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Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Oklahoma City has a rich legacy, especially in the area of race relations and in the work for racial justice.
The church building at 2301 NE 23rd was built in 1945 as Creston Hills Presbyterian Church. By the late 1950s, white flight, as a reaction to school desegregation, had decimated the congregation.
Meanwhile, an all-black church, Bethany Presbyterian at NE 3 and Geary Avenue — land now under the on-ramp to Interstate 235 just east of Deep Deuce — was struggling because African-Americans were moving north. Bethany had recently merged with Mt. Moriah Presbyterian Church.
Both Bethany and Creston Hills were struggling amid upheaval in their neighborhoods. Creston Hills wanted to move or disband. The Washita Presbytery, precursor to the present Indian Nations Presbytery, considered it but ultimately rejected the idea.
In 1960, under the close hand of the presbytery, the churches came together in a merger to become the first formally integrated church in Oklahoma, Bethany-Creston Hills Presbyterian Church. The next year, it took a new name, Trinity Presbyterian Church. In 2019, the church house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Trinity pastors and lay people have always been active in race relations and efforts, formal and informal, to bring people together in the name of Jesus Christ.
