Bibles in a Bar? Bed-Stuy’s African Americans reinvent, consolidate, & move churches

 

 

Bible studies in a bar, car shows in the church parking lot, reconnecting by tele-visiting the incarcerated – these are some of the pathways to survival being forged by churches in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

Leaders at Mount Lebanon Baptist Church sought out new connections with their younger neighbors in the Therapy Wine Bar. Less than a mile away, Antioch Baptist Church has set up an annual car show on Greene Avenue designed to bring men and boys into mentoring relationships. John Wesley United Methodist Church is trying to reconnect kids with their parents through remote television hook-ups. In Central Bed-Stuy, Mount Pisgah Baptist Church has fuelled its congregation by inviting veterans to a dramatic re-telling of the origins of Memorial day.

 

 

African American church leaders are faced with members aging out of church activities or moving away from a gentrifying flood that has hit Bed-Stuy. The glory years of the local African American churches are writ by their peaks of spectacular architecture, but the pews are not as full as they used to be.

Bed-Stuy, especially, was the home to a large number of African American churches for the better part of the last century, and, in the 19^th Century, a haven for fugitive slaves. African American Christians sustained the long growth of religious activism in Brooklyn that made it heralded as “the borough of churches.” History professor Clarence Taylor grew up in Brooklyn hearing about the many famous preachers and wrote a remembrance of their huge role in faith and politics in his book The Black Churches of Brooklyn.

 

 

The author observes that Bed-Stuy still has some of the most prominent African American churches and pastors in the country. A Journey through NYC Religions estimates that there are “well over 300” churches in the neighborhood. Some of the churches are still flourishing.

However, the population of African American residents has rapidly dropped in Bed-Stuy.

 

 

A shrinking community of African Americans in NYC

In 2010, the United States Census found that the neighborhood had about 107,000 African American residents, 70% of the 153,985 residents. By 2016, the proportion of African Americans had dropped below the 50% mark for the first time in decades. African Americans numbered about 73,000 out of the 148,237 residents in Bed-Stuy, according to the estimate by the American Community Survey. These demographic shifts, along with a dip in religiosity among African-Americans, have led to dwindling African American congregations, says Taylor.

Imagine Bed-Stuy as an African-American city-state larger than Syracuse, New York. New settlers are concentrated on the periphery of the community but rivulets of their settlements are working their way toward the center.

The non-Hispanic African Americans are made up of two groups of people. On the one hand, there are large swaths of the neighborhood settled by educated, highly employed residents. For example, in some of the most heavily African American areas, 85-97% of the men and women are employed. The highly employed African Americans offer a cultural milieu into which newly arrived young professionals could join.

However, even for the affluent African American, the situation is deteriorating. A story by the real estate blog Yimby NY reports that a Center for NYC Neighborhoods study found that home ownership for African Americans in Brooklyn is dropping because of “shady loans,” high taxes and repair costs, the “soaring prices and a tight lending environment.”

There are also poor neighborhoods in which employment is scarce. This condition seems to impact most the African American males in the areas where their employment rate shrinks to 25%. Usually, the lowest employment rates for African American males are for those who live in public housing projects like the Brevoort Houses.

Such concentrations are probably not conducive to building the social networks and economic savvy necessary for moving up economically. The disappearance of the working and lower middle classes in the city also means that there is no ladder to go up. These classes are unrecognized keys to fighting poverty.

However, it would be a large misunderstanding to see the poor unemployed as problem to get rid of. An asset-based approach would ask a different question, how well are the faith-based groups that ring the housing projects connecting up and drawing upon the strengths of the poor, particularly of the unemployed males?

Non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanics (of all races) are increasing their numbers in Bed-Stuy. Collectively, they now form over 43% of the neighborhood, almost on par with the population of African Americans. Hispanic Christians have founded several flourishing congregations.

The non-Hispanic Whites include large numbers of younger professionals and Hasidic Jews. Some members of the Hasidic community have been actively buying property in the center of Bed-Stuy to build new multi-story residences, schools, and worship sites. Only a small number of Asian Americans have moved into the neighborhood.

