Can you tell me a little bit about your church’s history?

Pastor John Baker, Baptist: Our church was the first of any kind in Columbia. It was founded Nov. 22, 1823, which predates other churches in Columbia. We just had our 184th anniversary of continuous Christian ministry and service. For nearly 185 years, we’ve faithfully served God’s people in this city and, literally, all around the world. Our sanctuary has occupied the same corner since 1891. Our present sanctuary building, dedicated in 1957, is known by many as the “Donald Duck Church” downtown; people have famously said that when you look up at the church steeple from a few degrees off center, you can see the shape and proportions of Donald’s head. Try it. You can.

Pastor Jim Bryan, Methodist: Methodists first met in homes, outside when the weather was good, and in the courthouse because it was legal back then. The first building was Union Church in 1837, which we shared with the Baptists, and that lasted about 15 years. 1852 to 1870 was the first Methodist building, which was bought for $3,000. The cornerstone of our current building was laid in 1925, and the first service was held in the sanctuary here in 1930.

Pastor Richard Ramsey, Presbyterian: This is a 180-year-old congregation, and we like to think we’re one of the oldest Presbyterian churches in the area. Since the first part of the 20th and 21st century, we’ve been a downtown congregation, and I think that goes back to our roots and history. We’ve always held a high premium on education and the importance education has on the community and in strengthening our faith. Location and education are two very important historical issues of our church.

Pastor John Yonker, First Christian: Last year we celebrated our 175th anniversary. We were founded in 1832, one of the oldest churches in Columbia. Our first building was built in 1832 on the west side of Seventh Street facing what’s now the courthouse. It was used until 1860 when the church moved to a building facing south on Tenth at the corner of Tenth and Walnut. The present church was built in 1892 when the congregation outgrew that church, and it’s now 116 years old. Our present education building was built in 1929.

How did the church deal with integration?

Baker: Soon after our earliest days, First Baptist had blacks and whites worshipping together in the same church service, both slaves and freed. We have records from the first decades of the church showing we had black members speaking during business meetings and our church was well-integrated for probably 50 years or so. After the Civil War ended, a large portion of the black members banded together and formed the Second Baptist church. Since then we have had a mixed group, but primarily Caucasian.

Bryan: My father was the pastor here in the '60s and I remember those days; there was controversy. I remember the Black Manifesto was read during a service one day. Our church was very open and supportive. The first African professor at the university, Professor Strickland was and still is a member of our church. Our first black associate pastor was Rhymes Moncure, and he was here in the '80s and later came back in the '90s as senior pastor.

Ramsey: When integration really became a big issue in the United States, the minister here was John McMullen. He was a strong advocate of integration, and, because of this, I’d say the congregation was too. In the ’60s, I know we had members of the congregation who were responsible for making sure there was better housing for minorities, and so I suspect this was always a pretty open church.

Yonker: The church never excluded anyone, but that’s not to say there were never racists in the church. The church has always tried to be inclusive. For example, John William “Blind” Boone was a black composer of ragtime music, and he gave a concert to raise money for the building of our church in 1890 to 1892. He was baptized here and became of member of this church. In the ’60s, the minister was an advocate of civil rights. During that time, the church experienced some of the same struggles with racial integration that many other churches and institutions of society faced.

What kind of trends have you noticed within your church?

Baker: Our members take great interest in global issues. We are concerned with global warming and climate change. Our congregation is waking up to the real problems in this area. The majority of evangelical Christendom has in large part denied or ignored global warming. The good news is that churches, bit by bit, are responding to this issue. Our church is also interested in peacemaking and alternatives to war. We also seek to welcome and minister to persons regardless of their sexual orientation. We believe God’s love is for everyone.

Bryan: Our church is very involved in life issues, like (Hurricane) Katrina or gambling. For example, when Katrina hit, we sent food and mission teams to help. We also have a very active gay and lesbian ministry called the Open Door Ministry, which is mostly made up of parents who have gay children. We have the Open Door Film Festival, guest speakers and other activities that are part of that issue in our church. We just believe God’s love is for all humankind, and they are accepted as full members in our church.

Trends seem to be away from mainline churches, which we are, so we have to fight that. They also seem to be away from traditional churches, which we are also, so we fight that as well.

Ramsey: I’d say for mainline Protestants, the trend has been a reduced importance on the specific denomination that one joins. In the past, when people moved, they sought churches or their specific denomination, be it Presbyterian, Lutheran or otherwise. Now, for many people, the denomination is not as important as finding a place where you are comfortable.

Another trend I’ve noticed is the church’s use of technology to keep from being left behind. People embrace the way technology helps them learn, grow and participate in worship. Churches are learning to use technology to help educate people in their faith, and it may be changing worship styles, but it does not change the message.

Yonker: In 1994, we got a computer lab in the church. We were the one of the very first churches in the whole nation to have a computer lab solely for the purpose of education. So we’ve been keeping up with the technology trend.

We’ve changed our Sunday school in the morning for children from the traditional to rotation model, which is more like a learning center way of teaching. They learn the same subjects, but they rotate from class to class.

And there’s been a trend of younger adults joining the church who like mainline style churches. We sing traditional quality style songs, and they like that.

What is your current membership like?

Baker: I’d like to say it’s increasing, but right now membership has hit a plateau. We have around 530 resident members. Our attendance is up here and there, but some participation has declined.

Bryan: Our membership is increasing. We just went over 2,200 in the past few months. We have a good number of young people, with about 100 to 150 college students per week. It’s a very transient group, with people coming here to get degrees and then moving on. We also have young couples who are having their first children, so we aren’t primarily the older generation. Our membership is from the cradle to the grave, in terms of age mix.

Ramsey: It’s been staying pretty much the same for the past couple of years, give or take 10 or 20 people. I believe it has a lot to do with this being a downtown church. People are attracted here who want to go to a downtown church, and people who have grown up in this area are attracted here. Any decrease in our membership is usually due to members with a number of years who have died, because of people who have had career changes and move to another town. Our current membership is about 750 to 760.

Yonker: Our ministry is increasing. We have probably 600 to 700 members and average about 300 on Sundays. It’s a primarily white congregation in a mixture of ages, and we have a significant college ministry that meets on Wednesday nights.

Do you have any current programs aimed at drawing in more diverse membership?

Baker: Oh yes. We have a program where a van goes to the inner-city housing complex and picks up children and sometimes parents and guardians to bring them to church. We pick up about 20 to 25 kids a week. We’re about to start a new significant publicity campaign, and we also have efforts under way to increase participation between the First and Second Baptist churches in order to tighten up the ties that bind us. We like a mix; I think it’s good that we all kind of flavor each other.

Bryan: We don’t have any programs; our main focus is to get the people here to go out and invite others, anyone. We welcome diversity; it’s in our minds and hearts, and we like a broad, wonderful mix.

Ramsey: We don’t have any specific programs, but we had a journalism student from the university just finish a capstone study last fall about how we could get our name out into more diverse groups and the public as a whole. The study showed us ways to get our name out but also gave us advertising recommendations and did research on why people had moved from our church to others and from others to ours. It even had research on what aspects of our church really attracted people.

Yonker: We have two associate pastors, both in their early 30s, one a man, the other a woman. Although we have a long tradition of ministering to people of all ages, in recent years we have renewed our emphasis on reaching university and college students in Columbia. In recent years, we have welcomed African-American and (Asian) families into our membership and continue to encourage an atmosphere of acceptance for all people.