African Americans were present in the Stone-Campbell Movement soon after its inception. The records of 1820 list African Americans as members of the two earliest congregations at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, and Brush Run, Pennsylvania. In the early 1820s other congregations listing African American members were Pleasant Grove, in Jefferson County, Kentucky; Walnut Spring, near Strasburg, Virginia; and Old Union, in Fayette County, Kentucky.
1. Nineteenth Century
1.1. Beginnings to 1861
African Americans were present in the Stone-Campbell Movement soon after its inception. The records of 1820 list African Americans as members of the two earliest congregations at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, and Brush Run, Pennsylvania. In the early 1820s other congregations listing African American members were Pleasant Grove, in Jefferson County, Kentucky; Walnut Spring, near Strasburg, Virginia; and Old Union, in Fayette County, Kentucky.
The earliest African American congregations were the Colored Christian Church, Midway, Kentucky, constituted in 1834; Pickerelltown, in Logan County, Ohio (1838); Lexington, Kentucky (1851); Hancock-Hill Church, Louisville, Kentucky (early 1850s); Free Union Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Uniontown/Union Community, North Carolina (1854); Grapevine Christian Church, Nashville, Tennessee (1859); Little Rock Christian Church, in Bourbon County, Kentucky (1861); and other congregations in Washington, Johnson, and Wilkinson Counties in Georgia.
In mixed congregations, offices open to African Americans were those of exhorters (talented persons ordained to preach to African Americans), deacons who served African Americans, and custodians. In separate congregations there also were elders and board members. In free states congregations were usually autonomous; in slave states the mother church supervised the congregation and its officers.
Records of early leaders are sketchy, but these are mentioned: Samuel Buckner and Alexander Campbell at Cane Ridge; Isaac Scott at Raleigh, North Carolina; Abram Williams at Somerset, Kentucky; Thomas Phillips at Lexington; J. D. Smith at Louisville; Henry Newson at Pickerelltown, Ohio; Peter Lowery at Nashville; and Hesiker Hinkel in Washington County, Tennessee.
Founders and early leaders of the Stone-Campbell Movement, notably Thomas and Alexander Campbell, Barton Stone, Walter Scott, and Benjamin Franklin, held classes in religious education for African Americans. The Bible was the textbook, and the “head,” or rational, approach to Christianity was fostered, in contrast to “shouting” or “fervent” approaches.
By 1861 the African American membership in mixed congregations numbered about 5,500, and in separate congregations about 1,500. The mixed congregations were in Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The separate congregations were in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee.
1.2. 1861-1876
The freedom granted to African Americans as a result of the Civil War allowed them to initiate the founding of many congregations in this era. Some white-controlled mixed congregations encouraged and assisted African Americans to establish their own congregations rather than granting them fully participating membership in the mixed congregations.
As many as thirty congregations were started in Kentucky. Traveling evangelists such as Buckner, Campbell, George Williams, Leroy Reed, R. Elijah Hathaway, Alpheus Merchant, and Alexander Campbell II spread the tenets of the Stone-Campbell Movement. These men largely supported themselves from their own finances, sometimes receiving meals and lodging from hosts, but seldom more than a dollar or two in love offerings. The congregations known to have been started by these leaders grew to considerable strength: Second Christian Church, North Middletown; and churches in Mt. Sterling, Nicholasville, Danville, Millersburg, and Carlisle.
In North Carolina evangelistic work received considerable support from white district and state conventions. Generally, the Stone-Campbell Movement evangelized only east of the Wilmington-Weldon Railroad, due to a gentlemen’s agreement with the O’Kellyites of the Christian Connection. Known African American evangelists and leaders were Alfred (Offie) Pettiford, Joe F. Whitley, R. Esom Green, William Anthony (Bill Ant’ly), Alfred Lovick, Sr., Demus Hargett, Allen Chestnut, and Yancy Porter. Two others who kept detailed records were B. J. Gregory, who received over 3,000 members, and Charles Randolph Davis Whitfield, who baptized 1,857 and gave six sons to the ministry. By 1869 a state convention had been started.
In Georgia at least seven churches were started in this era: Mt. Pisgah and Hopewell at Thomasville; Mt. Olive and Pine Hill in Brooks County; one in Johnson County; one at Mitchell; and the Savannah church in Atlanta. Evangelists and organizers were Joe Corbett; E. L. Whaley, who was financially supported by Mrs. Emily H. Tubman; and George Linder, who was hired by the white Georgia Christian Missionary Convention.
In Tennessee Hesiker Hinkel evangelized in the eastern region. Rufus Conrad evangelized in the central region and perhaps in the western region. Churches begun in this era and named in the records were at Friendship, Trenton, Lynchburg, Pinewood, Fosterville, Little Rock, Capleville, Jamesburg, and Concord. Conrad convened the American Christian Evangelizing and Educational Association in Nashville in May 1867.
In Mississippi, Elder Eleven Woods (Levin Wood) led in the establishment of new churches. He was an effective evangelist and able to enlist significant white support. Woods had come from Warren County. Through his own study of the Bible and through the influence of a white Kentucky businessman, William T. Withers, Woods, who had left the Baptist Church because the Baptists required an “experience” prior to conversion, welcomed the Movement’s requirement of a straightforward confession of faith. When Woods evangelized in Grand Gulf, the only church, a Baptist church, accused him of heresy for preaching a “new gospel.” Woods was arrested and tried in court, but the judge ruled in his favor, noting that Woods’ gospel was scripturally genuine. Woods founded a church in Grand Gulf and several others from Vicksburg to Natchez. He used the legal services of Ovid Butler of Indianapolis in property matters. He enlisted and coached other leaders, among them W. A. Scott, Sr., John Turner, W. A. Parker, John Wormington, George Hall, Ned Patterson, Frank Slater, B. F. Trevillion, Miles Smothers, W. R. Sneed, King R. Brown, and John Lomax. The 1873 Mississippi report to the General Christian Missionary Convention listed twenty congregations, nine preachers, four meeting-houses, and 3,000 members.
