Celebrating Black History Month and the Black Church: 120 Years of Spiritual and Material Support
Above: Pastor Gregory Armstrong at the present-day St. Paul AME Church on Diamond Drive; Below: The building St. Paul’s relocated to in 1965 in on E. Mifflin Street
Part 2 of 2
By Jonathan Gramling
St. Paul AME Church has been a stalwart spiritual and community institution in the Madison area since 1902 when it was founded. According to the 1900 U.S. Census, there were 19,164 people living in Madison at the time with 69 of them of African American descent from 19 families.
Rev. Gregory Armstrong has been a part of that history.
“My dad pastored from 1973 to 1984,” Armstrong said when the church was located on E. Mifflin Street. “What made it amicable for me is that it gave me the opportunity to pastor a church that my father also pastored historically. Obviously that resonated with me inside.”
Madison’s Black community has relatively evolved quickly in the past 6-7 years — when the Armstrongs were assigned to AME churches in Illinois — as the Baby Boom generation continues to fade into retirement, the aftermath of the George Floyd murder and the impact of the COVIDF-19 pandemic.
“I do believe that the church still plays a role in people’s lives. For the younger group, I think it is minimal. I think there are still people of that age who can appreciate church, who can appreciate assembling together and being of like-minded faith people, sharing those experiences as they go through their daily lives. But I also think that for the younger crowd, you may actually question whether that is actually true or not. I think if they have had any Christian or religious education or brought up in home such as that, they know about it and maybe even respect the church. But their commitment to the church is a little shaky. You find a lot of these social 501(c)(3)s as well as other non-profits that are existing now that didn’t exist when I left in 2011. Different entities are piloting or leading a lot of these demonstrations and protests that previously were led by the church and ministers. They create community in ways that were once the province of the church.”
The Armstrongs and St. Paul AME Church have continued many of the in-person ministerial functions of the church in spite of the pandemic.
“We have developed some partnerships,” Pastor Gregory observed. “The missionaries work with Salvation Army and some of the other similar entities. St. Paul continues to work with Kennedy Elementary School as a way of trying to tutor and do some role modeling to continue to advance those of us, particularly minorities, who may have some difficulties in reading and mathematics. We also partner with MOSES as a way of dealing with or trying to offer some support and new ideas for those who are jailed or are in prison. There is still outreach, if you will, going on in terms of the partnerships that we have with the different non-profit entities that exist in the community.”
“I still see groups like the missionary society that still continue to reach out and taking things to shelters,” Brenda agreed. “A lot of what we do is still happening during the pandemic. I don’t think all of that has been lost. But I do think a lot has been. But I do see that there is a part of the church that is still reaching out to the community in other ways than just the worship service.”
However, the pandemic has forced the church to evolve with the times in its effort to provide ministry to its faith community, whichever way that is now defined.
“I remember pastor was a little camera shy at first getting online and doing online services,” Brenda said with a smile. “I also watched how the Lord opened that door for him to be — I wouldn’t say comfortable — interested and engaging and using that as an avenue to get the word out to the people. I’m also reminded of — I’m not quoting scripture or whatever — we’re to make sure that His word has gone out to every person to have the opportunity to accept Him. In that, He provided even during COVID a mechanism for us to use to get the word out even in the most remote places. People like my husband who didn’t like to get online and do that kind of stuff, is now being catapulted to another level of ministry to preach to the winds because it is reaching out beyond themselves and it is reaching someone else and to be able to see the feedback. I remember the first time he did it, there were 300 some people. We were like, ‘Wow, we never reached this many in any of our sanctuaries at one time unless we were at an annual conference and were able to reach the masses. But it has opened up new doors, new ideas and new formats. Even as we come back to St. Paul and we’re doing a hybrid of in-person and online, that is going to be a part of ministry going forward as we deal with this pandemic and whatever else is before us. And we now can expand beyond the doors of the church.”
In fact, there may be no going fully back to the way things were before the pandemic.
“I don’t know if we are ever going to get out of the pandemic because something happens and we are back in it again,” Pastor Gregory said. “It seems to me that we are going to have to learn to live with it. But should we ever get to the point where we are able to come to church unmasked and not concern ourselves with it, I would think that we will have to use some the creativity that we have used during the pandemic as a way of trying to continue to reach out to people. We still are going to be virtual as well as in-person. We’re still going to have to use some of those methods and techniques of reaching out to people as a way of engaging them to whatever level and encourage their commitment to the church for the functionality of the church.”
The African American church has been the backbone of the African American community for centuries. While its role may change and how it functions evolves, the church will still be there with its basic message.
“I still believe in church,” Pastor Gregory said. “I believe in God. And I believe that there are people in our society, however few and in between, look to live a life that God is pleased with. However that message can get out, we have to continue to try and get it out and use whatever methods that are available to help that happen.”
