America's Persecuted Church

Exhortation
Written By Joshua Foster Sr
 
 

We have been going through the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation for our sermon series and one pattern you might have noticed is that some of the churches faced different types of persecution.

As Christians there is sometimes talk about different forms of persecution in America as orthodox Christian beliefs get met with increasing antagonism and hostility. And sometimes we use church history or current examples of persecuted churches around the world today, which we should.

We can and should learn about the underground churches in China that are thriving even in the midst of government persecution. We can and should learn about persecuted churches in other parts of the world and in history that God has grown and sustained even through violent opposition.

But the thing is America had its own underground church that thrived even in the midst of government persecution. America had its own persecuted church that God grew and sustained through antagonism and even violent opposition.

I'm talking about the African-American church.

We should learn from the African-American church and it’s resilience by God’s grace during the various waves of opposition in our nation during slavery and after. And we do this not as a token acknowledgement during Black History Month to check a box off a list but we do it with the mindset of learning from brothers and sisters in Christ in whom we can genuinely learn from on what it means to be faithful in the midst of sinful opposition.

We should learn from Absalom Jones born in 1746 and after obtaining his freedom became an ordained minister and left a lasting gospel legacy in his fight against slavery and racism and allowed his faith to drive him towards serving his community.

We should learn from Richard Allen, born in 1760, who founded the AME church, the first independent Black denomination in the United States. He had a strong trust in God even in the midst of seemingly impossible circumstances. At one point he and others held pre-sunrise services because of discrimination. Imagine being so desperate for the word of God and so hungry to commune and worship with other saints that you would get up in the dark before sunrise to go to church.

We should learn from John Berry Meachum, born into slavery in 1789, he learned carpentry and started slowly saving money and ended up buying his and his family’s freedom. He became a minister and founded the first black church in Missouri, and started a school for enslaved and free black students. In 1847 Missouri made it illegal for any person of color even if they were free to receive an education. In response, Meachum defied that unjust law by moving “his classes to a steamboat in the middle of the Mississippi River, which was beyond the reach of Missouri law. He provided the school with a library, desks, and chairs, and called it the ‘Floating Freedom School.’” With that he was able to continue educating students including in biblical studies.

We should learn from Amanda Smith, she was born into slavery in 1837, who after being freed by her family, ended up traveling the nation as an evangelist, and went overseas as a missionary to Europe, India, and Africa. She started an orphanage in Illinois and even became an author writing an autobiography of her life.

A long term missionary to India who ministered with Amanda said this about her “[She had a] clearness of perception and power of stating the undimmed truth of the Gospel of Christ...  She always possessed a buoyant hope and an overcoming faith, which made it easy for her to believe that the Saviour, whom she loved and served, really intended to save and transform India... As she left the country she could look back upon a hundred homes which were brighter and better because of her coming. Upon hundreds of hearts whose burdens had been lightened and whose sorrows had been sweetened by reason of her public and private ministry.” (J.M. Thoburn in the preface of “An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord's Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith”)

We should learn from Daniel Payne, a minister who helped found Wilberforce University, during a time when it was becoming increasingly illegal for a person of color to recieve an education especially a higher education. In 1863, Daniel Payne became the president of that institution making him the first African-American college president in the United States.

His vision was that students would receive, in his words, “a Christian education, that draws our head and heart toward the cross, and after consecrating them to the cross sends the individuals from beneath the cross with the Spirit of Him who died upon it, sending them well fitted for Christian usefulness.” (Thabiti Anybwile, The Faithful Preacher: Recapturing the Vision of Three Pioneering African-American Pastors)

We should learn from Francis Grimke who used the Bible to contend against racist scholarship and insisted on the church’s calling to stay faithful to the scriptures and proclaim the gospel of Christ over and against the social ills which plagued the nation. 

Cities Church, let us learn from the global church, let us learn from church history, but let us also learn from the African-American church in our own nation’s history. These brothers and sisters in our past who are often overlooked or unknown but were faithful Saints in the faith, who we are united to, along with all of God’s people, covered by the precious blood of Christ, in the unbreakable bond of the Spirit.

———

Additional Resources from Cities Church:

Resources for further study on Amanda Berry Smith:

Resources for further study on Absalom Jones:

Resources for further study on Richard Allen:

Resources for further study on John Berry Meachum:

 Resources for further study on Daniel Payne:

Resources for further study on Francis Grimke:

Joshua Foster Sr
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