It was the most heroic church planting since the time of the early Christian church. It was undertaken against all odds by a segment of the general population which for the most part was semi-literate and penniless and which possessed no advantages except sheer determination and the aid of divine providence. It occurred almost immediately after the emancipation of a long-enslaved race and it happened rather spontaneously.
Fred Anderson
|
Once freedom came, the black members of Baptist churches across the South were free to remain in the churches where they were members or to organize separate and independent churches. The taste of freedom was so sweet that many wanted to pull away and constitute new churches. In some places fellow white Baptists offered some assistance while in other cases whites tried to persuade blacks to remain. In some localities there were cordial, even collegial, relationships, but in most cases there was a cool and distant relationship.
Immediately after the war, the churches of the Rappahannock Baptist Association in eastern Virginia still defended slavery from a biblical perspective and decided “that separate organizations of the colored members of our churches, should, at present, neither be required or encouraged.” A church in Amelia County thought that the best way to handle the situation was to allow blacks to assemble as a branch and remain “subject to the government of the white church.”
In 1866 the Middle District Association, located south of Richmond, had a difficult time accepting the change. When Midlothian African Church, an independent congregation prior to the war, notified the association that they were leaving it, the Middle District responded that “such a course will be injurious to the church and the religious interests of the colored people within the circle of its influence.”
Two other member churches were facing the exodus of their black members and wondered how to respond. The association reported: “The colored people are in an exceedingly restless condition. The spirit which they discover is not the same in every community. In some places, they are suspicious and bitter, apparently unwilling to preserve kindly relations with the whites. In other places, purer feelings prevail. On this account, we deem it simply impossible to suggest any line of policy that will be adapted to all places. The manner of meeting our responsibility to this people must be determined by every church.
“The best thing that the committee can suggest is that wherever it is prudent and practicable, the colored people be encouraged to remain for the present in their former relation with our churches, with the prospect of having an independent organization, and a house of worship of their own, as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we urge that our pastors will preach for them regularly, and that our churches organize Sabbath Schools for the purpose of instructing them in the truths of the Gospel. In this work, we honestly think it to be the duty of Christians to engage.”
There were as many stories as there were Virginia churches. In 1865 Mossingford Baptist Church in Charlotte County with “a large number of colored members being present” granted the group’s petition “to be dismissed in order to form a separate organization.” Mossingford permitted them to use “our worship house” until the new church built its own. Morattico Baptist Church in Lancaster County in July 1867 “at the request of our colored members” dismissed them all, “save one man only who prefers to remain with us.”
“The separation was made with mutual kind feelings,” the church wrote. “We are ready and willing to aid them in any way we can, that they may desire, but think it best not to obtrude our advice or assistance.”
It was not until 1870-71 that Bruington Baptist Church in King and Queen County dismissed a large number of its members who desired to constitute New Mount Zion and Bethlehem churches. A few blacks including a deacon chose to remain at Bruington.
Most blacks were eager to depart the mixed churches and establish new churches under their own direction and these churches sprang up like mushrooms after the rain. In a great exodus the Baptist General Association of Virginia lost about 57 percent of the membership of its churches. In Virginia in 1868, only three years after emancipation, there were three black associations listing 129 churches with about 39,000 members. Within five more years there were 271 churches with nearly 56,000 members. There were so many new churches that the association considered it best that no churches be organized “nearer than five miles to each other.” The distance was about what one might be expected to reach by foot or horseback or wagon and return by nightfall. Any closer and there might be undue competition among the churches for new converts.
In 1868 a state black Baptist convention was organized and within two years had 37 churches that reported some 1,800 baptisms in a given year. They also had a state Sunday school union with some 3,100 enrolled scholars.
In 1871 the black state convention sent a communication to the white General Association, stating that “we are adherents of one faith … yea, to all the vital principles of the great Baptist family.” The black convention wanted to share with the white organization “the laudable work of evangelizing our State.”
Black Baptists desired educated clergy and laity. The Colored Shiloh Association passed a resolution in 1870 acknowledging that “education is the superior of all temporal concerns and without it no people can attain to any great pre-eminence or fill the various spheres of life including all branches of business, work and learning.”
The association commended Baptist-related Colver Institute, a school for adult males and a predecessor institution of Virginia Union University. Black church planters wanted seminary-trained ministers and they wanted laypersons, long denied education, to be educated and able to study scriptures.
The heroic story of massive church planting by black Baptists is a largely untold epic. From it developed “the black church” in all of its might and power. In time, freedmen developed churches, associations, conventions, religious newspapers, colleges and seminaries.The church planters triumphed.
(The stories of the trials and triumphs of the enslaved and freedmen are told in an exhibit and in a new book, both titled “free indeed!” The exhibit is open weekdays at the Virginia Baptist Historical Society on the campus of the University of Richmond and the book is available exclusively through the Society. Call 804.289.8434 for information.)
Fred Anderson ([email protected]) is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies.