In 1916, seven members of Berean Baptist Church, one of the oldest and most historic churches in Brooklyn, scraped together everything they had and set out to build their own church. It was an ambitious task, but after “much prayer and consultation” they purchased a small storefront on the corner of Fulton Street and Troy Avenue, and Brown Memorial Baptist Church was born.
Today, nearly a century after its founding, the church—newly renovated— is still going strong, boasting more than 900 members. On February 4, 2012, hundreds of parishioners marched down Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill to celebrate the reopening of the sanctuary after years of renovations.
The current pastor, Rev. Clinton Miller, who assumed leadership of the church a decade ago, knew he had no choice but to begin major renovations of the interior and the exterior of the building.
“Little pieces of plaster had started to fall from the ceiling,” he said in a telephone interview.
The church promptly installed a temporary scaffolding to shelter parishioners from the crumbling ceiling and began a major fundraising campaign. In 2002, it raised $900,000 – $200,000 in grants from the New York State Historic Preservation Office and $700,000 in individual donations – to restore the façade, roof and pinnacles of the building, which was built in 1860.
“He’s really resurrected this church,” Louis Maffei, director of performing arts at Bishop Loughlin High School, said of Rev. Miller’s efforts. “It’s gorgeous inside.” Forty students from the Bishop Loughlin band, which provided music for the ceremony, joined Maffei at the rededication ceremony.
Litishia Smith, 39, a parishioner and coordinator for the church, said the renovations are important because they’ve “brought more of a sense of community to the church.” Smith, who’s been a member of the church since she was 11, said the restorations have allowed parishioners to take more pride in the church, and have “made them more focused on how they honor God.”
Marjona Jones, 35, who was baptized at the rededication, said a great camaraderie exists among everybody at the church.
“People really love one another there,” she said.
It’s no coincidence that the rededication comes during Black History Month, when many celebrate the achievements of institutions like Brown. From slavery to the Civil Rights Movement, churches have played an integral role in the African American community by giving spiritual and social support to the disenfranchised.
“Since the Great Migration from the South, the church was always there to revive people,” Rev. Miller said. “It was not only a place to worship God, but it provided a social network for people that were new to Brooklyn.”
According to the U.S. National Park Service, which maintains the National Register of Historic Places, the black church also served as “a community ‘bulletin board,’ a credit union, a ‘people’s court’ to solve disputes, a support group, and a center of political activism.”
Churches like Brown continue this legacy by providing not only spiritual fulfillment for its members, but also tangible services, including weekly HIV testing and legal services – among other social programs – for its members.
“It’s still a place for politics. It’s still a place for community organizing. It’s still a place for literacy in the African American community,” said Horace Ballard, a former associate guest curator at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. “The church gives a sense of shared past.”
Continuing a legacy is not an easy task, and Rev. Miller admits that the church has a lot of work left in terms of community development, but he remains optimistic in a time of limited resources. One of his primary goals now is to make the church a central pillar of the community.
“Churches that become irrelevant die,” he said.
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