With over 154 years of service to Houston's faith community, St. Paul was founded in 1869 as the first African Methodist Episcopal church in Houston. The church was named in honor of St. Paul, who was among the first freed black people.
The first worship services were held under the leafy shade of an arbor.

However, God's grace and determination led founding pastor, Rev. David Wren, and two founding families, the Richard Brock and Henry Fields families, to begin work on the original worship edifice at 1710 Edward Street located within the Houston Central Business District, First Ward. Pastor Wren and his group of trailblazers completed construction of the first St. Paul A.M.E. worshio center in 1873. In 1875, St. Paul completed expansion of this project to include pastoral housing. St. Paul has successfully handled the oversight for additional renovations and reconstruction required due to the Texas Gulf Coast storm of 1900, other catastrophic events, and general facility maintenance.

St. Paul has not only provided a solid foundation of service to Houston's faith community. it's dedication to social. educational and community services began in 1927 with the establishment of Richard J. Brock Elementary School.
Founded in honor of a pioneer St. Paul member and Trustee, Mr. Richard J. Brock, Brock Elementary currently stands as one of 185 elementary schools within the Houston Independent School District.

A total of thirty three (33) Pastors have served St. Paul in its 154 years of existence. On November 15, 1997, Rev.
Roderick D. Dawson, the thirty third Pastor, was assigned to lead St. Paul. He is a dynamic blessing to the St. Paul family and its vision.

Under his leadership, St. Paul has begun to delve further into the call to "nurture and meet the needs of the community". In
1998. Pastor Dawson was instrumental in the establishment of the St. Paul A.M.E. Church Community Development Corporation. St. Paul's CDC collaborated to provide Day Care and After-school Program services to children in Houston's First Ward community. Collaborative partnerships included projects with Avenue CDC. A June 2000 community growth and expansion feasibility study of the First Ward area, led to a transitional move for the church and the CDC, targeting Northwest Houston.

In June 2001, relocation was completed to the Greenspoint area, a Northwest Suburb of Houston. St. Paul A.M. E. and its community projects began their grounding within the new community through Thomas Gray Elementary School in Aldine Independent School District. In June 2002, St. Paul opened a new worship center, day care facility, and community projects offices at its current location, 1554 Gears Road in Houston. In November 2002. The Master's Anvil Community Development Corporation became the official operating name of the CDC project. In keeping with values established through God's Word and the elemental founding principles of the A.M.E. Church, The Master's Anvil CDC as a community outreach and social ministry endeavors to serve all people with freedom from discrimination and prejudice.

Our goal is to eradicate social injustice and to rebuild broken lives by actively encouraging involvement and developing projects to meet the needs identified within the community.