On April 6, 2025, a special rededication service was held for our church building in St. Louis, Missouri. In attendance were Superintendent General Sola Adesope, Director of North America Work Bob Downey, and visitors from most of the Midwest branch churches.

The Apostolic Faith work first came to St. Louis in 1912. In the early days, meetings were held in abandoned buildings or rented spaces. The location changed often, in part because the leaders wanted to reach people in different parts of town.

By the 1950s, the congregation was able to purchase a permanent place of worship. They settled in a location on Grand Street, and after making renovations, the church was dedicated in 1957 by Ray Crawford, who was General Overseer at that time. The saints worshiped in that building for almost forty years and then decided to move to a better location in the early 1990s. They purchased property and built their own church there, which was dedicated on September 3, 1995.

Sadly, by 2016 the St. Louis congregation was financially unable to maintain that building. After much prayer, in 2017 the decision was made to sell it and meet in a rented facility instead. Though this was a difficult transition, they were grateful to find a shared church building where they could maintain their usual service schedule.

Over the following years, the congregation grew, and owning a church building became a possibility once again. As the congregation began to prayerfully look for one to purchase, several properties seemed like good possibilities but none of them worked out. Then in early 2025, they became aware that their former church building was going back on the market. After negotiations, a sale price was determined that was lower than the sale price in 2017, even though the new owners had spent about $100,000 on maintenance and repairs! Truly, only God could write such a story.

At the rededication service, the St. Louis congregation was thrilled to gather again in their own building, joined by friends and loved ones as they gave thanks to God for His provision and for the blessing of rededicating their building as an Apostolic Faith Church. The meeting opened with the orchestra playing “Grace Greater than Our Sin.” The middle special was a duet by Donald Fittin, pastor at Van Buren, and Joel McCarville, also of Van Buren. Then Jeff Downey, the St. Louis pastor, read 2 Chronicles 6:40-42 and 7:1-3 for the Scripture reading.

The last special was sung by Ben and Stephanie Luebert of Richland Center, Wisconsin. Then Reverend Adesope delivered the dedication message from 2 Chronicles 6:20-21. He began by declaring, “This is a morning of recovery!” He encouraged the congregation that God has power to recover anything the devil had taken from them. He dedicated the St. Louis church as a “house of recovery and outreach” and a “solution center.” Following the message, Boniface Uzendu of St. Louis gave the dedicatory prayer.

The Spirit of the Lord was felt strongly throughout the dedication service, and an amazing prayer meeting followed. Those who attended returned to their homes dedicated, rededicated, refreshed, and revived.