I climbed a winding set of stairs in order to enter the balcony. Standing in one of the most beautiful churches in the country, it was hard to imagine the disjointed spiritual history of the place. I visited First Baptist Church of Charleston, South Carolina, as part of a conference to learn about the racial history in Charleston, and to hear from experts about how to make better history in the future.
The pastor of First Baptist helped us grasp the significance of the balcony. Before the Civil War, slaves stood up here, while their owners sat in pews on the floor. Slaves entered the church through side doors before heading up the stairs— the mixing of slave and free forbidden.
The pastor acknowledged the painful history of slavery in the 200 year-old building, and talked of steps taken to build better relationships with other churches in town. Since the shooting of nine people at a Bible study several years ago (at Mother Emanuel AME church) churches in Charleston have worked with renewed vigor to overcome deep-seated racial divides.
Then, this humble leader pointed out what proved to be the most stunning lesson of my time in Charleston. Enslaved blacks, packed shoulder to shoulder, listened weekly to white slave-owning preachers. Even when hearing the gospel from people they despised, many, many, many of those slaves in that balcony gave their lives to Christ.
Only the gospel of Jesus Christ carries such power.
Can you think of a worse way to convert someone? Enslave them, beat them and work them hard all their lives, then ask them to follow your religion? While the assurances from slave-masters sounded like clanging cymbals, the words of Jesus brought faith, hope and love. I stood in awe, breathing it in. God’s grace truly cut through a multitude of sins.
The church recently installed a plaque (seen above) commemorating their enslaved members, and they no long use the side doors in honor of those forced to use them in the past. The plaque reads:
IN MEMORY of the thousands of enslaved members of the First Baptist Church of Charleston whose names we do not know, but are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Revelation 7:9
May we humbly acknowledge our past, and realize that we possess the same powerful, life-altering gospel of Jesus Christ to give to our world.
Thanks Dave for this specific story of a church seeking to atone for the sins of the past.