Many churches in Columbia began as integrated congregations and then became separated, but some are now making a circle back to closer ties.

The pastors of the four oldest churches in Columbia – First Baptist, First Presbyterian, Missouri United Methodist and First Christian– all agreed that white churches were generally integrated congregations, even before the Civil War.

But in 1865, the same year the Civil War ended, black members of the white churches began meeting to organize their own churches.

Now, the churches are making efforts to reestablish some of their connections. Two of those churches are First Baptist and Second Baptist. First Baptist is primarily white, and Second Baptist is primarily black, said each church’s pastor.

“You could say there are efforts under way to increase participation between First and Second Baptist,” said the Rev. John Baker of First Baptist. “We want to tighten up some of the ties that bind us.”

The Rev. Clyde Ruffin of Second Baptist said, “We’ve been talking about doing pulpit exchanges, where First Baptist pastor John Baker would come preach here, and I would go there. We’ve also talked about working together on a Palm Sunday celebration, called Blessing of Palms, where the downtown district congregations would come together.”

Missouri United Methodist is also talking about connecting with black Methodist churches.

“Historically, when the Methodist Episcopal church was split over slavery, the AME (African Methodist Episcopal) and CME (Colored Methodist Episcopal) churches split off from the rest. But now there are talks under way to put it all back together,” said the Rev. Jim Bryan of Missouri United Methodist. “We’ve talked about getting back together on the local level, but at the national level, it’s going to take years to work out all the property, financial and administrative issues,“ he said.

The question isn’t just what’s happening to join the churches; it’s also why they are separate.

“My first thought on why the churches are still separate today is the cultural differences,” Bryan said. “African-Americans are welcome in Caucasian churches, and Caucasians are welcome in African-American churches. It’s just that the wonderful exuberance of African-American worship and the formality of Caucasian traditions are markedly different. It’s hard for African-Americans to understand why Caucasian traditions are so controlled, and it’s hard for Caucasians to get up on their feet to clap, dance, sing and shout.”

Ruffin said: “In a racially oppressive society, the African-American church has been the most consistent institution serving as a place of empowerment and validation for our people. Through traditional forms of worship, the church has sustained more recognizable African-based traditions than any other institution. The African-American church is the primary place where racial pride, social and political activism and faith have converged.”

After the Civil War ended, integration wasn’t the issue for African-Americans. “Their desire was to establish a place where they could worship God in their own way,” Ruffin has written on the church’s Web site, 2ndbc.com. Second Baptist has a membership of about 600.

When the war ended, black members of the white Baptist and Methodist Episcopal churches in Columbia began raising funds to build a church to be called the African Union Church, the Columbia Missourian reported in 1986.

However, after buying a lot for the building, the group dissolved when the Methodists withdrew from the arrangement, the Missourian reported.

Not long after, what are known today as St. Paul’s AME and Second Baptist churches were organized. They are still active.

The history of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church is unclear. Two versions have verifiable facts, so those two are considered the most plausible, said J. Noel Heermance, who wrote “The History of St. Paul AME Church, Columbia, MO.”

In the first version, which is most frequently told, St. Paul was organized in 1867 in Sidney Maxfield’s (Maxifee’s) blacksmith shop, said Heermance, quoting “The History of Boone County,” by William Switzler.

On June 10, 1868, a church building was erected, and it was dedicated in 1871, Switzler wrote.

In the second version, black Methodists and Baptists had formed a joint African Union church, but the Baptists became dissatisfied and wanted their money or the church lot, Heermance said. In response, the Methodists “assembled together, raised money, bought another lot and built a church.”

Proof of the second account is easier to obtain and comes in the form of a “Petition of Dennis Lawrence and Others of the ‘St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church,’” Heermance said. He said it's unknown which account came first, or if the Sidney Maxfield version took place at all.

It is also unknown where the name “St. Paul” came from. Although a “St. Paul” engraving is clearly visible on the bell tower of the 1981 church,” legal documents from 1961 say “First African Methodist Episcopal Church,” Heermance said.

Meanwhile, Second Baptist Church was also being organized as Northwestern Baptist church in 1866, with some of the members coming from First Baptist, according to 2ndbc.com and the Missourian.

“Soon after our earliest days, First Baptist had blacks and whites worshipping together in the same church service, both slaves and freed,” said Baker. “After the Civil War ended, a large portion of blacks in the congregation felt spiritually strengthened and liberated, so they gathered together to form Second Baptist with the ‘mother church’s’ blessing.”

In 1870, the Second Baptist group built a one-room building. In 1873, they were assisted by Bonne Femme and First Baptist churches in building a larger church building.

In 1884, construction on the present church began at 407 E. Broadway. It was completed in 1894 when the cornerstone was laid, according to 2ndbc.com.

“The congregations (of First and Second Baptist) have been primarily white and black respectively since the founding members of Second Baptist withdrew from First Baptist immediately following Emancipation to establish their own church,” Ruffin said.

But he said both churches would like this to change. “We’ve been talking about it.”