In 2015, the Leland Clegg United Methodist Church and the Epworth United Methodist Church merged to form Mosaic United Methodist Church.
LELAND CLEGG UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Leland Clegg United Methodist Church was named in honor of the Rev. Dr. Leland Clegg who served the Oklahoma Conference for 14 years. Nine of those years, he was the Superintendent of the North Oklahoma City District. During his tenure as District Superintendent, he established 20 new congregations in and near Oklahoma City. We were honored to carry the name of this remarkable church leader.
The land where the church was located was purchased in 1963 and the first Pastor, the Rev. Douglas McPherson, was appointed with hopes of starting a new church. The first service was celebrated rather modestly in an Army barracks in the middle of the field. Baskets from the kitchen served as offering plates. The small congregation’s dream of a permanent building was realized in the fall of 1964, when the sanctuary and classrooms were completed. Six men in the church signed the bank note for the loan of $58,000 to finance the building. Members did all the finishing of the interior, working from dawn to 11:00 p.m. the day before the inaugural service. As they were leaving, Rev. McPherson called them back and said, “Our first service here needs to be with this group.” So, the very first service in the new building was Holy Communion that night.
Leland Clegg United Methodist Church was one of the first racially integrated United Methodist Churches in Oklahoma City and continued to foster inclusion of all God’s children. The community of faith at Leland Clegg welcomed all people into full participation, regardless of age, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religious heritage, handicapping condition, education level or any other distinction that may divide the Christian community. In every way, the community at Leland Clegg sought to embody the United Methodist promise and philosophy of Open Hearts, Open Minds and Open Doors.
EPWORTH UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Epworth University was the first college in Oklahoma City. It was founded as a federated organization supported by two major denominations of the Methodist church: the Methodist Episcopal Church (also known as the "north" branch), and the Methodist Episcopal Church South; these denominations had split over slavery in1844 and re-merged in 1939. The school struggled until it declaredbankruptcy and classes ceased in 1911. The Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church South congregation
had been founded nearby in 1911 and occupied the university building in 1919. Mobile Meals, a Church for the Deaf, Head Start Community Action Program, JETS and many other ministries flourished in the building. As an “inner city church”, the Epworth Community began to face the same reality as many inner city churches. Families moved to the suburbs to get away from changing neighborhoods and those families moved their church memberships to newer, more modern churches. They wanted their
children to go to church with school friends and neighbors. And yet, some at Epworth continued to minister to the neighborhood around the church. They welcomed after school programs for neighborhood children, offices for connected ministries in the neighborhood and tried to continue to minister to their neighbors.
In 1995, when the Oklahoma Bishop of the United Methodist Church and his Cabinet agreed to an experiment – a church welcoming and affirming of all persons regardless of race, age, gender, financial status or sexual orientation – the existing Epworth Community, about 30 – 40 mature members, agreed. And this wonderful group of existing members welcomed some 100-150 Reconciling Methodists: Methodists who welcomed all, including gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered persons, as full members and brothers and sisters in Christ. In 1996, Epworth United Methodist Church joined the Reconciling Ministries Network of the United Methodist Church, a grassroots organization seeking full participation in the church for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and
transgendered persons.
In 2013, due to concerns over an aging building, the congregation agreed that it was time to look to a future outside the existing structure and in 2014, talks began with Leland Clegg United Methodist around a merger, looking at a future as a progressive United Methodist Church in northwest Oklahoma City. The Leland Clegg congregation and the Epworth congregation look forward to a bright future as Mosaic United Methodist Church.
We believe by joining together we can create a congregation that is even more prophetic, more emphatic about the sacredness of all of God's creation and one that will challenge all to live a life of radical grace and acceptance. It is our belief that in combining the many gifts and talents in the individual churches we will be better equipped to fully answer the challenges of God's call for full
inclusion and being and creating the kingdom of God. It is our intent to enter into a merger of the congregations to create a new place of fellowship and a new, vital, and authentic space to worship. With the establishment of Mosaic United Methodist Church, we begin the process of finding or building a new facility that can accommodate our programs and worship needs and will establish our presence in North Oklahoma City as a regional, progressive, justice-seeking congregation.
MOSAIC UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
From 2015-2017, we worshipped on Sunday mornings at the chapel on the campus of Oklahoma City University.
In 2017, we moved into the Mayfair Heights United Methodist Church in order to share space.
In 2022, we voted to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church primarily over the issue of LGBTQ+ inclusion in the life of the church.
In 2023, we voted to affiliate with the Oklahoma Conference of the United Church of Christ. We changed our name to Mosaic Community Church. The church called Rev. Scott Spencer as the Lead Pastor and Rev. Glenda Skinner-Noble as an associate pastor.
MOSAIC COMMUNITY CHURCH
