WS Chronicle

On Wednesday, March 28, five local churches gathered for a combined Holy Communion worship service at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church.  The Rev. Paul Robeson Ford, senior pastor of First Baptist Church on Highland Avenue, delivered the sermon.

The five churches involved were Grace Presbyterian, First Baptist on Highland Avenue, St. Stephen Baptist, United Metropolitan Baptist and Galilee Missionary Baptist.  To go along with the Communion, the church also collected canned goods, non-perishable items and money to be donated to Place Matters of United Way.

According to the Rev. Dr. Nathan Scovens, the service came together because the five pastors of the respective churches at that moment all came in around the same time. 

“We were all friends, so it was just a natural thing for us to get together and fellowship,” said Scovens.  “It was actually birthed by Pastor Cook (James Cook of St. Stephen), who said we shouldn’t just get together for personal fellowship but we should bring our churches together, and we did.”

He says even though some of the original pastors have been reassigned to other churches, they felt it was necessary to keep the tradition alive.  Scovens said the assistance they provide to the community through the donations made the fellowship necessary.

“We wanted to continue the efforts we are doing with the community by helping with our donations, he said.  “It’s just good for us to come together as a community and it has been great so far.”

Scovens says every time they take Communion at Galilee, they try to make sure they collect goods to donate to the local shelter.  He says the concept behind it is “make sure there is bread to eat on the tables of those who are less fortunate than we are, and we dare not eat at the Lord’s table without making sure the needs of the people are met first.”

For Scovens, he felt it was great to have five different churches come together to worship under one roof.  He says even though they have different preaching and worship styles, the beauty of Christ is that they can come together and worship and serve one Lord.

The service was all inclusive, as all five churches were represented.  Prior to the Communion, the Worship And Arts Ministry of Galilee provided a warming dance routine.

Ford’s message centered on Jesus and his work with the poor and oppressed.  He felt as though sometimes that message gets lost and wanted to remind everyone of that.  He also touched on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Particularly in a season where we are trying to make sense, meaning and purpose of Dr. King’s 50th anniversary of his assassination, we have to consider what would Jesus have us do in this present age or Trumpian era when we are trying to tackle monumental problems,” Ford said.  “That’s what really has been in my spirit for some time now, but it makes the connection to the Panthers and those who understood the legacy of Jesus Christ to go out and do likewise on behalf of the poor, marginalized and oppressed.

“Dr. King was a martyr for the faith and he was a post-biblical prophet,” he continued.  “He lived in many ways the best of what I believe Christ wants us to live and like Christ, he died for the people.”

Ford went on to talk about how he believes people should live for Christ and for those who serve Him faithfully. 

Ford says the service sets an example of “unity and fellowship that reaches toward the bar that Jesus set for us.”  He says that denominations are man-made and are not ordained in the Bible.  He feels that every opportunity churches can get together and set aside their differences is something there needs to be more of.