History

Metropolitan Spiritual Church of Christ and the Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ, Inc., was conceived in the minds of His Excellency, the Most Reverend William Frank Taylor, and Elder Leviticus Lee Boswell. There were no members to begin with, only curious seekers looking for miracles to be performed; they came, witnessed, and departed believing that the Lord revealed himself through these two men.

The Metropolitan Spiritual Church of Christ was born into existence in the home of Mother Cora M. Murray on September 22, 1925, in Kansas City, Missouri which was then located at 1903 East 9th Street. With a small membership, the Church had to crawl and in doing so, they met many hardships to keep it nourished. With the increase in membership of twenty-four, Reverend William F. Taylor, our Establishmentarian held a baptismal service in the Big Eleven Lake (KCMO) in the presence of a large crowd of witnesses. The first spiritual way of life had to be established so that future offspring could likewise bring forth spiritual truth to the world.

It wasn’t long before Metropolitan Spiritual Church of Christ (MSCC) outgrew its birthplace and a larger edifice had to be secured. Eventually, the Knights and Daughters of Tabor Hall then located at 1834 East 9th Street was rented until the Lord opened the way for the purchasing of property at 1231 Garfield Avenue, KCMO. Reverend Taylor was given plans by the spirit of the Lord for this grand edifice of what is known today as the “Mother Church”.

On Sunday morning September 23, 1934, at Five O’clock Ante Meridiem, Reverend William Frank Taylor was consecrated a Bishop in the LORD’s Church and Primate of the Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ, Inc. by His Grace the Most Reverend R.D. Griffin a bishop in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and who sat in the cabinet of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I., Emperor of Ethiopia. The Congress of Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ, Inc., was organized to meet once a year on the anniversary of the Mother Church. From our beginning until now churches have come and gone, most stayed with the teaching of spiritual truth found within our borders, others added to it from other doctrines/reformations.

The founding churches were (as recorded):
– Alpha & Omega Spiritual Church (Detroit MI) founded by the late Bishop Wallace Peter Robinson
– Moses Spiritual Temple of CHRIST (Gary IN) founded by the late Reverend Mother Lawson Eison Knots
– St. Ann Spiritual Temple Association (Chicago IL), founded by the late Reverend J. P. McDonald & Reverend A. Hutchins
– First Church of Deliverance (Chicago IL), founded by the late Reverend Clarence H. Cobbs
– The Association of Christian Spiritualists of the USA (Memphis TN) founded by the late Bishop A. H. Williams
– Wisdom Way Spiritual Church of Christ (Tulsa OK), founded by W.F. Fields
– Metropolitan Spiritual Church of Christ of Omaha currently Mount Calvary Community Church (Omaha NE) founded by Reverend Roy W. Johnson
– Triangular Church of Truth (Los Angeles CA), founded by Reverend Mother Pearl C. Woods
– Cosmopolitan Spiritual Church of Truth (St. Louis MO) founded by Reverend Mother O. Poole
– St. Joseph Helping Hand Church, and the Divine Spiritual Church of the Southwest (New Orleans LA) founded by the late Bishop Thomas B. Watson & Bishop E. J. Johnson and some twenty other churches would also join this band of fellowship.

Bishop William Frank Taylor answered the call to provide us spiritual truth; and on Tuesday March 17, 1942, answered another call and took his rest from labor at the home of Reverend Mother Pearl C. Woods.

In August of 1943 a merger took place between the MSCC and the Divine Spiritual Churches of Christ of the Southwest, based out of New Orleans LA under the leadership of His Grace, the Most Reverend Bishop Thomas B. Watson; in December 1943, a charter from the State of Missouri was applied for under the corporate name, “United Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ of the Southwest” with Bishop Thomas B. Watson elected as Senior Presiding Bishop. And in 1946 there was a schism in our body from which two separate entities emerged: United Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ, Inc., and MSCC, Bishop Watson maintained leadership as Senior Presiding Bishop of the United Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ, Inc., and Reverend Clarence H. Cobbs served as the National President of our Church. Aside from politics, Bishop Thomas B. Watson concluded that women should not be ordained ministers and wanted all women removed from the ministry, Reverend Clarence H. Cobbs did not share this same conviction regarding women in ministry.