In Indianapolis, Indiana, two white members of Christian Chapel Church (now Central Christian), Ovid Butler and D. Orr, began a Sunday School for African Americans in the 1840s. In time they expanded it to include the usual church functions and named it the Christian Mission Chapel. In 1867 the Mission was constituted as a church. Rufus Conrad was called as pastor. In 1869 the church (now Light of the World Christian) changed its name to Second Christian (African). Its Sunday School was transformed in cooperation with the city into Public School #23.
In Texas there were several effective evangelists and leaders. Charles C. Haley organized Clark Street Christian Church in Greenville in 1865 and worked from there to found additional churches in Cason, Daingerfield, and Center Point. He rode his mule in all kinds of weather to preach and lead revivals, usually returning home with very little cash payment, but with offerings of vegetables and meat. After the death of his wife, he married Carie, who became the first president of the Texas Christian Missionary Society for African Americans. His work was continued and expanded by four of his sons who entered the ministry.
In Michigan, Thomas W. Cross emigrated to Wheatland in 1869. In 1870 he organized African Americans, whites, and Indians into the Wheatland Church of Christ. Other ordained Stone-Campbell ministers preached at Wheatland until 1876, when Cross was ordained and called to the pastorate.
By 1876 there were African American congregations in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The total membership had increased to approximately 20,000.
1.3. 1876-1899
African American churches in the quarter century after Reconstruction concentrated on evangelism, conventions, and education.
In the South evangelists carried the Stone-Campbell message into Maryland, Florida, and West Virginia. State conventions were organized, although the frequency of meetings varied among the states mainly due to economic factors. The conventions sought to work in harmony with the national structures of the Stone-Campbell Movement. At the state level, usually the main business item was education, held to be a key factor both for general education and for training of additional evangelists and pastors. Educational institutions were opened in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Virginia. The National Convention of the Churches of Christ was constituted in 1878, led by Kentuckians H. Malcolm Ayers and Preston Taylor. The Convention met several times throughout the rest of the century, although not always yearly. At the turn of the century the 307 churches in this region claimed 33,145 members, and valued their property at $100,000.
In the Midwest evangelism and conventions were the main concerns. Preston Taylor, hired as National Evangelist by the General Christian Missionary Convention in 1884, worked primarily in this region. Other leaders were A. B. Miller and E. F. Henderson. Illinois was added to the states with churches, and, totaled with Kansas, Ohio, and Missouri, this region counted about 55 churches, 3,000 members, and 35 preachers. The state convention of Missouri met yearly from 1874.
In Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, evangelistic efforts brought in many new members. In Texas, strong churches were True Vine in Paris, led by G. W. Crawford; Clay Street in Waco, led by M. T. Brown; and Mt. Vernon, led by Warren Mitchell. In Arkansas, Mancil Bostick and Sarah Lue Bostick evangelized and organized women’s missionary societies — Sarah Lue also traveled in a dozen other states on behalf of women’s work. Both Texas and Arkansas consolidated their gains with district and state conventions. In Louisiana, various sources reported large numbers of converts, but no organization was developed, and by the end of the century there were no churches of record. Texas and Arkansas claimed approximately 66 churches with 4,000 members by 1899.
In Eastern North Carolina “Disciple Churches” or “Churches of Christ” were formed prolifically. In this region were a variety of Restoration movements, such as O’Kellyites, Free Will Baptists, and Union Baptists. The usual procedure for forming a church was for a preacher to gather adherents, then to apply to a recognized convention for acceptance as a church. The convention was wary of white assistance and so developed churches largely on its own. Some timely assistance was given by John James Harper, later a president of Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College), in matters of finance and ordination. Conventions were of signal importance. Quarterly Conferences, Union Meetings, District Assemblies, and the General Assembly were organized with precise rules of order and exercised disciplinary powers over local churches and preachers. In 1898 the General Assembly began collecting funds for a school for ministerial training. By the end of the century there were an estimated 100 churches with 8,000 members.
The establishment of viable schools and colleges was of great concern to African American churches in this era. Many of their efforts, however, came to naught, inasmuch as monies and personnel were lacking. Plans for schools often never went beyond the talking and hoping stages in the conventions. Several schools were begun, but they lasted for short periods. Some schools of note were Tennessee Manual Labor University (some classes were held as early as 1867) at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, led by Peter Lowery; Louisville Christian Bible School (1873); Southern Christian Institute, Hemingway, Mississippi (1881); Christian Bible College, New Castle, Kentucky (1886), led by J. M. Maimuring and J. August Reed; Louisville Bible School (1892); and Lum Graded School in Alabama (1894), led by H. J. Brayboy. At the end of the century, only Southern Christian Institute (relocated at Edwards, Mississippi), Lum Graded School, and Louisville Bible School were in operation, only the latter offering ministerial training.
Two periodicals are known to have been started: Assembly Standard by J. T. Pettiford in 1892, at Plymouth, North Carolina; and Gospel Plea by Joel Baer Lehman, the white administrator of Southern Christian Institute, in 1896.
Century-end membership in the United States was approximately 56,300, in 535 churches, in twenty-one states and the federal territory.
HAP C. S. LYDA
2. Twentieth Century
2.1. Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Twentieth-century African American Disciples continued the Movement’s interest in education. Many believed that education was a way to achieve the Movement’s evangelistic potential among African Americans. The Christian Woman’s Board of Missions, organized in 1874, shared this vision and sought to further the combined goals of education and evangelism of African Americans. To this end, beginning in 1900 the Board provided administrative oversight of fifteen schools founded mainly by black leaders, primarily to prepare African Americans to become teachers or ministers. Despite good intentions, most schools failed after less than a decade of existence.
