All Are Welcome on Lincoln Avenue
On a leafy block in Saint Paul's Macalester-Groveland neighborhood, Macalester Plymouth United Church gathers each Sunday behind a sign that reads simply: "All Are Welcome!" The congregation's motto, "Come celebrate God's radically inclusive love and call for justice. We don't claim to have all the answers, but live the questions together," sets the tone for everything that happens inside the church at 1658 Lincoln Avenue. Macalester Plymouth is a progressive Christian community that holds dual standing in two historic American denominations, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ, and has built its identity around an unusually public set of justice commitments: an Open and Affirming welcome to LGBTQ+ people, a Just Peace pledge, an Earth Care practice, and a formal Antiracism statement. Generations of Saint Paul families have passed through its programs, and today the church balances that long memory with a vibrant ministry for children, youth, and adults of every age.
A Faith Shaped by Three Unions
Macalester Plymouth United Church carries the imprint of three separate mergers. Its oldest roots reach back to 1858, when Plymouth Congregational Church was founded. As Saint Paul's neighborhoods shifted over the next century, Plymouth's membership began to dwindle, and the congregation entered merger conversations with Macalester Presbyterian Church, which had been established in 1887. The two came together in 1968 under the new name Macalester Plymouth United Church.
Around the same time, two other Saint Paul congregations were walking a parallel path. Merriam Park Presbyterian Church, founded in 1884, welcomed Lexington Parkway Presbyterian Church in 1969 to become Merriam-Lexington Presbyterian Church. In 2000, Merriam-Lexington joined with Macalester Plymouth, completing the third union. The church sees its history of joining rather than splitting as a defining gift, and the present-building status and its ministries reflect four congregations' worth of relationships, music, and mission.
Alongside that history, the church has taken seriously the harder truth embedded in its address. In September 2023, the Session adopted a formal Land Acknowledgement Statement that names the building's location as the ancestral and contemporary homeland of the Dakota people. The statement acknowledges the role of Christian churches, including the Presbyterian Church and the Congregational tradition that gave birth to this congregation, in removing the Dakota from their land and in supporting Indian Boarding Schools. From its founding in 1887, Macalester Presbyterian Church and its Women's Missionary Society raised funds for boarding schools through the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. The acknowledgement commits the congregation to education, relationship-building with Indigenous organizations such as the Department of Indian Work and Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi, advocacy for equitable public policy, and exploring how to build a financial commitment to reparations into the church budget.
Two Denominations, One Sanctuary
Most congregations belong to one denomination. Macalester Plymouth belongs to two. The church belongs to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ, and the dual affiliation is woven into how it sees itself. Both traditions are progressive Christian bodies that have pioneered movements for inclusivity, welcome, and justice, and Macalester Plymouth is proud to support the mission and ministry of both. Each Sunday the offering plate carries contributions that eventually flow outward to two different sets of conferences, seminaries, and global partners.
In practice the dual affiliation shapes everything from liturgy to governance. The Session, the church's elected governing board, discerns God's call for the congregation and oversees its ministries in collaboration with the Lead Minister. The Board of Deacons, a separate body, leads the congregation's care of its members, particularly older adults who are homebound, through visits, rides to church, prayer shawls, care packages to college students, and a Prayer Chain that lifts up specific needs in weekly prayer. Anyone in the congregation can serve; anyone can lead. The Session and the Deacons, together with the Nominating and Engagement Team, share the work of calling new leaders.
Sunday Worship and the Visitor Experience
Sunday worship at Macalester Plymouth begins at 10:00 am, with a prelude of music starting at 9:50 am. Services are held in the sanctuary and streamed on the church's YouTube channel for those who cannot attend in person. The order of worship is rooted in the Christian tradition and includes singing, prayer, scripture reading, and a sermon. Communion is celebrated once per month. The congregation describes itself as progressive and intergenerational, and affirms many words and images for God.
Visitors are asked only to "wear whatever clothes are most comfortable." There is no dress code. Children of all ages are welcome and included throughout the service. For families who prefer to stay together, two PrayGround stations sit inside the sanctuary with soft toys and a low table for coloring. Kids Activity Bags are available in the narthex. Families who would like childcare can drop infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in the Nursery room, where a rotating staff of paid providers, including high school senior Isa Blons, who has grown up at the church since age four, and Aria Walburn, cares for the youngest members alongside trained volunteers.
