Bethel to mark anniversary
A few years before the Civil War, as Arkansas lawmakers worked to expel freed Black people from the state, a Black businessman named Nathan Warren decided to leave hostile Little Rock and head to Ohio.
While there, he discovered a Christian denomination founded and led by Black Americans — the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Upon his return to Arkansas in the 1860s, Warren helped launch a new congregation of his own, Bethel A.M.E. Church, that remains a beacon in the capital city.
Next weekend, its members plan to mark its anniversary, pausing to honor its roots and celebrate its longevity.
Written accounts disagree about precisely when Warren went into exile and when he returned. The congregation’s precise founding date is also a matter of debate.
The Centennial Encyclopedia of the African Methodist Church, published in 1916, says it opened in 1866. The date recognized by the congregation is 1863, shortly after Union troops gained control of Little Rock.
Both accounts credit Warren, a layman at the time, with organizing Bethel. Both say it is the oldest A.M.E. church in Arkansas.
Statewide, there are 142 A.M.E. congregations with 20,900 members, according to the 2020 U.S. Religion Census.
Bethel is Hebrew for “House of God.” It’s been referred to as the “mother church” of the A.M.E. movement in Arkansas.
“There’s a rich tradition, here at Bethel A.M.E., that we carry on to this day,” said its pastor, Truman Tolefree. “We’ve had several individuals to come out of Bethel who have gone on to great heights to hold great positions in both government as well as industry and the whole nine yards.”
Former members include civil rights activist Daisy Bates, former
U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and pioneering lawyer Scipio Africanus Jones.
Many of Bethel’s early adherents had experienced slavery. At least some had fought on behalf of the Union.
Initially, its worship services were held in the home of Mother Lucy Elrod and her husband, Anthony Elrod. Later, they met on a site somewhere along or near Main Street.
When the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870, prohibiting states from denying the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” they joined a parade that stretched from outside the sanctuary to the statehouse.
By 1873, construction of a two-story, 3,200-square-foot church had commenced at the corner of Ninth Street and Broadway, according to a newspaper account at the time, which described it as appearing to be “one of the best built and most commodious places of worship in the state.”
That site would remain the church’s home for the next 90 years.
In 1881, when President James Garfield was assassinated, and in 1885, when Gen. U.S. Grant was laid to rest, they gathered to mourn.
One of Bethel’s early ministers, Alexander Herritage Newton, had helped enslaved people take the Underground Railroad to freedom and had served as a quartermaster sergeant with the 29th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers.
“My bosom burst with the fire of patriotism for the salvation of my country and my people,” he would later write in his 1910 autobiography, “Out of the Briars.”
Another early pastor, J.T. Jenifer, had been born in enslavement but grew up to became one of the denomination’s leading clerics and its official historian.
During Jenifer’s first stint in Little Rock, from 1870 to 1874, Bethel added more than 400 new members and celebrated 56 weddings, according to an article in the Oct. 14, 1874, Arkansas Gazette.
“The beautiful house of worship erected on the corner of Ninth and Broadway is primarily the fruit of his earnest labor,” it stated, adding that his “success has been remarkable under all circumstances.”
He served the congregation again, from 1876 to 1880, then took assignments in Boston, Washington, Baltimore and Chicago.
As pastor of Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Washington, Jenifer preached at the funeral of Frederick Douglass in 1895.
G. Wayman Blakely, who served at Bethel from 1939 to 1953, went on to become a bishop. During his pastorate, he dubbed the church “Big Bethel,” but the nickname didn’t stick.
Bethel’s longest-serving pastor was Rufus King “R.K.” Young, who served from 1953 to 1986.
Three of the nine members of the Little Rock Nine — Ernest Green, Gloria Ray Karlmark, and Melba Pattillo Beals — were members during his tenure.
In 1963, Young participated in the March on Washington.
He also oversaw the congregation’s move from Ninth and Broadway to its current location at 815 West 16th Street.
Tolefree, Bethel’s pastor since 2006, says the congregation hasn’t lost sight of its mission.
“Freeing people from the bondage of sin, that’s basically the whole purpose of the church,” he said.
The good news, he said, is that “God has made good on his promise to [reconcile] people to himself through the shed blood of His son, Jesus Christ.”
The congregation is looking forward to the anniversary, he said.
“We expect to have a really big, great day on Nov. 12,” he said.
Stephanie McHenry, a former bank president and chief executive officer of the Cleveland-based Democracy Collaborative, will speak during the 11 a.m. service.
Maurice Watson, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, will speak at 3 p.m.
McHenry, Tolefree said, has an impressive résumé and she’s family, too.
“She grew up here at church, so it’s almost like one of our own coming back home,” he said. “She’s excited about it. We are excited about it, as well.”