Southern Christian Institute, Edwards, Mississippi, a mission school headed successively by Joel Baer Lehman (1890-1922) and John Cornelius Long (1925-54), had the longest term of success. In a period when Mississippi spent less than a fifth as much per child on the education of blacks as on whites, SCI educated hundreds of African Americans at the elementary and secondary levels, as well as smaller numbers at the college level. In 1954, when a more adequate system of public education had become available to blacks in Mississippi, the school, which by then had become a junior college, was merged into Toogaloo College.
Jarvis Christian College, founded in 1913 at Hawkins, Texas, was the only black-led and cooperatively initiated mission school that continued into the twenty-first century. It maintained its commitment to provide a high quality Christian-oriented liberal arts college education primarily for African Americans. James Nelson Ervin (1873-1937) was the first president. Sebetha Jenkins, its first woman president, headed the college during the last decade of the twentieth century.
Predominantly African American Disciples of Christ congregations emphasized the primacy of the Bible, baptism by immersion, and the lordship of Jesus Christ. They stressed local autonomy, and sought to practice what they perceived to be the simplicity of the life and order of the New Testament church. They used evangelistic preaching to establish and grow congregations throughout the South. Clergy leadership taught a conservative to moderate theology. “Where the Bible speaks, we speak and where the Bible is silent, we are silent” was a Campbellite principle used extensively by black Disciples in support of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins and weekly to quarterly observance of Holy Communion.
Black Disciples in Eastern North Carolina maintained a distinctive style of Disciples church life. Elders and bishops were linked in an episcopal form of supervision over congregations in districts and assemblies. Also, the foot-washing rite was believed essential in the observance of Holy Communion. This segment of black Disciples of Christ continued to grow east and west of the Tar River, in the Goldsboro-Raleigh and Washington-Norfolk areas. Calling themselves Churches of Christ or Disciples of Christ, they spread northward along the Atlantic seaboard.
Amidst the heated debates over the validity of organized societies versus independent missions and plans for organizing an International Convention, black Disciples planned for the establishment of a national organization. Preston Taylor, by then a highly regarded preacher and respected business entrepreneur in Nashville, Tennessee, issued a call for an African American — led National Christian Missionary Convention (NCMC). Black Disciples Historian Robert L. Jordan stated that the purpose of the Convention, organized August 9, 1917, was “to create a medium of self-expression and cooperative endeavor for development of our churches that our best contribution may be made to our posterity and to the world.”
Meeting in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1944, the National Christian Missionary Convention voted to expand their partnership with the United Christian Missionary Society. That action drew many black Disciples into the Movement’s heated discussions over the practice of “open membership.” Sere Stacy Myers (1898-2000), the presiding president of the NCMC, and Robert Hayes Peoples, a former National field program director, made extensive field trips to sponsor orientation forums among the by then more than 500 predominantly black congregations related to the NCMC. Most congregations maintained affiliation with the NCMC.
A further step toward unity within the Disciples of Christ branch of the Movement came in 1969 when the NCMC voted to abandon annual assemblies and organize the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Its Administrative Secretary and operations were lodged in the Office of the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The National Convocation became an enabling structure for African American members to receive program services and develop strategies for sharing in the “mainstream” of the denomination.
Many black Disciples had family ties to the nineteenth-century American slave culture and the Civil War. The tension in race relations that confronted Stone-Campbell Movement congregations as they endured slavery and the Civil War in the nineteenth century continued to challenge the Movement in its quest for Christian unity. Black Disciples of Christ sought to enable concerned Disciples to make constructive responses to the challenges of disunity and racial tension.
During the last half of the twentieth century Black Disciples congregations were increasingly influenced by a generation of seminary-educated African American leaders. Their goal was to relate the Disciples tradition to the situation of African Americans in the late twentieth century. During the 1960s a growing number of Disciples ministers followed the thought of African American Disciples seminary professor and historian Kenneth Henry. He urged that it was “important for black Disciples to grasp the soundness of the ‘historic Disciple plea,’ to update it and relate it to the contemporary situation.…” According to Henry, “The idea of the restoration of the New Testament Church, so prominent in the thought of Disciples pioneers, must lead black scholars and lay persons to capture the ideals of Jesus and the early Christians, as free of the distortions of the last 1900 years as possible.…” Henry advised, “Liberation is most tangible when it focuses not so much on the limitations from which we seem to be released but also on the ideal that we are free to pursue.”
On May 11-13, 1989, seventy black Disciples of Christ leaders of varying backgrounds met as an African American Network in Indianapolis, Indiana, as “an open/voluntary connection … interested in and committed to sharing information … regarding issues affecting the lives of African Americans within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the larger community.” Participants considered “the wholeness we share within the church, the body of Christ.” They concluded that African American Disciples of Christ could enrich the wholeness within the body of Christ by affirming the African American heritage, values and identity, sharing resources, and improving the quality of life for African Americans.
Evidence of the contribution that African American Disciples are making to the whole church is reflected in the fact that some of the more significant contemporary growth among Disciples has occurred within African American congregations. In 2003, there were approximately 435 African American Disciples congregations containing approximately 61,000 participating members. Three of those congregations (Light of the World, Indianapolis; Mississippi Boulevard, Memphis; and Ray of Hope, Decatur, Georgia) were among the largest congregations of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with memberships numbering well over 2,000.
WILLIAM K. FOX, SR.
