About Us
If the Apostle Paul were to send a letter to the Church of St. Louis, to what address would he send it?
Our desire is that the answer would be clear—a place where pastors and ministry leaders across denominations come together to seek God, support one another, and work for the flourishing of St. Louis.
About TogetherSTL
TogetherSTL was born out of a shared vision for a united Church in St. Louis. In 2022, Marco Van Raalten of Gateway Metro St. Louis and Brandon Wilkes of the St. Louis Reconciliation Network came together with a simple yet profound question:
What can we do together that we can’t do alone?
From that question, an experiment began—one focused on fostering unity among churches across the region. We believe that when God’s people come together, miracles happen. Our mission is to create spaces for relationships, collaboration, and prayer, allowing God to move in powerful ways.
We are also driven by another question:
If the Apostle Paul were to send a letter to the Church of St. Louis, to what address would he send it?
Our desire is that the answer would be clear—a place where pastors and ministry leaders across denominations come together to seek God, support one another, and work for the flourishing of St. Louis.
How We Unite the Church in St. Louis
• Pastoral Collaboratives – Connecting pastors in every neighborhood to build relationships and strengthen local churches.
• Focus Teams – Bringing together ministries across the region to tackle city-wide challenges.
• Prayer – Ensuring everything we do is bathed in prayer, seeking God’s wisdom and guidance.
Together, we want to network the Church across St. Louis, believing that through unity, we can transform our city in ways no single church could do alone.
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Our Team Members
Brandon Wilkes has been married to his high school sweetheart, Dorothy, since 1997 and is the father of 3 outstanding children. Brandon II, Isaiah, and Keilah. He has been in ministry since 2004 and currently co-leads a house church with his wife called Peoples Church St. Louis, which they planted in 2017. Brandon received his BS in Environmental Science from The Ohio State University and spent 8 years working for Procter & Gamble before leaving to serve in ministry. He later earned his MS in Biblical Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity school in 2013. In addition to pastoring, Brandon currently serves as the Executive Director of the St. Louis Reconciliation Network which is an organization that equips churches and their leadership in the area of multi-ethnic ministry. Believing that the church should be leading the charge in racial reconciliation and unity because that is at the heart of the gospel. He also co-leads TogetherSTL with Marco van Raalten with the mission to bring God’s peoples together so that miracles can happen. Starting with St. Louis and going as far as the Lord desires. Last but not least, he is a dedicated OSU Buckeyes football fan and head cheerleader for his children in all their athletic, academic, and life endeavors.
Marco van Raalten left his native country of Holland, Europe at the age of 19 as a missionary, serving city-wide collaborative efforts in Lome, Togo (Africa), Kampen, Holland (Europe), Wichita and Farmington (USA). Marco also spent 13 years as a pastor, serving congregations in Holland and with the Evangelical Free Church of America in the USA . In 2018 he was invited by St. Paul’s Evangelical Church in Creve Coeur, MO to serve as their city missionary to promote unity in the church in St. Louis Metro area. Marco met his wife Kari on the mission field and they have four adopted children: Nathan, Kevin, Clarissa and Grace. In their spare time they love spending time with their family, enjoy nature through hiking and biking and cherish the culturally rich city of St. Louis in its events, activities and ethnic restaurants.