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Durham’s Picturesque Churches
An Appraisal Of The Influence
Of The Negro Church In The
Progress Of Colored Durham
SATUKDAY, 8KPT. 4. 1W4 THE CAKOLPfA TPiEg
PAGE THBlg ■
progress
ham is i
By REV. H. A. SMITH
An evaluation in tangible
terms of the contribution our
church^ have made to the
of the Negro in Dur-
asv task. This is
true because the church as a
religious institution is chiefly
concerned with spiritual and
moral values. Its sole reason
for being is the fimction of
bringing man into a redeem
ing reconciliation with God
and providing the means by
which he may find inward
peace and satisfaction in the
consciousness of an eternal
security. /
Implicit in this task of the
church is the realization of
the dual nature of man. He
is a creature of two worlds,
the physical and the spiritual,
and must find satisfactory ad
justment to each. He cannot
live by bread alone; the ele
ments which sustain the body
and make for a comfortable
physical existence. The
church recognizes that man
was made for God and his
soul is restless until it finds
its peace in God.
In his present state of ex
istence, man has formidable
obstacles to surmount and
difficulties to overcome. On
the physical side, he laces such
stark realities as hunger, thint,
disease, death, and an eternal
struggle with nattiral forces. LiV'
ing in a context ol social rela
tionships; that is, in contact
with other i>eople, he meets head
on ignorance, greed, avarice,
competition conllict, inequali
ties, inhumanity, injustice, pre
judice, and the like. Human pro
gress is success in overcoming
these hostile lorces.
In this city, there are 27,000
Negroes in a population of 71,'
000. As a minority group, they
have not found their environ
ment any too friendly. Yet, this
group has made a commendable
progress over the years over
coming formidable odds and
great difficulties. The secret of
this triumph has been an uncon
querable spirit, an invincible
will to succeed, an inspired,
efficient leadership, and coopera
tion.
In this progress, our churches
have played a major role. In
creasingly, these institutions are
making their impact felt. They
have furnished the spiritual in
centives, motivations, fortitude,
faith, and moral strength, to a
great extent, for the task. It is
significant that names like
Spaulding, Moore, ( Shepard,
Merrick, Pearson, inseparably
linked with the history of Ne
gro progress in DurhW, were
church men. The source of their
strength, vision, insight, and
capacity to carry on in dark an^
forbodlng days was their faith in
God.
In eOurham at the present
time, there are some thirty-five
or forty Negro churches repre
senting not a few denominations
—^Missionary Baptists, Method
ists, Free Will Baptists, assorted
groups of the Holiness Church,
Presbyterians, Episcopalians,
Sevento Day Adventists, Roman
Catholics, etc.
The leading churches from the
standpoint of numbers and phy
sical plants are the Baptists and
Methodists. Aside from the Holi
ness connection, the other groups
are relatively small. However,
that Is not to say, they are in
significant.
It la plainly evident that the
space alloted for this article will
not permit a detailed description
of each chiurch in the city. Al
luding to some and not to others
is not to be considered as due to
bias, partiality, or prejudice;
neither as strictly arbitrary. The
scope or extent of the activities
engaged in by some few church
es, the nature of those activities,
the leng^ of time these church
es have been functioning, the
size o^ the membership, not to
mention other factors, make re
ference to these churches neces
sary.
From the point ctf view of size
and physical equipment, the
leading churches of the city are
the White Rock Baptist, Mount
Vernon Baptist, the St. Joseph
AME and the Saint Mark AME
Zion Churches. The combined
membership of these churches
total about 4,500 persons. The
history of each of these spans
many decades.
The question as to the oldest
church in the city is left to oth
ers more competent than myself
to decide. In his HISTORY OF
DURHAM, Boyd says; “The first
Negro congregation in point of
time is St. Joseph African Meth-
(Please turn to Page Six)
Welcome To Durham
DURHAM CHURCHES'—Shown top to bottom, left are Dnrham’s Chnrches. Right tide are First Calvary, Saint John’s
Monnt Vernon, White Rook, Monnt Zion and West Darham Baptist. Ebeneser and Morehead Avenne Bapust Churches.
’v '. ■
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