2.2. Churches of Christ
The story of African American Churches of Christ in the twentieth century is a story of courage and conflict, struggle and success, black initiative and white philanthropy. In 1896, a fiery black evangelist, Alexander Campbell (1866-1930), because of what he believed were “unscriptural innovations,” severed ties with Preston Taylor and the Lea Avenue Christian Church and began meeting with his family on Hardee Street in Nashville, Tennessee. S. W. Womack (d. 1920) and G. P. Bowser (1874-1950) similarly withdrew from the Gay Street Christian Church to embrace what they saw as the restoration goal of “pure worship.” Campbell, Womack, and Bowser in 1900 formed the Jackson Street Church of Christ in Nashville, which became a base for launching Churches of Christ among African Americans in the twentieth century.
Black Churches of Christ in Middle Tennessee made impressive gains in the first half of the twentieth century. In 1928, Bowser wrote of the Churches of Christ among blacks in Middle Tennessee: “From this humble beginning of seven, who were full of zeal and faith, has grown a membership in Nashville around four hundred. A number of preachers and good church workers have developed.” Preachers such as Campbell, Womack, and Bowser, based in Nashville, disseminated the gospel throughout the South and to many Northern states, especially Ohio and Indiana.
Bowser was a talented and well-educated minister who had converted from Methodism and “digressivism.” In 1909, he established the Silver Point Christian Institute in Silver Point, Tennessee. The school offered Bible classes as well as English, math, and history courses. Even though the school in Silver Point had a short existence, Bowser continued his educational pursuits by establishing the Fort Smith Bowser Christian Institute in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 1933. This institution lasted thirteen years. The Southern Bible Institute, another Bowser educational project, opened in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1948. A year later, this school evolved into Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas, a school that primarily serves African Americans in Churches of Christ.
More than a gifted preacher and educator, Bowser was also an editor of a religious newspaper, Christian Echo, which he founded in 1902 and distributed among black members of Churches of Christ. Bowser remained editor of the journal until his death in 1950. The Christian Echo is one of the longest-lived religious journals in the Stone-Campbell Movement and American Christianity.
Another important African American preacher in Churches of Christ in the early twentieth century was Samuel R. Cassius (1853-1931), who preached several years in Oklahoma before planting the first black congregations in Colorado and California. He spent most of his time, however, addressing the race issue and left an important legacy as a racial reformer and racial theologian. In 1920, Cassius published Third Birth of a Nation, a stinging indictment of Thomas Dixon’s racist novel, The Clansman (1905) and D. W. Griffith’s movie, Birth of a Nation (1915). Cassius’s book also challenged American blacks to abandon immorality and religious fanaticism.
Other influential and pioneer evangelists among black Churches of Christ included Levi Kennedy (1899-1971), Thomas H. Busby, John T. Ramsey, Paul D. English (1910-1940), Luke Miller (1904-1962), Alonza Rose (b. 1916), K. K. Mitchell (b. 1928), Thomas O. Jackson (b. 1923), John Henry Clay (b. 1920), Alonzo Jones (1890-1942), S. T. W. Gibbs (b. 1926), O. L. Trone, Sr. (b. 1915), and G. E. Steward (1906-1979). The premier African American preacher in Churches of Christ in the twentieth century, however, was without doubt Marshall Keeble (1878-1968). Born and reared in middle Tennessee, Keeble fell under the religious influence of Womack and Campbell and the social influence of Booker T. Washington. Because of his preaching ability, winsome personality, and accommodating racial posture, Keeble received monetary assistance from A. M. Burton (1879-1966), a devoted Christian and wealthy businessman in Nashville, Tennessee. Generous financial support from Burton and other white philanthropists enabled Keeble to travel throughout North America and reportedly baptize over 30,000 people, while establishing several hundred churches and preaching abroad in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Unlike Bowser who overtly opposed segregationist practices in Churches of Christ, Keeble assumed a public accommodationist stance on racial issues and garnered widespread popularity and support from whites in Churches of Christ.
Keeble’s greatest influence, however, was in the American South. In addition to serving as a national and international evangelist, Keeble in 1942 became president of the Nashville Christian Institute, a K-12 school for black students and preachers in Churches of Christ. As president of this institution, he shaped the lives of numerous young preachers such as Jack Evans, Sr. (b. 1937), president of Southwestern Christian College, W. F. Washington, preacher of the Golden Heights Church of Christ in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Fred D. Gray (b. 1930), attorney for Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
During the Civil Rights Era, racial tension engulfed Churches of Christ. Most white colleges barred blacks from admission and attendance. R. N. Hogan (1902-1997), a protégé of Bowser, assumed editorial responsibilities for the Christian Echo and used the position to challenge white administrators in Churches of Christ colleges to open their doors to black students. Carl Spain (1917-1990), a Bible professor at Abilene Christian College, joined Hogan and urged his white colleagues to admit African American students. By 1965, most colleges affiliated with Churches of Christ had begun admitting students of African descent.
After the closure of the Nashville Christian Institute in 1967, black leaders in Churches of Christ, feeling they had been slighted when funds from the school went to David Lipscomb College, filed suit against white board members. Fred Gray, a graduate of the Institute, represented the plaintiffs, who eventually lost the case. The Nashville Christian Institute episode created tension between white and black leaders in Churches of Christ. G. P. Holt (1923-2001), a grandson of Bowser and a leader among black Churches of Christ in the second half of the twentieth century, lamented: “We wept because a great brotherhood had been stabbed in the back.”
At the beginning of the twenty-first century the numerical strength of black Churches of Christ remained greatest in the South. Five black churches had a membership of over 2,000 each. Two of these congregations were in Texas: Fifth Ward Church of Christ in Houston and Greenville Avenue Church of Christ in Richardson. The other two churches were in Florida: Golden Heights Church of Christ in Fort Lauderdale and Northside Church of Christ in Jacksonville. The Central Church of Christ in Baltimore, Maryland, also claimed a membership of around 2,000. In 1982, twenty-four black Churches of Christ reported baptizing fifty or more people. Thirteen of the twenty-four congregations were in the South.
