St. James Evangelical Church

After a canvass made during the winter of 1925 and the spring of 1926 by members of the Evangelical Synod of North America (a denomination made up primarily of German immigrants) it was determined that the Western and Devon area was home to a large number of persons with a heritage in the Evangelical denomination who did not have a convenient church home.

In 1926, that denomination's Home Mission Board purchased a lot at the corner of Rockwell and Albion and contracted with the Rev. Alfred F. Schemmer as an organizing minister, a service was held in the display room of the Ford Sales Company at the corner of Arthur and Western on Sunday September 26, 1926 at 2:30 in the afternoon.  About 125 persons attended from the city's other Evangelical Churches.  At the service, an offering of $40.00 was collected and given to the Rev. Schemmer to rent a space for a temporary place of worship.

The following week Schemmer rented a store at 2644 Pratt Avenue and on Sunday October 3, 1926, the first worship service of what would become St. James was held with 8 or 10 adults present and 13 children in the Sunday school.

The meetings of the unnamed mission continued into the next year until St. James Evangelical Church was officially organized on April 22, 1927.

The owner of the store at 2644 Pratt Avenue was eventually able to rent his store for more money and in the early part of 1928 the congregation moved to 6433 N. California to a larger rented space.

Members marched from 6433 N. California on September 15, 1929 to the corner of Rockwell and Albion for the groundbreaking service of the building we now know as the "Sanctuary Wing."  As they marched they sang hymns among them "Jesus Loves Me," "Onward Christian Soldiers," and "The Church's One Foundation is Jesus Christ Her Lord."

Ninety-eight days later on December 22, 1929, dedication services for the not quite completed building were held and the congregation's first sermon in the new space was entitled "A Church for Christmas."

In 1934 the Evangelical Synod of North America merged with the Reformed Church in the United States becoming the Evangelical & Reformed Church.

St. James United Church

During the Great Depression, the congregation at Rockwell and Albion merged with North Town Presbyterian Church.  The Presbyterian congregation had been organized for only a few years and had not built a church nor did it own any property.  This new congregation was a member of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.   On January 8, 1935, at the congregation's annual meeting the congregation voted to change its name to St. James United Church.

On Sunday May 27, 1956 after several years of rapid growth and a Sunday School enrollment of 285 students, The congregation dedicated its "New Parish Building" now called the "Education Wing."

In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged with the Congregational Christian Churches becoming the United Church of Christ (UCC).

In 1958, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America merged with the United Presbyterian Church of North America becoming the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA)

St. James United Presbyterian Church

The pastors serving St. James until 1959 were from the Evangelical Synod of North America or its later incarnations, the Evangelical & Reformed Church and the United Church of Christ.  With the appointment of Robert Holloway in September of 1959, the church began to be served by Presbyterian pastors.  At a congregational meeting on November 30, 1964, the church determined to change its name again this time to St. James United Presbyterian Church.  For official purposes this is still the name of our church although we usually shorten it just to St. James Presbyterian Church.

In recent years, St. James has been recognized by the denomination as a Peacemaking Church.  In the 1990s, we joined with other Presbyterian congregations in the Covenant Network committing ourselves to building "a church as generous and just as God's grace."  And in December 2001, We declared ourselves a More Light Church by affirming that “Following the risen Christ, and seeking to make the Church a true community of hospitality, the mission of More Light Presbyterians is the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people of faith in the life, ministry, and witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)."

In 2003, several members of St. James were involved in peaceful protests against the U.S. government's invasion of Iraq.  We understood all of these actions to be logical extensions of the call of the gospel.