Set on the corner of Adams Avenue and Kirkwood Road in Kirkwood, Missouri, First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood has occupied the same ground since 1856 and welcomed worshipers into the current sanctuary every Sunday since Christmas Eve 1957. With more than 800 members, two Sunday services, a stained-glass program designed by Josef Mayer of St. Louis's Jacoby Art Glass Company, and a Matthew 25 mission that shapes everything from diaper drives to disaster trips, the congregation is one of the larger Presbyterian Church (USA) churches in the St. Louis region and a steady presence in the life of the city.
Two Sunday Services Under One Roof
Worship is the center of the church's common life, and First Pres offers two distinct services every Sunday between September and May. At 9:05 a.m., Arise! Contemporary Worship gathers in Fellowship Hall. The Arise! Praise Band leads with electric guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion and vocalists, and the format is informal and family-friendly. The same service in summer moves to a different room and a single combined schedule.
At 11:00 a.m., the congregation gathers in the Sanctuary for Traditional Worship. The Chancel Choir sings from the loft, prayers carry the cadence of the Reformed tradition, and every element of the liturgy is in the printed bulletin. The 11:00 service is also livestreamed on YouTube, with the bulletin, announcements and hymns available as separate downloads for those worshiping along at home.
First-time visitors will find that childcare is offered from 9:05 a.m. through the end of the 11:00 service in room 131, covering the 10:00 education hour as well. Activity bags and children's bulletins sit on tables outside the Fellowship Hall doors for the early service and in the narthex for the late one, each filled with lectionary-based activities. Nursing parents are welcome to use a private second-floor space in the women's restroom of the staff offices that locks from the inside and offers a chair, changing table, outlet and small table.
A Sanctuary Built Around Thirteen Windows
The sanctuary is, in many ways, the heart of the church's identity. In 1954 the congregation launched a 5% bond program that fully funded a building expansion begun in 1955 and finished in time for Christmas Eve 1957. Working from texts chosen by the pastor, the Rev. Dr. Donald H. Stewart, architects Bob Fischer and Will Campbell of Fischer, Campbell & Associates teamed with Fred Opplinger and Josef Mayer of the Jacoby Art Glass Company to create thirteen stained-glass windows meant to read as a single sweeping image.
Letter after letter during construction reminded the artists that the goal was unity rather than disconnected panels. "We are anxious that these windows be like none others, that the soft rich blue tones move from one window to another, that there be a unity between all the windows (not separate, spotty, individual glass). To repeat our story again: It is to be one big window, not 13 separate windows." Stewart's chosen text traces the biblical arc from Creation through Fall, Judgment, Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Transfiguration, ending in hope born of God's promises for a new creation.
The history stretches back much farther than the sanctuary itself. On 24 September 1854 a committee met at the home of Henry Singleton in Kirkwood and organized what would become this congregation. Services were held at Singleton's home until growth forced a move to a log schoolhouse across the street. By 1856 the small brick church that preceded the present one stood on the same ground, surrounded by an oak grove and a white picket fence. In 1867 Dr. John R. Warner, a chaplain at the Battle of Gettysburg, became pastor and served nearly thirty years. The cornerstone of the stone church on Adams Avenue was laid on 25 October 1888; the Norman Tower education wing followed in 1929, a brick education building in 1951 and the stained-glass sanctuary in 1957. A newer organ and additional renovations have continued into the 2000s.
A separate Tree of Life Chapel tucked into the building hosts weddings, small services and the season's chamber-music concerts. Its mid-century modern stained glass, designed in 2007 by Brother Martin Erspamer and made by the Emil Frei Stained Glass studios, is a quieter companion to the sanctuary windows.
A Music Ministry That Ranges from Cherubs to the Chancel Choir
Music at First Pres is treated as worship, not entertainment. The Chancel Choir, the principal choir of the church, sings at the 11:00 service every Sunday and at special services throughout the year. Rehearsals are Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The choir has traveled widely in service of that calling, performing at St. Paul's in London, Yorkminster and St. Giles in Edinburgh during a Fall 2010 tour of Scotland and England, and singing at Carnegie Hall in March 2017.
