First Grace United Methodist

Some of the First Grace United Methodist Church Choir 

Two years after Hurricane Katrina hit in October the two United Methodist congregations merged to form one united congregation. Grade Methodist had 155 years of history as a rich African-American cultured congregation. But, when Katrina blew through out of the Gulf of Mexico it scattered 100 or so members out of New Orleans. First Methodist was even older than Grace. Its history goes back to 184 years ago, and it was one of the flagships of white mainline Protestantism in New Orleans. 

First Methodist opened in the fall on 1960s on Canal Street, built at a cost of $12 million in today's dollars. Now today they  have 1200 members and to accommodate for the large amount of people they had three services each Sunday. The rise of suburbs and the cultural and political upheavals in the '60s and '70s brought down First Methodist and other urban mainline Protestant congregations into a long decline. 

The dynamics of present day First Grace today are not only shaped by the collaboration of the two previous congregations. But a sizable third party: the new post-Katrina members. Many of them young and with children, Hispanics, and from all walks of life.