Tennessee church, denomination receive grants for historically Black church preservation

A newer grant program aimed at preserving historically Black congregations is supporting an effort to restore an East Tennessee church and a Nashville-based denomination’s conservation plan for dozens of churches.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund announced on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that The House of God Church, a Pentecostal denomination headquartered in Nashville, and a nonprofit in Rutledge, Tennessee managing restoration for Henderson Chapel AME Zion Church were among 31 total recipients across the U.S.

“The heart of our spiritual world is the Black church,” historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., an adviser to the fund, said in a news release. “These places of worship, these sacred cultural centers, must exist for future generations to understand who we were as a people.”

Out of $4 million total, the 31 recipients received funding ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 for everything from capital projects and maintenance to project planning and oversight. This year was the action fund’s second-ever round following its launch in 2017 and first round of grant awards last year to 35 recipients, among them The Lighthouse at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee.

This year, the action fund’s “organizational capacity” grant to The House of God Church will benefit a five-year strategic plan to conserve nearly 80 congregations affiliated with the denomination. The denomination says it’s affiliated with more than 100 locations, mostly in the U.S. The action fund’s grant to The House of God Church will support a staff position to oversee that strategy.

Founded by Mother Mary Magdalena Tate in 1903, The House of God Church is both a Holiness church — referring to the religious movement inspired by John Wesley and other figures who taught on the importance of sanctification, which led to the formation of dozens of denominations — and charismatic, a term that often refers to the belief in literal manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

The grant for Henderson Chapel AME Zion Church in Rutledge will go toward an architecture assessment and a plan to restore the church’s building. “The church served as a center of cultural activity throughout the Jim Crow era as the site of lectures, community picnics, and other social activities,” said the action fund in a news release. The 134-year-old building is currently unusable due to structural issues.

“We created the Preserving Black Churches program to ensure the historic Black church’s legacy is told and secured,” said Brent Leggs, the action fund’s executive director, in a news release. “That these cultural assets can continue to foster community resilience and drive meaningful change in our society.”

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on social media @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee groups get grants to preserve historically Black churches