July 6, 1962 in the home of Dorothy Ratterman, 442 Dayton Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, 28 people assembled to form a "fellowship" outside of the West Cincinnati-St. Barnabas Church under the leadership of Reverend Maurice F. McCrackin. For those of us who know how small Dorothy Ratterman's living room was in that Dayton Street house and how hot it must have been that summer evening more than 40 years ago, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this was truly a meeting for dedicated people. These "like-minded followers of Christ" considered themselves to be refugees without a religious home - and they were about to change that. After scripture readings, followed by an open discussion led by Martha Lawrence, and at the request of the group, Ulysses S. Fowler retreated to the Ratterman kitchen to write down the organizing document for this new church. Upon his return to the gathering he read the "Constituting Act" which became The Community Church of Cincinnati's Declaration of Independence. Twenty-three of the 28 assembled signed to document followed by the election of Mr. Fowler as the Temporary Chairman, Vali Rae Johnson as the Temporary Treasurer, and Emma Rolf as the Temporary Recorder, since she had already begun taking the minutes of the evening's proceedings. With duly elected officers in place there were only two other acts to accomplish, the "calling" of Maurice F. McCrackin to serve as the minister of this congregation and the creation of a committee consisting of McCrackin and Fowler to coordinate future activities and meeting places.

All of these things came together very quickly for it was only a little less than a month earlier that this band of believers had learned that their beloved pastor, Maurice F. McCrackin, was removed from fellowship with the local and national bodies of the Presbyterian Church because he refused, and had been refusing for nearly 15 years, to support a government war machine with his income taxes. It was not lost on his congregation or his many supporters that this public war tax resistance never raised the attention and ire of ecclesiastical or governmental bodies until his name and reputation were tied to the leadership circles of the growing Civil Rights Movement in the United States. So, just like their pastor, those faithful few heeded their consciences and created a new fellowship that honored the right of all followers of Christ to abide by their calling to be faithful to God above all the institutions of people. Such is the spirit that fills the history and the people who consider themselves members of The Community Church of Cincinnati.

The Charter Sunday of The Community Church of Cincinnati was July 22, 1962 and on that morning 53 people lined up at the West End Branch of the YWCA at 821 Lincoln Park Drive to sign the church charter, the same documents U.S. Fowler crafted two weeks earlier at the Ratterman house. Because of the gracious support of the Council of Community Churches, The Community Church of Cincinnati, shortly after this service, officially affiliated with the larger body then headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Having an institutional home, it didn't take long for the congregation to find a more permanent physical home in the Home for the Negro Sightless at 932 Dayton Street. Working alongside the residents of 932 Dayton Street The Community Church of Cincinnati held weekly services together and ultimately purchased the building from the Negro Sightless Society for $13,000. In December of 1962 McCrackin and his sister, Julia Watson, took up residence at the new church, living in the second floor rooms and kitchen at the back of the building. Emma Rolf would eventually move into the third floor apartment of the building.

Starting a new church, moving into a new building and establishing new education and religious programs consumed a fair amount of time, but the world outside the demands of a new church formation also continued and had its own set of requirements. The Civil Rights Movement was maturing into a national force for positive change almost everywhere. The Community Church of Cincinnati contributed through the continued support of Operation Freedom, a sort of Red Cross operation for the Civil Rights Movement that McCrackin, Ernest Bromley, Marian Bromley, Miriam Nicholas and others had founded a year earlier. Through Operation Freedom northern supporters of the southern struggle for political and social equality could raise money and material and for those brave souls who dared, stand up against racial segregation and the denial of voting rights. Operation Freedom made the difference for many struggling families who were on the verge of losing their homes, farms or businesses merely because they registered to vote. In the course of its existence Operation Freedom raised more than $600,000 in the direct financial donations for a revolving loan fund to buy back home mortgages, tractor notes and simple living supplies for those who were punished for their courage in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Operation Freedom's Board of Directors was a "who's who" of the Civil Rights Movement and included Clarence Jordan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Anne Braden, Myles Horton and a host of others all the while it was housed in the church office at 932 Dayton Street. Operation Freedom brought lasting friendship between The Community Church and people like Fannie Lou Hamer, John and Viola McFerren and Mae Bertha Carter.

As the Civil Rights Movement gave way on the public stage to the war in Vietnam, so went the attention of McCrackin and many members of the church as they worked with the Peacemakers' organization to stand up against the American war effort. For the church and McCrackin it was all one seamless event of standing where they thought Christians should be standing. Civil rights in America easily translated to supporting human rights anywhere else in the world. Throughout the history of the congregation, this guiding principle and commitment would remain the same as the church endorsed prison reform, urban housing reform, support for the hungry and homeless, opposition to the death penalty and opposition to nuclear power and weapons.

While the church's social witness consumed much time and notoriety, the internal growth and development of the congregation also continued. There was a vibrant youth group throughout the 1960's and 1970's who attended church school, held social functions and attended summer camps sponsored by the Ohio Fellowship of Community Churches. The Women's Service Guild organized West End and city-wide community projects, held bake sales and provided a strong and needed social glue for the community.

As the time and the neighborhoods of Cincinnati changed, however, many residents left the West End for other parts of Cincinnati, thereby making The Community Church of Cincinnati more and more of a commuter congregation with fewer strong ties to the original community. Mac, of course, stayed on in the West End, as did a few other members. With the greater mobility of young people going off to school and college and taking on careers that spread them far and wide, the congregation grew older as well. As The Community Church entered the late 1980's and 1990's and as Mac entered his late 80's and early 90's he, with the blessing of the congregation, embraced retirement as the day-to-day and Sunday-to-Sunday pastor to continue his social activism.

The church itself continued with lay leadership and volunteer preaching for nearly ten years after McCrackin's retirement before inviting, in 1995, the Reverend Matthew L. Stephens to assume the pastoral leadership of The Community Church. With Pastor Stephens has come a new energy to build on the accomplishments of the past and recreate the vibrancy of The Community Church of Cincinnati. For the first time in many years new faces on Sunday mornings are greeting the long-time members and an exciting community of old and new is being built as the church plans and rethinks its mission and goals. There is a sense of being on an exciting threshold as The Community Church of Cincinnati has a grand tradition to live up to. At the same time, it also has a grand future for which to anticipate.