Podcast hosts Rev. Sharon Williams, Rev. Russell Ewell and Rev. Fabian Gonzalez discuss some of the things they learned as they interviewed members of the historic Black churches of the Missouri Conference throughout this season.

01:16: Thoughts and Learning Opportunities for the Denomination
4:15 The Place of Lament
9:00 A Tight Knit Community of Life
10:10 Discipleship Begins with Relationship
12:35 We Cannot Lose Those Rich Stories
14:00 It Is Their Faith that Keeps Them Going
16:53 The Missouri Conference
18:45 Understand the Context and Recognizing the History
22:00 If You Love Something You will Challenge It
25:45 Abundance and Lean
27:00 The Saints That Are Before Us

The Faith and Race Podcast is designed to help faithful people host conversations about race, faith and the Church. Every episode has a specific focus to help listeners intentionally think about the intersection of history, institutions, scripture, prayer, race and justice. The audio recordings bring diverse insights and experiences into churches, homes, and hearts across Missouri and beyond.

“The Saints Before Us” is the theme and focus of season three of the Faith and Race Podcast. It draws on both Hebrews 11, and its description of the cloud of witnesses, and Ephesians 4 with its directive to equip saints for the work of ministry. The phrase “saints before us” invites listeners to consider the duality of its meaning: In that, the new season of the podcast focuses on Missouri’s Black United Methodist Churches and highlights both the work of the saints that came before us and offers an invitation to the saints currently before us to carry that legacy.

Kansas City, Missouri. St. James United Methodist Church launched in 1973 when two small churches combined. Listen in as current pastor Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Cleaver III, Robert Silvan and Leola Evans share about the history and experience of the Historically Black Church.

00:00: Church History Narration
4:30 1950s Change of Kansas City Landscape and the Beginning of St. James UMC
7:30 Taking A Stand and Doing Something About It
18:00 The Merging of a White and Black Church
22:20 Involvement in Politics
24:30 Raising Awareness in Younger People
26:00 A Long History of Involvement In Social Justice
28:30 Birthed Out of a Need for Social Justice and Action
30:30 The Congregation of St. James
35:00 How Would You Identify St. James
38:30 Leadership Demographics
44:00 White Flight and Neighborhood Churches
48:00 Disappointments with the Larger Church
54:00 Ivan Newton
60:00 Kansas City Police
65:00 Refocusing the Worship Effort

The Faith and Race Podcast is designed to help faithful people host conversations about race, faith and the Church. Every episode has a specific focus to help listeners intentionally think about the intersection of history, institutions, scripture, prayer, race and justice. The audio recordings bring diverse insights and experiences into churches, homes, and hearts across Missouri and beyond.

“The Saints Before Us” is the theme and focus of season three of the Faith and Race Podcast. It draws on both Hebrews 11, and its description of the cloud of witnesses, and Ephesians 4 with its directive to equip saints for the work of ministry. The phrase “saints before us” invites listeners to consider the duality of its meaning: In that, the new season of the podcast focuses on Missouri’s Black United Methodist Churches and highlights both the work of the saints that came before us and offers an invitation to the saints currently before us to carry that legacy.

St. Louis, Missouri. Union Memorial was founded in 1846 on three foundations: Love which is a God-given light from heaven, a spark of that immortal fire which angels share. Faith which binds us to the infinite. Hope, the balm and life-blood of the soul. Union Memorial is unique in many ways, such as hosting W.E.B. Du Bois in 1913 and being the second largest structure of its kind in the United States (a hyperbolic paraboloid shell). The congregation at Union Memorial has a long, proud heritage of community-based social justice.

00:00: A Rich and Proud History
6:21 People Felt Supported and Heard
7:30 An Honor to Be a Part of the Legacy
10:34 Connections to Africa University
13:20 Leaving Leffingwell and Pine Location
19:10 Mission and Vision
21:45 Debts and Apportionments
25:44 Restoration: To Restore the People and the Hearts of the People
29:30 Simplified Model of Church Governance
30:45 175 Years of Service and History
35:09 The Pandemic and After
38:14 Resilience in Our DNA
40:00 Fighting In and With the Methodist Church

The Faith and Race Podcast is designed to help faithful people host conversations about race, faith and the Church. Every episode has a specific focus to help listeners intentionally think about the intersection of history, institutions, scripture, prayer, race and justice. The audio recordings bring diverse insights and experiences into churches, homes, and hearts across Missouri and beyond.

“The Saints Before Us” is the theme and focus of season three of the Faith and Race Podcast. It draws on both Hebrews 11, and its description of the cloud of witnesses, and Ephesians 4 with its directive to equip saints for the work of ministry. The phrase “saints before us” invites listeners to consider the duality of its meaning: In that, the new season of the podcast focuses on Missouri’s Black United Methodist Churches and highlights both the work of the saints that came before us and offers an invitation to the saints currently before us to carry that legacy.

Kansas City, Missouri. In 1907, Asbury Chapel and Burn Chapel consolidated to form one church: Centennial Methodist Episcopal Church. In this episode, Rev. Jason Bryles (Centennial’s pastor since July 2016), Paula King (member since 1962), Ramada Davis (member for 48 years) and Donald Rogerson (member for 70 years) discuss Centennial United Methodist Church’s the history and influence on its community — beginning at its founding, continuing through the civil rights movement and into today.