Accessibility is built into the building. An elevator reaches every floor. The sanctuary is equipped with a hearing loop to enhance sound for worshippers who use compatible hearing aids. Parking is available in the lot behind the church off Macalester Street, in nearby Macalester College lots, and on neighborhood streets. After the service, the whole community moves into the Merriam Lexington Social Hall for a social hour with coffee and tea, and many Sundays include programs for various ages at 11:15 am, including forums, faith formation gatherings, or Bible study conversations, that give visitors an easy on-ramp into congregational life.
Music That Holds the Congregation
Music has long been a defining mark of Macalester Plymouth, and the current staff builds on a strong tradition. Dr. Brad Bradshaw has served as Director of Music since October 2014. He leads the Chancel Choir, the Chapel Choir, and the Alleluia Choir, and is currently recruiting a Music Enrichment Steward to direct the children's Alleluia Choir and the Jubilee Ringers handbell ensemble. Brad is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the National Teachers of Singing, the American Guild of Organists, and the Hymn Society, and he understands his work, in his words, as employing music "to elevate the word of God and develop beauty in the world" while making sure that everyone has a place in music.
Cathleen Harris joined Macalester Plymouth in 2023 as Organist and Accompanist. A native of Nora Springs, Iowa, she began playing organ in her home church at thirteen and has spent the years since accompanying choirs and congregations across the region. Together, Brad and Cathleen anchor a music program that supports a children's choir, an intergenerational bell ensemble, and a regular Artist Series that brings professional ensembles like the bilingual Son de Cuerdas to the sanctuary for recitals that benefit the music ministry.
An Intergenerational Faith Formation
Macalester Plymouth describes its faith formation ministry as intentionally intergenerational. Two parallel programs serve children during worship. Sunday Friends, for the youngest congregants from infancy through about age six, gathers children in the sanctuary, then moves with them after the Message for All Ages to the Sunday Friends Room for a song, a story tied to the season of the church, and rotating choices in sensory exploration, imaginative play, art, and building. Kids Club, for ages six through early middle school, follows a similar pattern and meets in a dedicated room with art projects, games, Just Dance, and an air hockey table, occasionally spilling outside for a Frisbee or a pickup soccer game when the weather cooperates.
Older youth find a full program of their own. The Youth Group gathers regularly for shared meals, honest conversation, service work, and the kind of big questions that youth ministry exists to hold. Each summer the church sends a delegation on a Youth Service Trip; past destinations include New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Boulder, and participants often describe the trips as life-changing. Confirmation is offered every other year as a year-long journey for youth entering eighth and ninth grades, led by Rev. Adam Blons and Hope Walburn with a circle of adult volunteers. Rather than treating confirmation as a test of doctrine, Macalester Plymouth frames it as a chance for youth to reflect on their own beliefs and to decide, in community, whether they wish to become members of the church. The church also offers Our Whole Lives, a lifespan sexuality curriculum co-authored by the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association, typically every other year for middle and high schoolers.
Adults have their own rhythm. The Adult Faith Formation Team, working with the Lead Minister, organizes speakers, book discussions, movie nights, classes, and seasonal series on questions of faith. Bible Study gathers in the Plymouth Room after worship on selected Sundays, led by Rick Hedrick and retired minister Rev. Libby Shannon, with coffee and snacks and a focus on the upcoming preaching text. Together! Growing in Faith (TGIF) happens on the first Sunday of each month after worship for an intergenerational hour of singing, crafts, and conversation. Monthly Women's Breakfast on the second Saturday and Men's Breakfast on the third Saturday, both in the Merriam Lexington Social Hall and accessible by Zoom, sustain smaller circles of fellowship across the year.
Justice as a Living Practice
Justice work is not a department at Macalester Plymouth; it is the congregation's organizing principle. The church has a long history of public commitments, and a current team of volunteers that keeps the work moving.
The Open and Affirming and More Light commitments, made jointly with the UCC and the PCUSA, were adopted unanimously by the Session on December 8, 1994, and confirmed by the congregation on January 22, 1995, with 91.7 percent approval. The statement welcomes people without regard to race, sex, socio-economic status, age, mental or physical ability, marital status, or sexual orientation, and specifically encourages people of all sexual orientations to share in community life, worship, sacraments, and ordained leadership. "Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus" is the pledge at its heart.
The Just Peace commitment was adopted by the congregation in 1985, after both the UCC General Synod and the PCUSA General Assembly had named their denominations as peacemaking churches. The commitment includes a Peace Pole outside the main entry that reads "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in eight languages, including the Dakhota language. When the Dakhota plate disappeared from the pole in recent years, the church worked with Dakhota elder and language teacher Barry Hand to replace it. The new wording, "Unci maka akan wodakhota unkagapi kte," was not a literal translation but a gift: it conveys honoring the sacredness of all creation and acting to restore and protect it.
