(gentle music) NARRATOR: Four churches, uniquely designed and structured with their own theologies and histories, but united in their efforts to minister and support their communities.

Their stories coming up on a special edition of, "Artico."

(upbeat music) The black church in America, a bedrock of African-American survival, grace, resistance and resilience.

A recent documentary trace the 400 year history of this amazing institution.

It's called, The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song.

To compliment this wonderful documentary, "Artico," is departing from its usual art segment format to spotlight four churches in the DMV.

Trinity AME Zion, The African Baptistry Church, St. Augustine's Catholic Church and the City of Praise.

Trinity AME Zion Church is located on 16th street in Northwest, Washington DC.

Trinity has a thriving arts ministry and an enduring legacy of activism and community outreach.

(mumbles) Trinity AME Zion Church was established in 1887.

We had three locations prior to coming to 16th Street.

We were initially formed over what is now Sherman Avenue, the church is still there.

It built a church or moved into a church on Morton street.

If you go back to 777 Morton Street, the placard on the front, you will see where it says Trinity AME Zion Church.

We moved to this location at 3505 in 1983.

The building was built by Howard L. Chaney, he was out of Chicago.

This building was built in 1927, in a Greco Roman classical style like many of the monuments in the city actually.

And you'll see their columns on outside of the church, on the front and on both sides.

The windows are big, litted windows and that lets in lots of light.

Very intentional building.

You look at the skylight in the middle, and that was a pretty much staple for the architect, Howard.

You look at many of his buildings that he built in Chicago, here in DC, typically have a skylight in the middle, very detailed, very intentional and methodical.

So it reflects the building in the city during that time period.

Trinity's involvement with the Civil Rights Movement has always been since this inception.

I mean, we're part of the AME Zion church.

So we're known as the Freedom Church established in 1796.

So we have a history of having members like Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass.

Our local congregation we've had history.

Some of the members in the history have been Tuskegee Airmen.

Looking back at the history when they were initiating the headstart programs in the country, Trinity was one of those initial pilots for that program.

We had headstart nursery here for many, many years at the old church on Park Road, right up until they came here in the 80's in 1983.

So, the church had had history of being involved with former first ladies coming to the church, checking out the program.

We've had a history of having music teachers here at the church, that were teachers that at Howard, they're teachers in the high school and middle school.

And those gifts were implemented here at the church.

So Trinity is very rich with talented musicians and also singers.

And so it is good to be in a church that values music on every aspect, from traditional to the contemporary worship.

While we were a congregation that really valued personal physical fellowship, the hearing of the singing for worship we've all had to deal with transitioning.

As we transitioned to virtual worship the music was the hardest aspect to integrate into the worship experience.

Because with COVID, you know, you had the idea of not singing so that particles aren't in the air.

So we've tried to be intentional on incorporating worship whether we have a vocalist singing that morning with the musician behind them to keep the least live aspect of worship without it being unsafe for people.

So that's how we've done it so far.

We're still tweaking that to figure out when we do come back because we do value music.

♪ My soul says yes ♪ ♪ Says yes ♪ ♪ Says yes ♪ ♪ My soul says yes ♪ ♪ Says yes to me ♪ What we've done with this new wave of racism that has been revealed in the country, the way at church do that is we model ministry and we put it into practice.

We cannot lead a place we haven't been.

So, in the middle of COVID while we had the pandemic, what happened with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, it took more than being in the pulpit to preach, to teach just standing there but young adults, youth, those who are out there needed to see ministry in action.

And so I was one of those with several of my pastor or colleagues, enough was enough.

So we just as safe as possible.

We double masked, we took care of all precautious we needed, and we just went out there in the street.

You really can't leave, like I said before, where you haven't been.

So I think we're in a society now, we're in the day whereas need by action.

We actually have to get out there and demonstrate the principles of Christ, not just preach about it and talk about it.

NARRATOR: St. Augustine Catholic church was started to give emancipated black Catholics, a place to worship.

Crafted in stone with two Gothic spires, this elegant structure is located at 14th and V Street, Northwest Washington, DC St. Augustine has actually been around since 1858.

So I think it's around 167 years approximately.

And I've been here.

I came here in actually 2004.

So for 16 and a half years, I've been here.

I was ordained in 1990, So I've been a priest for 30 and a half years.

And this is actually my fourth parish.

My third is pastor.

You know, black Catholic community in DC, actually, before we even having our own church, we're in the basement of St. Matthew's, here just now St. Matthew's cathedral.

But they really worship there in a basement and longing for one day being able to build their own church.

They had called that space Blessed Martins chapel.

So we in our church and we have a statue of Martin de Porres, St. Martin de Porres.

Well, just as a sort of a Catholic thing, that churches were named after saints, so he wasn't yet declared a full saint.

And so when they built St. Augustine they said, we have had to find a name, they couldn't use Blessed Martin de Porres.

So they said, well, what other saint to go with?

And so they decided to one of the most popular well-known saints, really in the Catholic church, but also one that was simply born in North Africa, was Augustine.

And so they settled with naming the church St. Augustine Catholic church.

1946, the original church was torn down.

And for about 15 years, the community worshiped in the auditorium of the school.

And the school is, I guess is also on 15th street.

But after the 15 years the Archbishop of Washington had the community of St. Augustine merge, with half the community of St. Paul's.

And St. Paul's church is actually this building on 15th of V street.

And so, the building was renamed St. Paul and Augustine church.

But as we know that in the 60's, and then you know, (mumbles), eventually the st. Paul community was mostly German heritage, you know, white and eventually the whole community, you know, the white Catholic community had left.

And so in the 1980s, this community had the leaders petition the Archbishop to rename this church back to St. Augustine, that's St. Paul and Augustine.

And a very practical little story of how that happened, one of the seniors in the church was noticing the children at the school, the St. Paul and Augustine school, one day after school, walking down the sidewalk, and she asked him, what church do you go?

What's the name of your school?

And they all kept saying St. Paul's, St. Paul's, St. Paul's.

We naturally abbreviate it, so the St. Paul and Augustine school.

And she realized we're gonna loose our history.

You know, we were St. Augustine.

And so that's when the community petitioned 1981 or 82, the commission the Archbishop requested that the church of St. Paul and Augustine, be renamed to St. Augustine Catholic church, since really the St. Augustine community was the only community left in the church.

Typically stained glass windows what they do, is they represent usually maybe biblical stories or sometimes saints, you know.

An idea that, commemoration of saints it's like, if you go into a sports arena, think of, you know, Boston gardens or something, you know, it's always these retired jerseys.

An idea, well what's that for?

It's like they say, these were not just the best of the best of the best.

So the ones that really stood out.

So if you want to aspire to be a basketball player, it's like look at these people.

And so the same idea of saying, we don't have jerseys we have stained glass windows.

You know, they say that they have many Christians but these folks were outstanding.

So if you want to aspire to be a great disciple of Jesus, then here's some role models for you.

So one of the things that when St. Augustine community, this church was renamed St. Augustine, there was one particular window that was changed, that was replaced.

And it's an African image of Augustine and Monica, you know, that particularly stands out.

And so, that was really as a way of just really honoring our patron Augustine, but also just our black and African heritage.

You know, the word Catholic means universal.

However, you know, just historically particularly in the United States.

So often, you know race and with the reality of racism segregation, if you go into front pews and the first pew, you'll notice it's not as comfortable as the rest of the pews in the church.

And the reason is, when this church was the St Paul's, blacks, if they came to church they had to sit in the back.

Well, once the St. Augustine took over this particular church we took the last pews and put them in the front.

Jesus said, the first will be last and last should be first.

And so, that sort of segregated seating.

You know, lunch counters, Catholic church, it was really being that again that thermometer just reflecting him.

He said, "No, the church is called to set a standard."

And so we said that Jesus said last will be first, and so those back pews became the front pews, and which they are today.

This particularly area, you know, being off of V street, we know the Black Panthers were operated in much of this area.

You know, the (mumbles) were poor blacks, and certain points in the '60s, actually some of the Black Panthers actually, were guest lecturers in our school.

You know, really our school began in 1858, just on a house that eventually expanded.

So before we built the church, we said, we got to build a school.

First priority is educate our children.

Today, they've been so many different things happening besides racial unrest and really call for justice, the protests, COVID, you know, just Spanish pandemic for the first time in our lifetime.

And the world has profoundly changed.

Now, as a Christian our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ as Christ and Savior.

We all need a foundation.

You know, Jesus talked about building a house on a rock versus building a house on sand.

And sand can mean anything from, all the things I count on, my hopes and dreams, other people, institutions.

I mean, I think part of what we experience is that just the lack of trust in institutions.

And honestly that includes the church.

You know, whether it be church leaders, political leaders, politicians, Congress, I mean there's been, I think, a real loss of faith in institutions and in people.