The last quarter of the twentieth century saw the spread of Churches of Christ among African Americans outside the South. Alonza Rose and Dallas Walker contributed to the growth of black Churches of Christ in Michigan. Levi Kennedy, Jules Hutton, Robert Woods, and Samuel Jordan helped strengthen black Christians in Chicago, Illinois. Eugene Lawton toiled to spread the gospel message in New Jersey, while R. C. Wells and Franklin Florence have worked many years to stabilize black Churches of Christ in New York. G. P. Holt developed one of the largest black churches in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jacob McClinton and Richard Rose have contributed to black church growth in Ohio.
In the West, Samuel R. Cassius and his son Amos L. Cassius (1889-1982) established the first black Church of Christ in California in the 1920s. In 1937, R. N. Hogan (1902-1997) arrived in Los Angeles, California, baptized forty-four people, and founded what is presently known as the Figueroa Church of Christ. A fervent and passionate preacher, Hogan led this congregation to a membership of over 1,000, making it the largest black Church of Christ in the Pacific West. The Figueroa Church of Christ has been instrumental in founding other churches throughout the United States, and has also demonstrated great interest in foreign missions, particularly in Ethiopia.
Like many of their white counterparts, blacks in Churches of Christ have stressed a cappella singing, weekly communion, baptism for the remission of sins, congregational autonomy, a five-step plan of salvation, and exclusive claims of being the only Christians. In 1979, Floyd Rose, a preacher with great oratorical skill, challenged traditional beliefs and practices among black Churches of Christ and established a Family Baptist Church in Detroit. In his book, Beyond the Thicket, Rose delineated what he perceived to be inconsistencies in the doctrines of Churches of Christ. Rose published the book “in the hope that the young men and women in whose hands the future leadership of the Churches of Christ belongs, will help to create an atmosphere of acceptance in which independent minds will feel at home, and ministers are free to preach what they believe and believe what they preach.” Dr. Jack Evans, president of Southwestern Christian College and a renowned debater in black Churches of Christ, wrote a reply to Rose. Evans’ rejoinder, Before the Thicket, argued that Rose deviated from the truth by denying “the one faith of Jesus.” The Rose-Evans debates of 1984 represent the tension between progessive and conservative blacks in Churches of Christ. A decade later, Rose published an open letter acknowledging his return to Churches of Christ, though he continues as a progressive voice.
Additionally, twentieth-century blacks in Churches of Christ have had conflict over the authority of evangelists and elders. Unlike their white counterparts who view elders as the leaders of the local church, blacks see the preacher as having equal, if not more, authority than the elders. R. N. Hogan noted that division was widespread in black Churches of Christ because of “rivalry between evangelists and elders.” He further stated, “There is not much contention that the evangelist is over the elder, but contention is over the idea that the elder is over the evangelist.” Nokomis Yeldell, minister of the Norris Road Church of Christ in Memphis, Tennessee, published a book entitled The Big Issue: Relationships Between Ministers and Elders, in which he observed that conflict between preachers and elders was the “most dangerous issue confronting the Lord’s Church.” He also noted: “I truly believe this is the reason why some preachers (mainly black) do not baptize, train, and appoint men who will in turn restrict their work so they will not be free to do the Lord’s work.” Other points of contention have centered on rebaptism, worship styles, and marriage, divorce, and remarriage.
Women have also made notable contributions to the growth and development of African American Churches of Christ. Annie C. Tuggle (1890-1976), a black educator and fundraiser for the Silver Point Christian Institute, traveled throughout the South, soliciting funds from white Christians. Tuggle reported that white members of Churches of Christ aided the Silver Point school “both spiritually and financially.” Thelma Holt gave great assistance to her father, G. P. Bowser, by promoting his educational endeavors and by publishing his sermons and other writings. Olivia Holt, wife of G. P. Holt, has served as important advisor and nurturer to young females in black Churches of Christ; and she has published several articles in the Christian Echo on child rearing and other family-related topics. Sylvia Rose, a former director of the Southwestern Christian College A Cappella Chorus, wrote and produced a number of beautiful and meaningful songs that have given great spiritual edification to African Americans in Churches of Christ. These hymns include “Restore My Soul,” “Holy Spirit,” and “Mansion, Robe, and Crown.”
In the 1990s, Herman E. Wesley III, seeking to offer spiritual rejuvenation to black Churches of Christ, established The Revivalist. This newspaper is a complement to the older, more traditional journal, Christian Echo. Seeing a need to address economic, social, political, and educational problems in the African American community, Dr. Kenneth Greene, minister of the Metro Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas, created an annual conference, “Strengthening the African-American Family.” The purpose of the gathering is to highlight problems of African American families and to examine ways to “liberate African-American families as well as equip them for service, encouragement, and a call for evangelizing other hurting African-American families.”
The story of black Churches of Christ in the twentieth century is a story of both self-initiative and white philanthropy. On the one hand, black ministers and members in Churches of Christ conducted their own evangelistic campaigns, published their own newspapers, and built their own churches. On the other hand, liberal financial support from white Christians often made possible the rise of black evangelists, black churches, and black schools. Presently, African American Churches of Christ host their own state and national lectureships, their own state and national youth conferences, and their own bi-annual Crusade for Christ to spread the gospel in large cities throughout the nation. At the end of the twentieth century, black Churches of Christ numbered over 169,000 members in more than 1,200 congregations.
