Amazing lessons from a church occupation 51 years ago
Fifty-one years ago this month, Mexican American activists occupied the Juan Marcos Presbyterian Church in Houston’s Northside. The lessons they left us are a reminder of the important role churches can play in the restoration of community.
On a cold and wet Sunday morning on Feb. 15, 1970, members of the Mexican American Youth Organization, or MAYO, broke a window at the empty Christ Presbyterian Church (later renamed Juan Marcos Presbyterian Church). The break was just large enough for one of their members to climb in, unlock the door, and let others in. Once inside they renamed the church the “Northside People’s Center” and got to work. Over the next few days, MAYO members offered art classes, Chicano history classes, and facilitated discussions on the tensions between African Americans and Mexican Americans in the city. Women from the neighborhood cooked and served breakfast to more than 40 children every day for the entire 21-day occupation. It was a beautiful example of young people stepping up to serve their neighbors in an area of the city with few public resources and in a church building that had not been used in months.
The Brazos Presbytery, not happy that one of their empty buildings was being occupied by a group of young activists, tried a number of things to force them out. In one instance, Presbyterian leaders cut the gas and electricity to the building. MAYO activists responded by bringing in lamps and using a Coleman camping stove to continue making breakfast for the children who showed up. Of the occupation, the writers of the Space City News noted that the “events occurring since the MAYO takeover of the Christ Presbyterian Church have been amazing and beautiful. In six short days an oppressed, poverty-stricken community has awakened to the
first joys of controlling its own destiny.”
The occupation of the Juan Marcos Presbyterian church came to an end when, out of options and desperate, the Brazos Presbytery took their fight to the courts and forced MAYO activists out through a court injunction. The occupation ended without incident on March 6, 1970. But not before convincing both church leaders and the young activists of what was possible when churches transform their spaces into classrooms, food distribution centers, clinics, and a space for the community to gather as they dream of new possibilities. This was especially powerful in a community like the Northside that was in transition and that offered its residents few resources and opportunities. MAYO’s occupation — however brief and tenuous — envisioned a new possibility for the Northside that included community participation and community control of institutions.
That’s really what makes the church essential in these days.
While some argue over whether or not churches should host in-person worship services in the middle of a pandemic, the MAYO occupation reminds us that the church is essential because of the social resources it can offer communities in times of great need.
In recent months, churches in Houston have risen to these challenges by transforming their sanctuaries into classrooms. The challenges of COVID-19 in America’s most racially diverse city — and the fourth largest city in the U.S. — required, as the Rev. Ed Jones, senior pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church, recently noted, “a fresh vision. … The problem is we have parents who need to go to work. The problem is we have children who need to go to school.”
In Houston, 16 churches across the city opened their doors and transformed their churches into “Sanctuaries of Learning.” The unique partnership between the Houston Independent School District and local United Methodist churches took advantage of the empty spaces of churches who for the most part were no longer meeting for in-person worship. The church building, that some have argued provides an “essential” service for in-person worship, is being literally transformed into a temporary learning center to serve working families who otherwise would have to stay home from work to care for their children. It’s that social service ethic that makes the church essential.
While completely different, the Sanctuaries of Learning program applies the same idea that MAYO activists had back in 1970: Open the doors of the church, serve the community, and provide spaces of community support.
As the pandemic continues to rage in our communities, we must imagine new ways of caring for one another and extending grace to one another. Opening the doors of the church and recognizing the essential social services the church can — through its building and congregants — provide is certainly one place to start.