So, but in a time of instability, I mean, as a person of faith, the message doesn't change the sense of like, that you need to be grounded.

And if this is where your faith counts.

NARRATOR: Now we take a look at the City of Praise, located in Landover, Maryland.

Built in 1997, on 150 acres of land, the City of Praise has become one of the most recognized ministries in the DMV.

This thriving church has a 10,000 seat sanctuary, multiple centers to serve its diverse congregation, and an active arts ministry.

The ministry started as Jericho Baptist church in a little teeny building in Washington, DC.

Actually, they called it the Odd Fellows Hall, it was on New Jersey Avenue.

Bishop James, pastor Betty Pebbles, my mum with my daddy tremendous ministry gifts had a heart for mission.

And it started out like a little gospel choir.

It was called 'The Peebles Gospel Choir'.

And they would go out through the city singing, and it was actually a really, really dynamic time.

They had a heart in church.

So my father in 1964, used his VA loan to start a little teeny building, little teeny ministry.

It was a little teeny center block building, in Northeast Washington, DC.

4,419 Douglas Street, Northeast Washington, DC.

It was so small that the choir would literally sing, and then after they sing, they'd have to go outside and listen to the message through the windows.

But something magnificent started happening.

They started sharing their heart, teaching the word, and people started coming from everywhere in the community.

So that little teeny center block building, that was built in '69 and that expanded in '77, they built another thousand seats onto that beautiful facility.

And they started busting out of the scenes.

YLAWNDA: Yeah.

It was a season where the word of God, people had a premium understanding of the critical need of the word of God.

YLAWNDA: Absolutely, they were hungry.

JOEL: They were hungry for it.

And people came from everywhere to receive the word of God.

During the late '80s, my brother Jamie, incredible ministry gift.

He would preach at 8:00 a.m. service.

My mother and father, Bishop James, Apostle Betty Peebles, they would appreciate 11 o'clock service.

My brother John was a minister of music, one of the most talented people I've ever known in my life.

YLAWNDA: Unequivocally.

Our family was connected to all these incredible families within the community.

It wasn't just the Peebles family.

The Peebles family may have been a core group there, but it was all these incredible rich families that grew together, whose children grew up together, And while it was in the hundreds and then mushroom to the thousands and now the tens of thousands, it was always at its core.

It was always family.

There've been a lot of renovations.

We were very intentional in ensuring the things that my mother-in-law wanted and that were important to her heart remained.

In the '80s the glass mirrors were a beautiful thing, but that meant something to her.

These chandelier's meant something to her.

JOEL: Right.

But then we still have to move on on the same token.

So we used to have what we call a choir room, (laughs), where the choir room would go and have a morning rehearsal.

We completely renovated that room and changed the name to the Agape hall, which is the God kind of love.

And it is where we allow the church family to come in in the morning before service and have a full breakfast.

We renovated our chapel, so that when individuals want to have weddings it's more befitting for a beautiful wedding for God's people.

We've done a lot of renovations in the church to bring us up to this 21st century.

So it is not to make our church theatrical in any terms, it's for the visual learners so that they too can grab hold of God's word.

We have the kinesthetic learners, the visual learners and the auditory learners.

So we have these amazing screens that allow you to see the word, right?

We've invested in lighting, and all the things that God's children are supposed to enjoy.

♪ These are (mumbles) every time, next to you.

♪ ♪ Don't give up on God ♪ ♪ Don't give up God ♪ ♪ 'Cause he won't give up on you ♪ ♪ 'Cause he won't give up on you ♪ ♪ And He's able ♪ ♪ He's able ♪ One of the things that we're really really excited about, is we have just some dynamic young and older worshipers.

While the worship is progressive, we also can go back to some of our older songs too.

I think it's well-rounded and it's powerful.

When you come in, you'll go from elation and excitement and moving in the spirit, and then you'll go into a place of worship where it's solemn, and we believe in being excellent.

NARRATOR: The Alfred Street Baptist church, traces its roots to the early 1800's, the period when Thomas Jefferson was this country's third president.

This beautiful mid 19th century revival can be found at 313 South Alfred Street, Alexandria, Virginia.

And is on the US National Register of historic places.

We're in the midst of a church that is about 218 years old.

Alfred Street Baptist church has existed for all but two presidents of the United States of America.

Like most black Baptists with a history like that, we started as a slave population within a local white congregation and we were granted privilege to worship on our own.

At which point we left from body, worshiping various places, and then purchased this property right before the civil war.