EDWARD J. ROBINSON
2.3. Christian Churches/Churches of Christ
The division between the Disciples of Christ and the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ involved, among other factors, the formation of the North American Christian Convention (NACC) in 1927. Since the African American constituents had formed the National Christian Missionary Convention of the Disciples of Christ in 1917 as an auxiliary of the new International Convention, the predominantly white leadership of the NACC had little or no contact with African American congregations.
Despite minimal contact, there was growing interest in serving the African American constituents. The Christian Standard (the primary periodical of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ) announced in 1932 the formation of a new column entitled “News of Our Colored Brethren.” It carried announcements of conventions, church plantings, and other news items from across the Stone-Campbell churches, including the Disciples.
The Christian Standard also published articles by both African American and white authors, calling for stronger evangelistic effort in the African American community and the formation of training institutes for African American ministers. T. R. Everett (1871-1954) from Kentucky was one of the regular contributors from about 1910 into the 1940s. One of his primary themes was a call for assistance from white congregations.
From 1930 to 1945 many African American ministers fellowshiped across the widening cleft between the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ and the Disciples of Christ. Leaders held offices in the state and national conventions within the Disciples organizations but considered themselves independent on the local congregational level.
The defining event came in 1944 when the National Christian Missionary Convention voted to expand their partnership with the United Christian Missionary Society. W. H. “Baltimore” Taylor (1898-1981), President of the Convention, led a small group of individuals to form a new convention, the National Christian Preaching Convention. Working with Taylor were Isaiah Moore (1882-1972), who held numerous offices in Kentucky state conventions and was one of the founders of the College of the Scriptures in Louisville; Robert Lee Peters (1867-1951), who established many churches in North Carolina and Virginia and was co-founder of Winston-Salem Bible College; Dr. George C. Campbell (1872-1949), who was president of Goldsboro Christian Institute (North Carolina) and was Dean of the College of the Scriptures at the time of his death; C. W. Arnold (1907-1999), Ohio minister and founding minister of 92nd Street Church of Christ, Los Angeles, California; J. Salvador Johnson (1876-1961) and Herman Turner, Detroit, Michigan; L. L. Dickerson (1900-1968), Kentucky; Eugene Patterson (1911-1977), minister in North Tazewell, Tennessee; William F. Keys and W. C. Kenard, Brooklyn, New York; and George Moore, Arkansas.
The end of World War II and changes produced by the Civil Rights Movement provided the backdrop for major efforts to work with African Americans by the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. One of the primary influences of the period was the conflict over integration and segregation within the church. Writers in the Christian Standard and other periodicals discussed issues like interracial marriage and black rights, churches in changing communities moving to avoid integration, and claims of historic but token integration.
By the mid-twentieth century, the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ were attempting to make an impact within the African American community in four separate areas.
The first of these was education. During the mid 1940s, two new colleges for training African American ministers were organized. The College of the Scriptures, under the leadership of its first president, Tibbs Maxey (1910-2002), was chartered in Louisville, Kentucky, in June 1945. Leadership of the College was integrated, with Maxey (white) and Dr. George C. Campbell (African American) being Dean and Vice President.
Concurrently, Robert Lee Peters organized the Christian Institute in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Unable to gain needed financial support, the school closed its doors briefly in 1949. However, through the assistance of a local white minister, Aubrey Payne (1907-1999), it was reorganized in 1950 as Winston-Salem Bible College, with Leland Tyrrell (1912-1985), a white missionary recruit unable to go to South Africa, as president and Peters as academic dean.
Both colleges had an integrated staff, board, and student body (although student bodies were predominately African American). One primary difference between the two institutions was their attitude toward the Disciples of Christ organization and congregations. The College of the Scriptures, located in the Midwest, the heart of Christian Churches/Churches of Christ strength, was more contentious with the Disciples, while Winston-Salem Bible College was more cooperative. This characteristic continued throughout the century and is generally visible in the attitudes of the alumni.
The two colleges worked together as they championed the cause of African American education and evangelism. However, they were in competition as they searched for students, financial support, and public approval. Both colleges had a small full-time student body, the majority being part-time adult learners. Neither college succeeded in maintaining an enrollment of over fifty students for more than a few years. Nevertheless, the two colleges were the primary providers of African American ministerial training for the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ until the end of the twentieth century.
After 1970, many supporters of both colleges suggested that because of improved transportation and communication, limited financial base, and the integration of predominately white Bible Colleges, it might be wise to merge the two colleges. Winston-Salem Bible College made overtures to the College of the Scriptures on two different occasions during the 1980s; however, because of the difference in philosophy regarding cooperation with other organizations and a desire for total independence, a merger was not possible.
A second area in which the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ were attempting to make an impact within the African American community was new church evangelism. Like most Bible Colleges established by the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, the College of the Scriptures and Winston-Salem Bible College considered new church evangelism a major part of their mission. Their presidents and students traveled extensively to establish new congregations or to provide ministers for those that were struggling.
The Christian Standard and the colleges’ newsletters carried numerous articles about efforts to start new congregations. Both colleges claimed numerous church plants from 1950 to 1975; however, the majority of their efforts were short-lived because of poor financial support, limited support from local white congregations, and the lack of long-term ministries.
One strategy for evangelism and student recruiting used by both colleges was sponsoring African American Christian Service Camps. Each institution operated a summer youth camp program, utilizing college students and local volunteers to train future students and church leaders. By the end of the century, both camp programs had ended.
From 1975 to 2000 both colleges continued their commitment to evangelism. Although national attitudes toward integration had changed, the need for new congregations in the African American community persisted. Efforts were often directed toward revival of white congregations that found themselves with a dwindling membership in a racially changing community.
Although numerous efforts were made during the last fifty years of the twentieth century to plant new congregations or revive existing ones, success was minimal. In 1950, the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ claimed approximately fifty churches in the African American community, and in 2000 one hundred.
