In 2000, Westminster Presbyterian Church was at a turning point. A church with a rich history and an active congregation had to make some very important decisions, driven primarily by building concerns and a declining financial situation.

St. John's United Church of Christ was also at a critical point. Like Westminster, this church had a rich history, but while their facility was still sound and functional, their congregation was at a point of near extinction. Two churches, two miles from one another, had no previous connection, but the idea of merging both congregations quickly bloomed into a very real solution.

The exact genesis of this idea is still not perfectly clear, but it seemed to have been launched nearly simultaneously at both churches. To many it was a great idea, to others an impossible one. Little by little, the pieces began to fit together. A core group of individuals from both churches gathered as the Merger Task Force from which the "Executive Committee" was formed. This group, along with others, began a trek filled with a multitude of meetings and countless hours of volunteer work to begin to "form the new church".

Merging a Presbyterian Church with its structure and rules and a United Church of Christ congregation, which was accustomed to autonomy, was a formidable undertaking. The new church received much assistance and encouragement from the Presbytery of Cincinnati and the Southwest Ohio/Northern Kentucky Association of the United Church of Christ. Many congregational meetings were held but none more historic than those held on October 7, 2001.

At separate meetings, both congregations overwhelmingly approved the merger of Westminster Presbyterian Church and St. John's United Church of Christ, now to be known as St. John's Westminster Union Church. Officially, the church began on January 1, 2002. At that point, an ambitious renovation of the former St. John's facility began, and a search for a new pastor commenced.

The new church was off and running! In May, the congregation enthusiastically approved the calling of Rev. Kathryn Barlow Westmoreland as the first pastor of the new church. The newly remodeled church was celebrated and dedicated on Sunday, September 22, 2002.