Battle Creek, Michigan, was little more than a village of
2,000 persons when James White and his staff moved their publishing work there
in 1855. Friends had built a new publishing house, and the area seemed to be
receptive to Adventism. People had already been baptized as a result of the
first evangelistic tent meeting held the year before by J. N. Loughborough and
M. E. Cornell.
Soon after the Whites arrived, an 18' x 24' meetinghouse
was built to accommodate the fledgling congregation. J. B. Frisbee was the first
pastor.
Before and during the Civil War the people of Battle Creek
championed the cause of justice. They helped hundreds of slaves slip through
the city’s Underground Railroad to freedom. Racial prejudices never existed
in Battle Creek. Native Americans and African-Americans alike were welcome to
the third Adventist meetinghouse built in 1866. Sojourner Truth, the former
slave who had gained national status as a spokesperson for Blacks, women’s rights,
and other issues of the day, moved to Battle Creek and attended this church.
In 1931 the Black members felt they could serve the African-American
community of about 3,000 people better if they formed their own congregation.
James Lewis, a barber at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, led this group.
In 1977 the number of Korean Adventists in Battle Creek
had swelled to 18 families. They too needed their own meeting place to minister
effectively to the Korean community as well as to their own members who didn’t
understand English very well. The Koreans began services in the chapel of the
Tabernacle church.
Most recently the Spanish-speaking people have organized
into a separate church group and meet in the Battle Creek Academy chapel.
While Battle Creek, Michigan, may not have the concentration
of ethnic minorities seen in many of North America’s largest cities, the history
of the Adventist work here testifies to the racial cooperation and harmony among
them.
_________________________
—Mildred Thompson Olson.