So from the antebellum period to now, Alfred Street Baptist church has existed on this property at 218 years of age.

We're probably the sixth oldest, independent black Baptist church in the nation.

You have to remember black people were very limited and restricted to where they could go and what they could do in society.

And so the church became that independent autonomous space, where not only was identity formed, education was prioritized, most of our businesses were birthed out of the churches.

It's where they had their social interaction.

It's where a woman who may have been a slave or maid walked in the doors of the church and she was a mother of a church.

Her title was elevated.

And so black church really performed a very valuable function for blacks.

And I would say Alfred Street did the exact same thing, right here in this local Alexandria area.

Provided that space and opportunity, for blacks to worship independently and to form their own sense of identity which would then of course, lead them to the engagement of everything that happened in black life, from civil rights, even right now through today and the issues that we face.

The building we're in today was actually, three buildings that have merged into one.

The first building was constructed on this site back in 1855, before the civil war.

We commonly refer to that as the old or the first church.

Today, we use that for our chapel, our choir room, and some Sunday school classrooms as well.

The new church was constructed on the adjoining property back in 1980.

We modeled the old church that had been left boarded up and added a connected building.

And by the judicious use of the architecture, the three buildings appear as one integrated structure right now.

The different features such as the all glass exterior or the connector was included by architects to connect kind of an 1855 style with a 1980 building.

I really think the architecture displays the worship at Alfred Street, it is traditional, but also modern.

It is contemporary, but also vested.

You hear it in our music, you see it in our building.

That we are a church that embraces our heritage, but at the same time is open to innovation as a (mumbles) leaders.

So there've been some renovations to this building.

The late 1880s, the major innovation took place that added a basement and a baptismal and an Oregon chamber.

And these were done to position the church to host the American Baptist mission society, when it came to visit us in 1883 in 1884.

Well, our form of mission is to build disciples and win the world for Jesus Christ.

Now, clearly the strategy that that takes place is in various 80 plus ministries here in the church.

We like to believe that we're more than just membership, we're about relationship.

Our mission work, we believe that the greatest way to express our faith in Christ is by serving those outside of our church doors.

We believe in social justice.

That this church is not a place where we stick our head in the sand, but we acknowledge the harsh racial realities and injustices that our people still face, and we want to address those.

We believe in raising a generation of young people who are educated both in mind and in spirit, who know love and serve Jesus Christ.

And then finally, we're about relationship.

That the heart of the church is not simply whether you're a formal member or how much you give or what you're connected to, but rather that you're connected to people.

That there are people who care about you.

So one of the slogans we have at Alfred Street, is that this is the biggest little church you will ever attend.

Although we may be large in number, we want to operate as if we're small, as if we're a family church.

Kind of using the slogan to cheer us, come to a place where everybody knows your name.

Alfred Street Baptist church like many black Baptist churches, was actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement and in the calls for justice all around the nation, even contemporary.

As we do with like George Floyd's murder, as we do like Mike Browns.

The church became not only a place of inspiration and hope, but a place of prayer and a place of gathering as the community decided how they're going to respond to civic issues.

I think one of the things that makes Alfred street Baptist church unique, is that we do traditional church the right way.

So you'll hear a variety of musical genres.

You'll see the choir, you'll hear the pipe organ, but it's done the right way.

So it's not 20 senior citizens singing you know, "How Great Thou Art," it's 300 voices singing, "Come Down Fount of Every Blessing" with a pipe organ.

So we provide that space.

We're looking forward to welcoming people back to this building while at the same time, we still continue to reach to the end of the world wide web.

NARRATOR: For many, the church, like art, inspires, uplifts, comforts, even entertains us as we grapple with life's challenges.

We hope you've enjoyed this special edition of "Artico."

To find out more about our show, visit our website at whut.org/artico, and always remember to follow your art.

♪ Oh, his name is ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, that's his name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, how precious ♪ ♪ Oh, how precious.

♪ ♪ Now, come on, put your hands together.

♪ ♪ In his name ♪ ♪ In his name ♪ ♪ Oh, how precious ♪ ♪ Oh, how precious is the name ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Of Jesus ♪ ♪ And can I get a witness every time ♪ ♪ Every time ♪ ♪ Oh, how precious is the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ (indistinct) every time.

♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ In the name of, Jesus ♪ ♪ Tremble at the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ (indistinct) ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ There's power in the name ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ There's power in the name ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Power in the name ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ There's power, oh ♪ ♪ (indistinct) ♪