Bering Memorial United Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little Texas flavor. The church you're looking at goes by the name Bering Memorial United Methodist Church, but that name is the end of a long story, not the beginning. At the beginning, way back in 1848, there was the Rev.

Charles Goldberg, and he organized a congregation in Houston that went by the name First German Methodist Church of Houston. Now, most of the charter members were German immigrants, and that tells you something about Houston in 1848. These were people who had crossed an ocean and then kept going.

Among those charter members were two brothers, August and Conrad Bering. They had come to Texas in 1846 with their parents, so by the time Rev. Goldberg was pulling this congregation together, the Bering family was already part of the fabric of the place.

For decades, this church held its ground at Milam and McKinney streets. That's where the congregation worshipped from 1858 all the way until 1924, when it finally moved to the very location where you're standin now. But something happened in 1911, before that move, that's worth slowin down for.

The name of the church was changed that year, changed to honor the founding family, the Berings themselves. And right about the same time, English was introduced into the worship services. So 1911 is the year a German immigrant congregation formally turned a corner, carrying its founders' name into a new era.

From First German Methodist to Bering Memorial, from German-language services to English, from Milam and McKinney to here. That's not one story. That's several generations of one story, and the marker out front is just the punctuation at the end.

What the marker says

Originally known as the First German Methodist Church of Houston, this congregation was organized in 1848 by the Rev. Charles Goldberg. Most of the charter members were German immigrants, including August and Conrad Bering, two brothers who had come to Texas in 1846 with their parents. The name of the church was changed in 1911 to honor this founding family. About the same time, English was introduced into the worship services. The congregation met at Milam and McKinney streets from 1858 until 1924, when it moved to this location.