Around the choir, the Music Ministry under Director Bill Stein supports a constellation of ensembles. The Church Orchestra, open to players of any instrument at any level, performs three times a year with three weeks of rehearsal in advance. The Chancel Ringers rehearse Wednesday evenings during the school year on five octaves of hand bells fully refurbished in 2018, and the more advanced Carillon Ringers meet Mondays from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. The Arise! Praise Band leads the contemporary service every week.
Children have their own ladder of ensembles. Cherubs (kindergarten through second grade) and Choristers (third through fifth grade) rehearse Wednesday afternoons and sing on selected Sundays plus the Christmas and Spring musicals. Middle School Ringers, for grades six through eight, learn the basic repertoire and occasionally contribute to worship. MusikGarten, taught by licensed instructor Ellen Welsh, brings parents and children ages three months to five years together during the day for the kind of early musical play that builds the next choir's foundation.
The Con Spirito Concert Series extends the church's reach into the wider musical community. Its mission is to lift minds and hearts to God, to each other and to the fullness of life through performances by local and international soloists and ensembles in a setting whose acoustics were designed with music in mind.
Children, Youth and Family Ministries
Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministries Rob Monroe and Children and Families Ministry Coordinator Stephanie Schmidt oversee a full slate of programming. Sunday Morning Learning runs from September through April, with classes at 10:00 a.m. for Preschool through 8th grade using the PC(USA) curriculum Growing in Grace and Gratitude. Classrooms are clustered by age: Preschool in Room 130, K-2 in Room 228, 3-5 in Room 230, Middle School in Room 278, and Confirmation (8th grade) in Room 007.
On Wednesday afternoons from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. during the school year, the Logos program gathers students for Bible study, music, recreation and a shared family-style meal. Middle School Fellowship weaves bell ringing into its rotation, and the bells the youth ring become part of Sunday worship. Senior High Fellowship meets Sunday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. with lock-ins and outings throughout the year. Senior High students also participate in a two-week Work Camp each summer, choosing the destination, planning menus and activities, and partnering with local organizations focused on children and youth and homelessness.
Family ministry complements the classroom work. Movie nights, game nights and the seasonal Chili Cook-Off set the rhythm of life outside Sunday morning, and the adjoining First Pres Children's Center preschool under Director Sherry Peters offers weekday programs for younger children.
Matthew 25 as the Engine of Outreach
First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood is one of several hundred PC(USA) congregations that have signed on to the denomination's Matthew 25 vision, a call to focus on three overlapping commitments: building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism, and eradicating systemic poverty. The same three frames show up on the church's outreach page, organizing partnerships from Kirkwood to Central America.
Locally, the congregation supports the Kirk Care Food Pantry (food deliveries, utility assistance and school supplies to families in the Kirkwood R-7 school district), the Kirkwood YMCA Club 44 summer camp at Meacham Park, HomeFirst STL and Welcome Neighbor STL for housing and immigrant support, and St. Joseph Housing Initiative for first-time home buyers in south St. Louis. A Little Free Pantry near the Jefferson Avenue entrance is stocked with canned meals, fruits and vegetables. Members cook breakfast casseroles for St. Patrick's Center, support Bridge Bread bakery (a non-profit employing people without housing), and tend the First Pres Vegetable Garden, whose harvest goes to local food banks. The Alternative Gift Market after Thanksgiving and the Christmas Giving Trees are longtime traditions, and Room at the Inn draws volunteers for its shelter work with homeless women and families.
Across the region and the country, partnerships stretch to Mound Ridge Outdoor Ministry, St. Andrews Services for seniors, Doorways for those affected by HIV/AIDS, Presbyterian Children's Homes and Services, and the denomination's own Presbyterian Mission Agency and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. Members have traveled on adult mission trips, including a week with Habitat for Humanity in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, rebuilding homes lost in the December 2021 tornado. Internationally, Marion Medical Mission partners with African communities on clean water, and since early 2021 the congregation has supported two Afghan refugee families with resettlement assistance.
