‘It’s about our faith.’ Why this Fort Worth church champions progressive politics
Organ pipes sing, natural light plays through stained glass windows and hymnals crack open as a choir in royal blue and cream gowns takes their spot at the front of the sanctuary.
It’s 10 minutes before 11 a.m. and Broadway Baptist Church, nestled in the Near Southside at 305 W Broadway Ave. in Fort Worth, is beginning its first service of the year.
Tasked with delivering the sermon is the Rev. Ryon Price, a Lubbock native who has been senior pastor of Broadway Baptist since 2017. He has played a crucial role in the church and its members’ activism on local political and social issues.
“The people who are coming believe in our social vision, and our political engagement from a theological perspective,” Price said.
Broadway Baptist is one of many churches across the county advocating advocate for social justice, from Black churches in Los Angeles to the United Methodist Church’s work on racial justice and climate change.
The church and its justice committee have focused heavily on the Tarrant County jail, including calls for a federal investigation last year and meeting with Sheriff Bill Waybourn in 2022 over their concerns.
One of those people is 68-year-old Katherine Godby of Arlington.
Godby can be found in a pew in the historic church most Sundays and at a seat in county commissioner meetings most Tuesdays.
Oftentimes Godby, joined by others from the 830-member congregation, speaks out against the conditions at the jail, where 60 people have died since 2018.
Godby feels called by her faith to be vocal about community issues.
“It’s really not politics,” she said. “At its most essential level, it’s about our faith. It’s about what we learn from the life of Christ. God is in all of us, God loves each of us, that’s the foundation. There’s also something about having your eyes open to the suffering of others. And a lot of people’s eyes are closed.”
Godby spent 17 years working across Dallas-Fort Worth as an ordained discipleship pastor. After retirement in 2018, she began to attend Broadway Baptist Church with her husband.
A sermon from Price got her to stay.
“Ryan preached a sermon about reducing gun violence. And I thought, ‘wow,’ so I jumped up and joined the church,” Godby said.
Price remembers the sermon too, it came on the heels of the school shooting in Parkland, Flordia, which killed 17.
“I used to joke that I would never preach about guns in Texas until you knew I was leaving a church, “ Price said. “Well, within six months of my term here at church, the shooting in Parkland took place and I realized I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror and not say something.”
Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Price and Broadway Baptist established their justice committee. Godby was selected the chair a role she held for six months.
Three years later, Godby is still appearing to speak out at county commissioners meetings. She and members of other area churches who are known as the justice network have filed records requests and protested conditions at the jail, such as a lack of medical treatment, excessive use of force and negligence by jailers. They often speak out during the public comment portion of the meeting of the County Commissioners Court.
“Our jail is kept in exceptional condition, and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards told us in 2023 that we were one of the cleanest and most well-run big county jails in the state of Texas,” the Tarrant county sheriff’s office said in a statement to the Star-Telegram. “This organization continues to push false narratives that our inmates are mistreated and kept in filthy conditions. That’s simply not the case.”
Still, Price wants his constituents to keep their work up.
“My vision for our work is a matter of empowerment. Of all people,” Price said. “No one pastor can engage all of the very complex issues that are facing our community, and have enough knowledge to make good informed decisions.
“But we have an empowerment of a broad number of people who are using their minds, their feet, all of those things to engage the community. It’s a beautiful thing in my mind, that it’s not about one singular person, but it’s about really the empowerment of a whole community.”
Going into the new year, Price has two key issues on his mind: the election and the carceral system.
“Voting is a critical issue within the life of this county, and the protection of free and fair elections,” Price said. “I think it’s really important for people to go to the polls with a sense of confidence that their vote is one going to be counted, and two, that they’re not going to be intimidated when they go before the ballot. I think that that’s really essential.”
Price also mentioned his concern with the number of inmates at the Tarrant County jail.
“We are growing as a community, but just building more and more jails is not the answer to solving the kinds of problems that we have, “ Price said. “We’ve got to invest in housing, we’ve got to invest in child care, in education, in health care. So maybe those are some of the key issues rather than incarceration....We want to see a permanent reduction in the jail.”
Broadway Baptist’s history
While the church’s location hasn’t changed in 142 years, its ideology has.
Broadway Baptist was formed in 1882 as a Southern Baptist Convention church, at a time when the denomination still had close ties to its foundation in defense of slavery.
“We are still coming to terms with a great deal of our history, our complicity in racism, the fallacy of white supremacy, and have been on a trajectory of a broader social vision and inclusion,” Price said.
In the 1960s Broadway became one of the first Southern Baptist churches to integrate, according to Price. In the early 2000s it would be kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention over its inclusion of LGBTQ members and allowing women to serve.
The church now aligns with multiple denominations, including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Fellowship Southwest, the Alliance of Baptists and the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists.
“I think it was a privilege to not engage political issues amongst southern white churches.,” Price said. “And really, the fact of the matter is, we were complicit in a lot of the sins against our humanity in both the 19th and 20th century. I think we’ve, importantly, decided that this is the work of Christ to engage. What might be called the powers and principalities of this world, the actual issues that harm people.”
The outspoken political and social nature of the church is also appreciated by Jennifer Nelson, director of communications and membership engagement.
“We have a lot of people coming who continue to expel this deep sense of like, relief of, ‘I’m somewhere where I can speak openly, I can love God and be practicing my faith, but also talk about the things I want to I care about.’” Nelson said. “I go to church, and I hear a message that reminds me I do have a voice and I do have some agency, and I can go and vote and use that belief as a moral compass.”
Nelson also believes the history of Christianity in and of itself is political.
“Jesus was born into a political climate and was murdered because of a political climate. We have a history as Christians, we have a story of liberation,” Nelson said. “When you look at Exodus and breaking chains, liberation is the constant story in our faith. And yet, when we question the liberation of our neighbor, who we’re supposed to treat as we would want to be treated, suddenly that’s political.”
At the end of the service, two candles in front of the stage are extinguished by two young boys, known as acolytes, wearing white robes, symbolizing the love of God going out into the world. Price reminds his congregation of that obligation.
“Go be the light to the world,” he says closing out his sermon, as he does every.
After leaving the stage, Price stands in the early afternoon sunlight outside the church’s main doors and wishes his congregants a good week.
Two days later, some of them will be taking their seats at the county commissioners meeting.