A third area in which the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ were attempting to make an impact within the African American community was conventions. Two primary conventions developed among the African American Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. The roots of the first convention trace back to the Tri-State Christian Convention (North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia) that was active in the 1930s; its field secretary was R. L. Peters. As a result of the division with the Disciples, Peters’s successors at Winston-Salem Bible College helped organize a new convention, the Tri-State Evangelistic Association, in Tazewell, Virginia, in August 1951. Two of the primary leaders were President Leland Tyrrell and Academic Dean David Cole. The Association has had limited success, but in 2000 member congregations were increasing.
The second convention, the National Christian Preaching Convention, was a direct outgrowth of the division in 1944 with the National Christian Missionary Convention, which was viewed as supporting “open membership.” The driving force behind the new convention was W. H. “Baltimore” Taylor, and the first president was C. W. Arnold, a minister from Columbus, Ohio.
Opposition to “open membership” became the primary theme of the new convention and primary point of emphasis from 1944 to 1975. The organizers also founded The Christian Informer, edited by Taylor and based in Baltimore, Maryland. Taylor used the Informer to regularly attack “open membership,” the UCMS, and the Disciples denominational organization. Failure to move away from these issues and dominance by Taylor contributed to the lack of continued support. As Taylor and the founding leaders grew older, the National Christian Preaching Convention eventually closed.
In 1980, a Care and Share Rally was organized under the leadership of Henry Johnson (1918-1995) of Louisville, Kentucky. Most of the original leadership was associated with the College of the Scriptures. The primary mission of the Rally was to provide fellowship for African American ministers and their families. The Care and Share Rally continued with this mission until 1988 when the mission and name were changed to create the Fellowship of Christians in Urban Services (FOCUS). A new group of young African American ministers committed to urban ministry were now in leadership. Their desire was to encourage urban ministers and to create in both the white and black communities an understanding of the need for such ministries. With the change in direction, some individuals left the convention, but FOCUS attracted both African American and white urban ministers nationally. Although several individuals held the presidency during the first few years, Sam J. Winger (Springfield, Illinois) served as Conference Coordinator from 1988 to 1994.
FOCUS was successful in raising awareness of the need for urban ministry throughout the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. However, in August 1994, a controversy over finances and control of the organization resulted in Winger’s resignation. In 1995, FOCUS met in Atlanta, Georgia, with a very small attendance and no future conference planned. Winger organized a camp-style meeting in central Indiana that attracted a much smaller and less representative number from the African American community.
Another convention among the African Americans is the Annual Women’s Retreat, which was organized in 1980 by the female alumni of the College of the Scriptures. During the next twenty years, under the leadership of Suzie Doswell, the Retreat expanded to include African American women from the entire fellowship of Christian Churches/Churches of Christ.
The fourth area in which the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ were attempting to make an impact within the African American community was urban ministry. This was a natural outgrowth of African American evangelism, as large numbers of African Americans were migrating to urban areas. The initial vision on urban ministry came from the evangelistic enthusiasm of the College of the Scriptures and Winston-Salem Bible College. These colleges produced alumni who moved into urban areas in the 1960s and right on into the 1990s: Fred Mitchell (Lexington, Kentucky), Richard McCain (Cleveland, Ohio), Sam Winger (Indianapolis, Indiana, and Springfield, Illinois), and William Ellis (Orlando, Florida) from the College of the Scriptures and Robert Woolfolk (Denver, Colorado), Sharon Garvey (Compton, California), Don Dykes (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), and Courtney Mitchell (Queens, New York) from Winston-Salem Bible College. Other urban ministers are James Lane (Hartford, Connecticut), Dr. Denzil Holness (Atlanta, Georgia), John Fuller (Indianapolis, Indiana), Don Ellis (Kansas City, Missouri), and Harley Blake (South Bend, Indiana). The majority of these men worked with FOCUS during its history, and were committed to creating a clearer vision of the need for urban ministries in the brotherhood.
As Christian Churches/Churches of Christ were attempting to make an impact within the African American community, American society was having an impact on the churches. While the issue of integration was settled in the public and business arenas, the churches were still attempting to understand and address it. Predominantly white Bible Colleges began integrating in the 1970s, local congregations integrated or moved beginning in the 1960s, and national and state conventions integrated as various state laws permitted.
Major strides were made during the latter part of the century. William Ellis (Orlando, Florida) served as president of the National Missionary Convention in 1986 and spoke for the evening session of the special joint meeting with the North American Christian Convention (Indianapolis, Indiana). John Fuller (Indianapolis, Indiana) served as treasurer for the National Missionary Convention during the 1990s.
Dr. William E. Johnson (b. 1919), vice president/academic dean at Winston-Salem Bible College, and his wife were acclaimed as “God’s Honored Servants” at the North American Christian Convention in St. Louis in 1993. Other African Americans have served on convention programs during the years.
The primary concern of the leaders of the African American churches (listed above under urban ministries), however, was integration of the leadership and a regular presence on the speakers’ platform at the North American Christian Convention. Since the leadership changes annually with minimal paid staff, there was no national entity to appeal to for integration.
Beginning in the 1980s, regular efforts were made to reach this goal of recognition and reconciliation. In 1997, under the leadership of James Lane, Hartford, Connecticut, and Dr. W. Ray Kelley, President of Winston-Salem Bible College, a meeting of African American leaders and other interested individuals was scheduled to meet during the North American Christian Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The President for the 1998 convention, Dennis Slaughter (Dallas, Texas), was also invited. This group met to discuss ways to reach the goal of reconciliation between the NACC and the African American community. A Reconciliation Committee was empowered to meet and create a document to be presented to the Executive Committee of the Convention. The Committee met in September 1997 and scheduled a meeting with the NACC Executive Committee.