Ongoing clothing, food, school supply and personal hygiene drives, a diaper and period products collection, and seasonal giving projects fill out the rhythm of a church that treats outreach as ongoing ministry rather than occasional charity.
Faith Formation, Small Groups and Grief Care
Beyond Sunday morning, the church hosts a deep calendar of small-group life organized by the Faith Formation office and Associate Pastor Rev. Rachel Finken. Christian Concerns meets Sundays from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in Room 009 (and on Zoom), inviting community speakers into conversation about current issues rooted in Matthew 25:31-46. A new Faith & Fellowship adult Sunday school class launched in September, beginning with a five-week exploration of the Book of Job titled "Tackling the Tough Questions."
The Table, a new Presbyterian Women Bible study led by Mary Hall, meets on the first Thursday of each month at 10:30 a.m. in the Fireplace Room, beginning with United Through Christ, Bound to Each Other. Three women's circles (Esther, Karen and Sarah) keep more traditional fellowship rhythms. Book clubs include the Pastors' Book Club on Wednesdays, the Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon clubs, and a History Book Club meeting Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. A Spiritual Formation group reads and reflects together on the second Sunday of each month via Google Meet. A Saturday Bible Study walks through Scripture weekly on Zoom from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.
Two support groups serve the wider community. An Alzheimer's Association Caregiver Support Group meets the third Saturday of each month from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in Room 028. A Grief Support Group gathers the fourth Monday of each month from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. in the Fireplace Room, with a smaller social outing at Daily Bread on the second Monday.
Becoming a Member and Getting Involved
Becoming a member is straightforward. Newcomers attend one 45-minute class (offered several times a year on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. or Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m.), fill out a few forms, and are received during a designated Sunday worship service. The next group of new members is welcomed on the first Sunday of Advent. Associate Pastor Rachel Finken and the Membership Committee, chaired by Brad Gift, walk prospective members through the process.
Visitors and members can also plug in through the many committees that make congregational life run. The Session of ruling elders guides the church; deacons visit the homebound, lead hospital care and bereavement support, and assist with the Lord's Supper. Committees on Worship, Music and the Arts; Children, Youth and Families; Community Outreach (guided by the Matthew 25 focus); Hospitality; Buildings and Grounds; Personnel; Membership; Technology; Faith Formation and Spirituality; Finance, Operations and Stewardship all welcome volunteers, and a Volunteer Interest Form on the church's site helps match interests to openings.
Weddings, Parking and Practical Notes
Weddings at First Pres are open to anyone; the pastor is authorized to conduct same-sex marriages, and membership is not required. Couples begin by reading the Wedding Policy and then contacting the church to discuss a possible date and to be connected with a pastor.
Parking on Adams Avenue is limited. Visitors with small children or mobility difficulties, and anyone needing accessible parking, are invited to use the church lot. Other worshipers are encouraged to use the Jefferson Avenue Parking Lot next to the building, which is free of charge.
Senior Pastor Rev'd. Gary Noonan leads the staff alongside Associate Pastor Rev. Rachel Finken, with Director of Music Ministries Bill Stein, Contemporary Worship Band Leader Melissa Fyr, Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministries Rob Monroe, Children and Families Ministry Coordinator Stephanie Schmidt, Communications Director Megan Ligeti, and Preschool Director Sherry Peters. The church sits within the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy, the regional body of about 80 congregations extending east into Illinois, south to Cape Girardeau and west to Crystal City, which oversees and resources the ministry of its member churches.
For ongoing communication, the biweekly newsletter keeps the congregation current, and a searchable online giving portal accepts one-time and recurring gifts. Stock transfers, qualified charitable distributions from IRAs, donor-advised funds, planned gifts and text-to-give (text GIVEFPCK to 73256) round out the options for sustaining the ministry of a congregation that has been on Adams Avenue since before the Civil War.