoom and in person and led by Neil McNeil from inside the church. Each Saturday, participants receive an email with the next morning's topic, related scriptures, and discussion questions, drawn from the curriculum The Wired Word. A second adult class, Women at the Well, meets by Zoom from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. and reads selected books of faith together.
Morning worship follows at 11:00 a.m., in person and streamed on YouTube. The service is described as classic in style but with room for informality and personal expression. A choir of long-standing musical excellence helps lead the singing, and Holy Communion is celebrated every week. Everyone is invited to participate, with no requirement of church membership. Children have a quiet corner in the sanctuary, and on the second and fourth Sundays of the month during the school year, children ages three through sixth grade are invited after the Children's Moment to take part in Children and Worship, a faith formation program centered on storytelling, ritual, and fellowship, led by Safe-Sanctuary-trained volunteers.
A nursery adjacent to the sanctuary is open from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Parents are welcome to step out with their child at any point and remain with them in the nursery, which has age-appropriate toys and books; the church notes that parents stay with their child since dedicated childcare attendants are not always present. Choir rehearsal is held on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m., and anyone interested in singing with the choir is welcome to attend.
Faith Formation for Every Age
Religious education has been central to Union Avenue since its founding. Dr. Philputt's insistence that the Bible be examined in new ways, consistent with modern scholarly interpretation, set the tone for a tradition of open inquiry that continues today. The church welcomes people who want to think carefully about sacred texts, share their opinions openly, and grow spiritually through study and conversation.
Beyond Sunday morning, several adult formation opportunities run through the week. A Women's Book Club gathers once a month, except in November, in members' homes for a potluck lunch and conversation about a book chosen by the group. The church periodically offers a weekday lunch series on Wednesdays from noon to 1:00 p.m., with recent sessions led by Pastor La'Vetta Ross exploring contemplative Christian practice. The church's educational ministry also accommodates the special needs of children and adults, a commitment that has been part of its life since at least the Silent Bereans of the 1920s.
Where the Arts Live at the Center
The visual and performing arts are not an add-on at Union Avenue; they are part of how the congregation understands its calling. The Arts Group of Union Avenue, known as AGUA, was formed in 1988 to promote the visual and performing arts among the members of the congregation and in the wider community. AGUA sees artistic expression as God's creativity working through human lives, and it oversees an ongoing program of exhibits and cultural events that set the church apart from other urban congregations.
The Gretchen Brigham Gallery, housed in what was once the original worship space, is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The gallery features rotating exhibitions by local artists, with past shows spotlighting artists from Soldan International Studies High School and other St. Louis creators. Current projects pair exhibiting artists with neighborhood children from an after-school program for collaborative workshops, an effort that lets young neighbors exercise their imaginations through hands-on art-making.
Inside the sanctuary, Union Avenue Opera has been performing since 1995, founded by Scott Schoonover, the church's music director, with the blessing of the congregation and the support of AGUA. Every summer the sanctuary is transformed into a theatrical performance venue with a sunken orchestra pit. The opera company obtained its own 501(c)(3) status in its early years but has remained closely tied to the church, having recently celebrated its thirtieth season. Productions have included the Missouri premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, which brought anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean to the church for a public conversation, as well as Missouri premieres of Doubt and a reduced version of Wagner's Ring Cycle.
The building also welcomes several other nonprofit and arts organizations as tenants. The National Benevolent Association, Union Avenue Opera, Church Women United, the West End Players Guild, the Gretchen Brigham Gallery, and Pure Catering all share the campus at 733 Union Boulevard.
Outreach, Justice, and the Urban Mission Inn
Outreach at Union Avenue is rooted in the conviction that every person is valuable and was created with unique abilities and purpose. The congregation's Justice and Outreach Ministry runs ongoing programs, partners with local organizations, and publishes a regular newsletter describing its work in the city. The Urban Mission Inn, operated in cooperation with the nonprofit Be The Neighbor, has welcomed mission groups to St. Louis for more than fifteen years for hands-on service opportunities. The program has provided more than 50,000 volunteer hours of housing and cross-cultural experiences to youth, young-adult, and intergenerational mission teams, and each summer the Inn hosts groups that learn about urban ministry by serving alongside partner agencies throughout the city.
Earlier outreach partnerships include Joint Community Ministries, a coalition of neighborhood congregations that operated a preschool in the building for several years and helped families across the central city. Northwest Meals on Wheels was launched from Union Avenue and has continued serving older adults in the region for decades. For roughly ten years, the church's kitchen and other spaces hosted Food Outreach, a program that prepared and distributed meals every two weeks to people living with HIV and AIDS, with hundreds of volunteers from UACC and the wider community contributing. The church continues to host meetings of the St. Louis HIV Services Planning Council, a consortium of AIDS service organizations.
Open and Affirming, Then and Now
Union Avenue Christian Church is officially recognized as an Open and Affirming congregation. Its welcome statement, posted in its Safe Church Policy, reads in part: No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here. If you are young or old, you are welcome. If you have brown skin, black skin, white skin, or any color of skin, you are welcome. If you are married or single, widowed or divorced, you are welcome. If you are gay or straight, transgender or nonbinary, you are welcome. If you are sick or well, you are welcome. If you are happy or sad, you are welcome. If you are poor or rich, weak or powerful, you are welcome. If you believe in God some of the time or none of the time or all of the time, you are welcome.
The church's stated mission is a place where diverse hearts and minds come together to worship God and to become Biblically informed, socially responsible, artistically alive, and to demonstrate Christ's love. Core commitments include worship in a caring Christian community, open study and discussion of Jesus Christ and his teachings, welcoming diversity in every way, providing a Disciples witness in an urban location, music and the arts as a way to praise God, and outreach to the St. Louis metro area and to global missions. Ministry flows from the belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord and Savior of the world.
Pastoral and Music Leadership
Pastor Rev. La'Vetta J. Ross was ordained after earning a Master of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary in 2015 and previously served as Clergy in Residence with United Christian Church in New Jersey. She grew up in the Greater Kansas City area and brings training and experience in chaplaincy ministry in clinical settings. She is passionate about pastoral care, social justice issues, and cultivating deeper spiritual lives within the community of faith. Music Director Scott Schoonover is a conductor and choral director who has led opera companies and choral ensembles across the region; he is the founder and Artistic Director of Union Avenue Opera, and he currently directs the Missouri Women's Chorus.
Warren Gibson, a lifelong St. Louis resident who holds a BA in Biblical Studies from American Baptist College in Nashville, serves as Church Administrator and is on site Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The church office can be reached at (314) 361-8844 or by email at admin@union-avenue.org.
Visiting Union Avenue Christian Church
The church sits on the corner of Union Boulevard and Enright Avenue in the Central West End of St. Louis. A well-lighted parking lot is located directly behind (west of) the building, with access from Enright Avenue. The building, more than a century old, is wheelchair accessible.
Dress is whatever makes you feel comfortable; it is not unusual to see a suit next to shorts. Worshippers are a diverse group in age, race, gender, sexual orientation, and political inclination, and the congregation honors that variety.
Christian education meets at 9:00 a.m. and Morning Worship at 11:00 a.m. on Sundays. Nursery care is available from 9:00 a.m. to noon, adjacent to the sanctuary. Worship services are streamed on YouTube, and Sunday school classes gather online and in person. The church's bulletin is published weekly, and In the Life of Our Church, the congregation's newsletter, comes out most months. Giving is accepted through a secure online giving page operated through Givelify.