Consequently the Executive Committee of the NACC agreed to: (1) create a new permanent position on the Committee to be filled by a minority member; (2) include a minority speaker on the program of every future convention; and (3) address the past history of discrimination and prejudice of the NACC at the 1998 convention. However, at that convention in St. Louis, Missouri, the leadership did not provide the detailed apology that the African Americans had hoped to receive. Their reaction varied; some decided not to attend the convention again, others believed it was a start and should be used as a building block for the future.
As a result of the effort, several letters and articles appeared in the Christian Standard, Lookout, and Horizons magazines. Kelley published a series on racial reconciliation in Horizons during 1998. Dr. Denzil Holness (Atlanta, Georgia) published The Jonah Syndrome (1998), which outlined many of the concerns of African American leaders.
As the twenty-first century begins, the number of African Americans within the Christian Churches/ Churches of Christ totals 100 congregations with a combined membership of 500. The number of African Americans in predominantly white congregations is unknown.
The area of greatest potential growth is in the changing communities where local congregations are deciding either to stay in the original community and witness to the coming African American population or to flee to the predominantly white suburbs. The major concern is the lack of trained African American ministers who can serve in these congregations and provide the guidance and leadership necessary to produce strong congregations.
W. Ray Kelley
See also Bowser, George Philip; Campbell, Alexander (Alex) Cleveland; Cassius, Samuel Robert; Christian Echo; College of the Scriptures; Gospel Advocate, The; Jarvis Christian College; Keeble, Marshall; National Christian Missionary Convention; National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Slavery, The Movement and; Southern Christian Institute; Taylor, Preston; Urban Ministry; Winston-Salem Bible College
Bibliography William Joseph Barber, The Disciple Assemblies of Eastern North Carolina (1966) • Sarah L. Bostick, “A Historical Sketch of the Missionary Work in the State of Arkansas 1897-1947, and a Summary of the National and International Work of Missions” (mimeographed) • Calvin Harrison Bowers, Realizing the California Dream: The Story of Black Churches of Christ in Los Angeles (2001) • R. Vernon Boyd, Undying Dedication: The Story of G. P. Bowser (1985) • John T. Brown, ed., Churches of Christ: A Historical, Biographical, and Pictorial History of Churches of Christ in the United States, Australasia, England and Canada (1904) • Rosa Brown Bracy, The Negro Disciples of Christ (ca. 1939) • Brenda M. Cardwell and William K. Fox, Sr., Journey Toward Wholeness: A History of Black Disciples of Christ in the Mission of the Christian Church (1990) • J. E. Choate, Roll Jordan Roll: A Biography of Marshall Keeble (1974) • Mrs. Effie L. Cunningham, Work of Disciples of Christ with Negro Americans: A Resume of Church and Evangelistic Work, Educational Enterprise, and Social Service with Negroes in the United States (ca. 1922) • Pearl Gray Daniels, The History of the Holt Street Church of Christ (1997) • Melvin and Sharon B. Fields, In Other Words (2001) • Robert O. Fife, “Alexander Campbell and the Christian Church in the Slavery Controversy” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1960) • Douglas A. Foster, “An Angry Peace: Race and Religion: A Historical Look at Racial Issues in Churches of Christ and Abilene Christian University,” ACU Today (Spring 2000): 8-20, 39 • William K. Fox et al., The Untold Story: A Short History of Black Disciples (1976) • General Christian Missionary Convention, “Work among Negroes in the United States, 1864-1892” (typewritten) • David E. Harrell, Quest for a Christian America: The Disciples of Christ and American Society to 1866 (1966) • H. Allen Irving, The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) PROFILE of the Black Ministers, the Black Church Congregations and Facilities (1985) • Walter Wilson Jennings, Origin and Early History of the Disciples of Christ (1919) • Katherine Johnson, “History of the Midway Colored Christian Church” (typewritten, [1955]) • Robert J. Jordan, Two Races in One Fellowship (Detroit: United Christian Church, 1944) • Elmer C. Lewis, “A History of Secondary and Higher Education in Negro Schools Related to the Disciples of Christ” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1957) • Alice Liverett, Biographical Sketches of Leaders of Negro Work of the Disciples of Christ (1936) • John Cornelius Long, “The Disciples of Christ and Negro Education” (unpublished Ed.D. dissertation, University of Southern California, 1960) • Hap C. S. Lyda, “Black Disciples Roots in Kentucky and Tennessee: 1804-1876,” in Explorations in the Stone-Campbell Traditions: Essays in Honor of Herman A. Norton, ed. Anthony L. Dunnavant and Richard L. Harrison (1995), pp. 43-53 • Hap C. S. Lyda, “A History of Black Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ) in the United States through 1899” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Vanderbilt University, 1972) • Oma Lou Myers, Rosa’s Song: The Life and Ministry of Rosa Page Welch (1984) • R. H. Peoples, “Historical Development of Negro Work and Its Relationship to Organized Brotherhood Life” (typewritten) • Clayton Cheyney Smith, Negro Education and Evangelization (1909) • Annie C. Tuggle, Another World Wonder (c. 1973) • Claude Walker, “Negro Disciples in Kentucky, 1840-1925” (unpublished B.D. thesis, The College of the Bible, 1959). In addition to the above sources, there are state or area histories of the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Disciples of Christ in which there are relevant chapters or mentions. Many of the sources are in files at the Disciples of Christ Historical Society in Nashville, Tennessee.
Foster, Douglas A.. The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (pp. 118-149). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
This entry, written by Hap C.S. Lyda, William K. Fox, Edward J. Robinson, W. Ray Kelley, was originally published in The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (Edited by Douglas A. Foster, Paul M. Blowers, Anthony L. Dunnavant, and D. Newell Williams; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), pages 11-21. Republished with permission.