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ST. CHARLES COUNTY — A small rural church here has been entangled in a yearslong legal fight with St. Charles County over allegations the county illegally charged it property taxes — and when the congregation didn’t pay up, the county sold the land out from under it.

The dispute has locked the Wentzville Church of God out of its building, on the outskirts of Lake Saint Louis, its sanctuary still full of bibles, pews, hymnals and pulpit.

“I mean, our piano is in there,� said Catherine McKee, a trustee with the congregation. “All of our things are still in there. How are we supposed to have a church service without our things?�

The one-story building at the corner of Morton Lane and Highway N was the Wentzville Church of God’s home for almost 50 years. But a longstanding dispute with the county and the property’s new owner has taken the church from the congregation.

After years of lawsuits, court hearings, appeals and verdicts against the church, the congregation may lose the fight once and for all — just as the neighborhood becomes a hotbed of new home construction.

The issue, at its root, is a tax problem. Congregations typically don’t pay property taxes on their churches.

But St. Charles County officials claim that Wentzville Church of God failed to return its tax-exempt renewal notice in 2017, according to court documents.

The four-page form asks the organization to submit, among other items, a copy of the group’s bylaws, tax status documents, a description of how the property is used, and what happens to it if the organization dissolves. The county sends these renewal notices every five to seven years, officials said.

County officials say they called and even visited the church, but couldn’t figure out if it was still active.

St. Charles County Assessor Travis Welge said the church “could never provide anything to prove it was in operation and actively used for services.�

So the county reclassified the building as a single-family home, and started charging taxes, court documents show. By 2019, the church hadn’t paid taxes for years.

That year, the county sold the property for back taxes.

A limited liability company, Magellanic Seven, whose address is a mailbox inside a copy and print center in an O’Fallon strip mall, bought the property for $15,100.

Keith Bingham, the owner of Magellanic, could not be reached for comment. Magellanic’s accountant, Brad Bain, declined to identify Bingham as the owner, but said the owner had no comment for this story. Attorneys for the church and for Magellanic Seven did not respond to interview requests.

Church leaders said they never got their tax-exempt renewal notice, didn’t know the tax status had changed until they owed thousands, tried to get county officials to rescind the bills, but got nowhere.

They are vowing to fight on.

“They railroaded us,� Catherine McKee said of the county. “They didn’t care what we said.�

Suit after suit

Wentzville Church of God was founded in 1968. It’s part of an association of 58 other Missouri churches known as the Church of God that have about 3,500 members statewide. The group has several congregations in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ area.

Congregations within the group are independent: They own their own buildings and make key decisions — like picking a pastor — locally. The Wentzville congregation was in good standing with the national and state office, said the Rev. Howard Megill, the association’s state administrative pastor.

McKee said they held regular worship services on Sundays, mid-week Bible study and choir rehearsals. They also partnered with other congregations and allowed community groups to meet in their fellowship hall. They had 20-25 regular attendees each Sunday, she said.

“We were a very active church,� she said.

Leaders contested the tax bills each year after they lost tax-exempt status, and repeatedly asked the county to withdraw or cancel the bills.

The church, the county and Magellanic Seven have been in court in multiple lawsuits over several years.

In February 2021, Magellanic sued the county to get a clear title on the church’s property. It won.

The church challenged that verdict, but in March 2025 the Eastern District Court of Appeals upheld the ruling against the Wentzville Church of God.

In June 2023, Magellanic sued the church to evict the congregation from the building. It won, and changed the locks on the doors.

That verdict was also appealed, but the Court of Appeals in February 2025 upheld the eviction.

In August 2023, the church sued the St. Charles County and Magellanic Seven, claiming its property was taken illegally.

Late last year, after multiple hearings, Judge Deborah Alessi ruled in Magellanic’s favor, saying the church was trying to re-litigate a decided case after losing its appeal.

But the suit against the county continues.

“They took our property from us — that’s the bottom line,� said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Charles McKee, Catherine McKee’s son.

Since the county sold the property in 2019, the McKees say the congregation has not been able to meet — missing five years of Christmases and Easter services, baptisms, communion services, and much more.

‘God in heaven knows’

Magellanic has countersued the church for damages.

In court documents, Magellanic attorneys describe the church as “unrelentingly litigious� and say leaders there refuse to accept the outcome of the court proceedings.

“There is no good faith basis for recycling the same facts and same legal claims, and refiling them,� attorneys for Magellanic wrote. “In this case, the claims made by Wentzville Church are factually and legally frivolous in that these legal issues have been previously raised and decided — Wentzville Church just did not like the results.�

It is unclear what Magellanic Seven plans to do with the property, which is currently zoned for agriculture uses.

On Wednesday, the church building’s paint was peeling, window shades pulled down in the sanctuary area, and the doors were locked. The church’s telephone number is still active, but goes unanswered.

St. Charles County Planning & Zoning officials said there are no active development or rezoning requests for the property, which is adjacent to three large-scale residential developments that are under construction.

One development, Autumn Hollow, features more than 460 homes, while two other developments, Harvest at Hopewell and Villages at Post Farms, are expected to add more than 1,200 homes to this growing area of rural St. Charles County.

Another development, Oakshire, is currently awaiting county approval. If approved by the St. Charles County Council it would add an additional 87 homes.

The McKees said the congregation had plans to raze the Wentzville Church of God’s 3,800-square-foot existing building and build a new one there.

And they still hope to. But now the “plans are at a standstill� while the church awaits a conclusion to its lawsuit.

A case management conference has been scheduled for July 28.

“The property is ours,� said Catherine McKee.

“They stole the church from us,� she said. “God in heaven knows they stole it from us.