Timeline of St. Matthew's
The history of St. Matthew’s, sometimes confronted by difficult challenges, nevertheless has produced a refreshingly different approach with new ways of making connections, not only with parishioners but also with the Westerville community.
Today, it is a model church without walls, one that has offered outreach and support for the arts, non-profit groups, and churches in Africa and Latin America.
St. Matt’s began as a mission church in 1961 and conducted services at
several locations around Westerville. Rev. Richard Wyatt, an assistant at
Trinity Church in downtown Columbus, was assigned to lead the fledgling
parish, which opened its original church building in 1966.
St. Matt’s had its original church grounds at 233 S. State Street at the southern end of Uptown Westerville. From that time until late 2013, St. Matt’s stood at that location as a deep-rooted Westerville religious institution, with a formal worship space, Sunday school classrooms, and offices.
St. Matthew's First Home
Challenges Lead to a Re-Imagining
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The 2003 election of a gay bishop, Rev. Gene Robinson, to lead the New Hampshire
diocese, divided many Episcopal parishes, including St. Matthew’s. The vicar of St.
Matthew’s led two-thirds of the parish out of the Episcopal Church in 2007, leaving the remaining Episcopal congregation temporarily churchless.
Ultimately, the parish church, building and grounds were legally restored to the
possession of the Episcopal Church. But with a smaller number of parishioners, this
was financially unsustainable, and the church and its real estate were sold in 2013.
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The new head St. Mathew’s, Rev. Dr. Joseph G. Kovitch,
encouraged the remaining members of the parish to re-imagine
parish life without the four walls of a church, going forward into
the Westerville community without the burden and expense of
large buildings.
By 2014 St. Matthew’s had worshiped in many different places in Uptown Westerville. Even without a permanent home, the parish helped launch and support children and adult drama groups, jazz, blues and other theme-based vespers, the Neighbor2Neighbor program and an Uptown Merchants Organization among other community groups.
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St. Matthew’s Mission goal (vision) was to spend 80% of its resources on ministries to our community and 20% on “Life Together”, as a church.
Rev. Dr. Joseph Kovitch
After a few years of “wandering”, having held services in many halls and meeting
spaces, St. Matthew’s decided to lease a house at 23 East College Avenue for office
and meeting space. This put the activity of St. Matthew’s in the middle of the active Uptown Westerville community. Quickly the traditional congregation became augmented by a “coffee house” mentality. Fr. Joseph regularly placed himself at a visible spot in Java Central wearing his priest collar and presenting himself as a “holy listener”. Several micro-services were held on the sidewalk in front of the coffee shop including Ash Wednesday prayers and Christmas Eve mass. The community embraced him and he became known as the “village priest”.
Since the leased building did not have a room large enough for worship, Fr. Joseph
approached Old Bag of Nails restaurant, who made its 3rd floor banquet room available for Sunday worship.
Outdoor Eucharist on Uptown Westerville's Sidewalk
A New Home
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On February 2, 2017, a house across the street from the leased property (30 E. College Avenue) became available to purchase. Fr. Joseph approached the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio to buy the house for St. Matthew’s. The Episcopal Church Foundation bought the house as St. Matthew’s new home. The house was named the Pray. Think. Love. House, signaling to the community that its new residence would be a space offering opportunities for spiritual growth and education while providing much-needed space for its membership activities and for non-profits to utilize. (The house has since been placed on the state register of Historic Buildings.)
When the COVID 19 Pandemic of 2020-2022 put a
stumbling block in the worship life and in all areas of
progress made from the previous years, the parish
leaders quickly accommodated. The Pray. Think.
Love. House became a production house for
live-streaming its services—filling the house with
monitors, cameras, microphones, and laptops.
In Lent season of 2021 St. Matthew’s began a slow
return to a year without the ravages of COVID 19,
and the congregation of St. Matthew's began to
re-claim the charm of their historic house/office,
storing away the electronics and readying to open to the public once more.
It now houses rental space in its upstairs, and several non-profits utilize the community space there. The office of St. Matt's is located in the front room of the House and is open from 9am-1pm Mondays through Fridays. St. Matthew's now holds its Sunday services at the Otterbein University chapel located at 88 Cochran Alley.
The Pray. Think. Love. House