Antiracism work took a more formal shape in 2022-2023. The congregation's trained Racial Justice Stewards facilitated a year of discernment through study, testimony, relationship-building, and community engagement, drawing on the practice of embodied equity, an experiential approach that centers body awareness in the work of racial justice. On May 7, 2023, the congregation approved an Antiracism Statement affirming, in the words of the document, that "antiracism is an essential Christian commitment" and pledging to "actively confront white supremacy in culture and systems, dismantle racism and embody equity within ourselves, our ministries and through our witness in the wider community." The Earth Care and Creation Justice commitment, the church's sustainability work, sits alongside these commitments and grounds them in a wider ecology.
Care, Connection, and the Deacons
Pastoral care at Macalester Plymouth flows through the Board of Deacons. The Deacons lead luncheons for memorial services and milestone celebrations; coordinate care visits, phone calls, cards, and flower deliveries to homebound members; arrange rides to Sunday worship for those who cannot drive; organize the preparation and delivery of meals through an Act Now ministry when someone faces surgery, illness, or the arrival of a new baby; send care packages to first-year college students; and provide prayer shawls, knit by members, to those going through difficult times. A Prayer Chain gathers specific needs for prayer, and a separate email, mpucprays@gmail.com, is the front door for sharing those requests. The Deacons' partner, the Congregational Fellowship Committee, hosts the all-church potlucks, pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners, ice cream socials, and seasonal celebrations that bring members of every generation into the Social Hall around shared food.
The Grove Initiative and Wider Community Impact
Much of the church's social justice work now flows through The Grove Initiative, an affiliated volunteer hub that connects members with service opportunities across the Twin Cities. Michelle Sheire leads the program as The Grove Initiative Program Manager, building on more than fifteen years of experience leading volunteer programs and a passion for volunteer engagement and relationship-building. Among The Grove's regular offerings is the Loaves and Fishes meal ministry. Macalester Plymouth has been a member congregation of Loaves and Fishes for more than forty years and serves six Sundays a year at the Opportunity Center in downtown Saint Paul, preparing and serving a hot meal to between one hundred and two hundred fifty walk-in diners each time. Volunteers sign up to purchase specific groceries, prep and cook the meal on site, or serve cafeteria-style, with younger volunteers welcome from age fourteen in a one-to-five ratio with adults.
The church's wider community impact also includes an annual Habitat for Humanity build week. The congregation has been collaborating with other faith communities through Interfaith Builders for twenty-five years, most recently working on a new home in Maplewood alongside The Heights neighborhood, the site of a Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project two years ago. Each January, The Grove hosts an MLK Day of Service that draws the wider congregation into a day of action. The church's YouTube channel keeps its livestream and recorded worship available to anyone who cannot be in the sanctuary.
Macalester Plymouth Preschool
Sharing the building with the church is Macalester Plymouth Preschool, a play-based program that has welcomed three- and four-year-olds for more than fifty years. The preschool operates independently under the church's roof, and it is a quiet thread that connects many Macalester Plymouth families across generations. Each spring, the church hosts a Preschool Celebration that honors the year's graduates and welcomes prospective families to explore the classrooms, meet teachers, and hear from past families about their experience. The preschool celebrated its sixtieth anniversary in 2026 with a Sunday afternoon gathering that drew current and former families back to the building.
A Building with a Wedding Coordinator and a Wide Welcome
The building at 1658 Lincoln Avenue is, in a real sense, a community center. Penny Heubach serves as the church's Wedding Coordinator and works with couples who choose to be married there; the Deacons host memorial services and receptions in the Social Hall; the Sanctuary, Plymouth Room, and Social Hall host music recitals, the Artist Series, the Journey Home contemplative practice series, intergenerational gatherings, and game nights that raise money for the youth program. The congregation's practice of "surprising hospitality," one of its core values, is the throughline. It shows up in the Sunday Greeters, the Sunday Worship Ushers, the Hospitality Team Leaders who keep Sunday mornings running smoothly, and the steady stream of members who volunteer their time to make sure that anyone walking through the doors feels welcomed, fed, and known.
Macalester Plymouth United Church sits on land taken from the Dakota people, in a city built by immigrants, in a denomination whose history includes both prophetic witness and complicity in harm. The congregation has chosen to name all of that, plainly and in writing, and to do its next work in the open. That choice, to live the questions together, and to keep showing up for the answers, is what defines Macalester Plymouth today.