In some areas along the border of South BedStuy, African immigrants have concentrated to such an extent that they sometimes make up 20% of the residents on the blocks. At home, the Africans may speak English, Amharic (Ethiopian), Ibo, Twi, Yoruba, Banta, Swahili, Somali, Arabic, or French. However, most live further south, just over the community district border running along Atlantic Avenue. In Bed-Stuy, their religious sites tend to be scattered in the cheaper Eastern section. Some of their growing congregations are facing the constraints of disappearing community space in the hot real estate market.

 

 

The impact on African American churches

Westminster-Bethany United Presbyterian Church now sees a maximum of only 10 congregants at weekly services in its 10,400 square feet property. Its leaders rent out part of their premises to another African American church, Grace & Truth Gospel Temple, which sees about 100 worshippers on Sundays. Members of the public can also book its basement for ad-hoc activities, like birthday parties. Mr Aubrey Holder, an elder at Westminster-Bethany, says half of its members are in their 70s. “Sometimes you would wonder, ‘How does the church even exist?’ But we believe this property is here for a purpose,” says the 82-year-old.

Mount Lebanon Baptist Church is a 113-year old sprawling Romanesque Revival-styled landmark – complete with an arched entrance, conical turrets, and a red terra cotta roof. It set up a museum to celebrate its 100^th anniversary. According to members, the church used to pack a thousand people on Sundays. But now it sees only 300 congregants each Sunday, about the same number as it did five years ago. Many of them are in the advanced years. “We need to find new ways of doing church without detracting from our mission,” says its pastor, Reverend Shaun J Lee, 40. Hence, the effort at doing Bible studies in a bar. A former pastor reached out by sitting on the stoop offering to play chess with locals. African American leaders have tried many ways to reverse the receding tide of church attendance.

 

 

Mount Lebanon’s mission twins the promotion of a gospel-friendliness in the church with compassion for those in need outside the church. More recently, it has been throwing back-to-school barbecue parties in its courtyard for children in the neighborhood.

In an effort to better utilize its 21,000 square feet premises, John Wesley United Methodist Church along Quincy Street — which saw its congregation halve to about 70 from 135 during the last six years — recently partnered with community organization NuLeadership to hold youth-centered activities, including a mentorship program and a tele-visiting service for children to maintain contact with their incarcerated parents.

Rev Ebenezer Aduku, who has been leading the church since 2012, stresses the need to “inject a shot of energy into this building.” The church, which was established in 1988, also boasts steep peaked roofs and broad Gothic arches. Nowadays, it sees only a tenth of the chapel occupied during its weekly services.

While he acknowledged that maintaining the sprawling premises is financially challenging with a smaller congregation, Aduku is adamant about holding onto the property. “Even though we own the property, insurance alone is a huge price tag. But we are here not for money. We want to constantly be in contact with the community, to serve them physically and spiritually,” says the 65-year-old.

 

Up for sale

Other congregations, like Living Stone Baptist Church along Pulaski Street and Greater Works Deliverance Church along Tompkins Avenue, have put up their properties for sale.

Jack Lerner, who advises religious leaders how to optimize the use of their premises, says many traditional churches also wrestle with infrastructure that are not elderly-friendly. He pointed to the lack of elevators as an example.

The religious property guru, who co-founded Ecclesiastical Realty Advisory Services, adds, “Many sit on a large parcel of land but two-thirds of the church is empty. For some, we advise them to make use of that vacant excess land by selling air rights. Others sell their entire properties. Yet others decide not to do anything because not every church has a need for millions of dollars.”

 

 

Unlike most churches buildings here which have subdued brown or reddish hues, Mt Pisgah Baptist Church on Tompkins Avenue dons a colorful exterior awash in terra cotta and mosaic detailing. The building is also not weighed down by any debt. “We have completely paid off this building,” says Reverend Joel R.Youngblood, assistant to the church’s lead pastor. It has revamped its weekly services to include “vibrant elements” like dance and drama. Yet, the excitement under the steeple has been constrained. “Because it is almost 120 years old, maintaining it is as much as footing a mortgage,” Youngblood observes.

 

 

The church will be relocating to a smaller and more affordable venue in Jamaica, Queens within three years, says Youngblood. This year, the church sold its property to a Hasidic Jewish group, a sort of New Testament – Old Testament partnership to keep faith alive in Bed-Stuy.

 

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