The Lord made a promise to our National President that HE would ‘cut a road through the sea’, this prophetic release was made manifest when we received churches in Montego Bay, Jamaica, West Indies, and later when the Reverend Dr. I Logan Kearse visited Monrovia Liberia and introduced MSCC to our beloved Reverend Mother Wilhelmina Dukuly, founder of Faith Healing Temple of Jesus Christ (Bushrod Island), making Dr. Kearse the founding pastor of Cornerstone Church of Christ (Baltimore MD) our first Foreign Missions Chairman. Again in 1975 we added churches established in Accra Ghana.

In 1979 after serving as National President for 36 years, Reverend Clarence H. Cobbs exchanged time for eternity, making the Very Reverend Supreme Mother Lucretia L. Smith founding pastor of Lily of the Valley Spiritual Church our first woman International President of Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ, Inc., until 1980 when the Board of Directors elected the Most Reverend Dr. I. Logan Kearse as our International President. During this transitional period, yet another schism rocked our Church, the Very Reverend Supreme Mother Lucretia L. Smith and others, i.e., Reverend Dr. Annie R. Sconiers (Traveler’s Rest Spiritual Church), Reverend Mother Mary Rosser (True Zion Spiritual Church, Inc.) and others established the ‘New National Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ, Inc.’, and Reverend Lucius Hall (First Church of Love & Faith), and others, established the ‘First Spiritual Churches of Truth, Inc.’

Dr. I Logan Kearse served our Church until his transition on the 25th of March 1991 at which time the Most Reverend Dr. Arthur Leonard Posey, Jr. affectionately known as “Rabbi” founding pastor of the Temple of St. Jude Spiritual Church of Christ (Detroit MI) was elected as International President. In July 1993 Reverend Dr. Posey along with the Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ, Inc., reunited in fellowship with the Bishop Aubrey J. Watson and the United Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of CHRIST in New Orleans LA; and in July 1995 Dr. Posey was consecrated as Archbishop of the Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of CHRIST, Inc. On Friday November 8, 1996, at the First Church of Deliverance (Chicago IL), Reverend Dr. James Dennis Tindall, Sr., Reverend Charles “Yes I Can” Slayton, Reverend Dr. William E. Hamilton, Reverend William Randal Wesley Ozier, Reverend William H. Foeman, Reverend Joseph Kennedy, Jr., and Bishop Robert Earl Smith were consecrated to the episcopacy, establishing our College of Bishops, and Diocesan Prelates.

During the administration of Archbishop Arthur L. Posey, Jr., we experienced growing pains and yet another schism when two sons of our Church, Bishop Michael Hope established Deliverance is Nigh Ministries Worldwide, and Bishop William Melvin Payne established the Universal Christian Organized Fellowship, to this very day, Bishop Payne has not ceased from attending or sharing in our Annual Congresses.

After the transition of Archbishop Arthur L. Posey, Jr., Bishop James Dennis Tindall, Sr., then Senior Pastor of the Mother Church was selected by the College of Bishops in February 2009 and on Friday

July 24, 2009, he was enthroned as our Primate and Chief Apostle of the Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ, Inc. Today, Bishop Tindall serves our Church as a monumental tribute to our establishmentarian Bishop William Frank Taylor and to the innumerable co-laborers, i.e., Elder Leviticus Lee Boswell, Bishop Thomas B. Watson, Reverend Clarence H. Cobbs, the Very Reverend Supreme Mother Lucretia L. Smith, Dr. I. Logan Kearse, Archbishop Arthur L. Posey, Jr., who shared in carrying the vision of our storied church.