IN THIS EPISODE

1:00 History and Founding of Centennial UMC
3:31 Introduction to Interviewees
4:15 The Forming of CUMC and the Surrounding Community
10:50 Jazz and Other Local Influences
14:03 Church Music History and Its Life Cycle
18:20 The Beginning of A Big Change
24:30 Centennial’s Position in the World and in the Methodist Church
36:00 What The Black Church And Centennial Bring to the Church at Large

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Faith and Race Podcast is designed to help faithful people host conversations about race, faith and the Church. Every episode has a specific focus to help listeners intentionally think about the intersection of history, institutions, scripture, prayer, race and justice. The audio recordings bring diverse insights and experiences into churches, homes, and hearts across Missouri and beyond.

“The Saints Before Us” is the theme and focus of season three of the Faith and Race Podcast. It draws on both Hebrews 11, and its description of the cloud of witnesses, and Ephesians 4 with its directive to equip saints for the work of ministry. The phrase “saints before us” invites listeners to consider the duality of its meaning: In that, the new season of the podcast focuses on Missouri’s Black United Methodist Churches and highlights both the work of the saints that came before us and offers an invitation to the saints currently before us to carry that legacy.

St. Louis, Missouri. After the 1917 East St. Louis Race Riots in Illinois, much of East St. Louis’s Black population fled the death and destruction and sought new economic opportunities across the river into St. Louis, Missouri. This birthed a new Methodist congregation under Rev. Martin Luther Jackson at Good Samaritan Methodist Episocopal Church. The goal was peace and shelter in a new urban environment. Despite hardships, the congregation is still alive today. Listen in as Pastor Ivan James and longtime church members discuss the life, times and legacy of Samaritan UMC.

Note: Since the recording of this podcast, Samaritan UMC has merged with Asbury UMC to form New Horizons UMC.

IN THIS EPISODE

00-7:36 History of the Church Beginnings

8:45 Poetry Reading

11:45 The Building on Washington and Memories

14:30 How the Race Riots Led to the New Church and Early History

18:00 A Rich and Deep Local Community

19:50 A Front-End Problem and the Three P’s

23:05 An Example of Faithfulness

27:00 How Segregation Impacted the Local Black Church

27:26 Remembering Church as a Child and Her Family’s Dedication

32:00 We Had Everything We Needed in the Community

33:45 The Children of Good Samaritan

39:00 Changes Come

41:37 Hopes for The Future 

42:45 Living the Gospel and Needed Changes

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Faith and Race Podcast is designed to help faithful people host conversations about race, faith and the Church. Every episode has a specific focus to help listeners intentionally think about the intersection of history, institutions, scripture, prayer, race and justice. The audio recordings bring diverse insights and experiences into churches, homes, and hearts across Missouri and beyond.

“The Saints Before Us” is the theme and focus of season three of the Faith and Race Podcast. It draws on both Hebrews 11, and its description of the cloud of witnesses, and Ephesians 4 with its directive to equip saints for the work of ministry. The phrase “saints before us” invites listeners to consider the duality of its meaning: In that, the new season of the podcast focuses on Missouri’s Black United Methodist Churches and highlights both the work of the saints that came before us and offers an invitation to the saints currently before us to carry that legacy.

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Springfield, Missouri. Pitt's Chapel is a testament to strength in adversity: beginning in times of slavery, through the lynchings of innocent Black men and the subsequent shift that brought Springfield from a population that was 25% Black to the under 5% it is today. Current pastor Rev. Tracey Wolff, Kim Jones, John Huddleston and Charlotte Hardin talk through the history of Pitt's Chapel from its onset through tragedy and onward during the civil rights movement into today. 

IN THIS EPISODE

1:00 Introduction and History of Pitt's Chapel
7:30 Introductions: Rev. Tracey Wolff, Kim Jones, John Huddleston, Charlotte Hardin
8:12 The Current Building and How it Relates to the History of Pitt's Chapel
14:45 Raising Up Younger Generations
17:30 The Relationship Between Ferguson and the Lynchings
20:50 Words Without Actions, Forgiveness Without Repentance
24:45 Arrogance, Power and Scarcity Mindsets
27:25 What The Methodist Church Can Do
34:30: What Gives You Hope

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Faith and Race Podcast is designed to help faithful people host conversations about race, faith and the Church. Every episode has a specific focus to help listeners intentionally think about the intersection of history, institutions, scripture, prayer, race and justice. The audio recordings bring diverse insights and experiences into churches, homes, and hearts across Missouri and beyond.

“The Saints Before Us” is the theme and focus of season three of the Faith and Race Podcast. It draws on both Hebrews 11, and its description of the cloud of witnesses, and Ephesians 4 with its directive to equip saints for the work of ministry. The phrase “saints before us” invites listeners to consider the duality of its meaning: In that, the new season of the podcast focuses on Missouri’s Black United Methodist Churches and highlights both the work of the saints that came before us and offers an invitation to the saints currently before us to carry that legacy.

“The Saints Before Us” is the theme and focus of season three of the Faith and Race Podcast. It draws on both Hebrews 11, and its description of the cloud of witnesses, and Ephesians 4 with its directive to equip saints for the work of ministry. The phrase “saints before us” invites listeners to consider the duality of its meaning: In that, the new season of the podcast focuses on Missouri’s Black United Methodist Churches and highlights both the work of the saints that came before us and offers an invitation to the saints currently before us to carry that legacy.

In season three, six episodes highlight the legacies of five of Missouri’s Historically Black United Methodist Churches: Pitts Chapel in Springfield; Union Memorial in St. Louis; Samaritan UMC in St. Louis; Centennial UMC in Kansas City; and St. James UMC in Kansas City. Local church laity and clergy leaders detail the rich history of the Historically Black church through stories of faithfulness and witness to injustice and invite podcast listeners to consider the gifts the Black church brings to the Church at large.