OUR HISTORY
The First United Methodist Church was built in Raymore, Missouri in 1881. In 1909 the Methodist Church united with the Evangelical United Brethern Church. For 10 years the two churches shared the same building, minsters and services. In 1919 the Methodists withdrew to their own church building, conducting Sunday School until a minsters was procured.
In 1949 the Methodist Church sold their sanctuary and parsonage to a private buyer with the understanding that the sanctuary was to be dismantled and sold. However, it could not be sold to another religious body in Raymore, nor could any materials be used to construct a tavern anywhere. In 1950, after purchasing a structure from Evangelical United Brethern for $6,000, the congregation moved. The church was called St. Paul's Methodist, and after the national merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethern Church in 1968, it was renamed St. Paul's United Methodist Church.
Five acres were purchased along Highway 58. The first service in the first phase of the present structure was held December 7, 1975. In December of 1980 the congregation completed the second unit. It was an educational addition, paid for in full without incurring additional debt. In 1983 another addition was made to the building, thus connecting the two separate buildings and adding more Sunday School rooms and a library. This was also build without incurring any additional debt.
In 1993 a monetary gift was received from the estate of long time members and with that the 15 acres directly west of the present structure were purchased. The third expansion, a basement and ground floor addition, was completed in 1998. More classrooms, a minister's study, larger office space, an expanded Fellowship Hall and a much larger narthex were included.
St. Paul's has shown remarkable growth in the past 25 years. A statement in 1983 by a former minister is still apropos today, "What we can do for God in the community is limited only by our lack of vision and energy."