Sent by FAX

Date: August 14, 1996
To; Rita Dixon
From: John M. Buchanan

Subject: Reflections on visits to burned churches by
representatives of the PC(USA) -- for the
Racial Ethnic Porch.
On July 17, 1996, Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General
Assembly, Curtis Kearns, Director, Division of National Ministries,
Pamela Worthy, Administrative Assistant in the Division of National
Ministries, and I were greeted in the Charlotte, North Carolina
airport by James Thomas, associate Executive of the Presbytery of
Charlotte and traveled by van to the Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian
Church, one of the church buildings recently destroyed in the
series of church burnings.

Matthews-Murkland is a union of two congregations. At the time of
the reunion, a new functional yellow brick building was built for
the new congregation on the site of the old Murkland Church. The
older sanctuary was retained for use by the congregation and it is
the one that was burned. The Reverend Larry Hill met us at the
site which is now a sad pile of charred timber. He showed us a
picture of the building before the tragedy: a striking, handsome,
white clapboard edifice with painted wood trim, a very peautiful
church. The site is handsome and striking as well. The church
stood on the knoll of a hill visible by automobile from both
directions. The neighborhood itself is unique: African-American
farm country until suburban Charlotte pushed its way out and the
regidents away. it is now a suburb of Charlotte.

Larry Hill escorted us into the building where we met with four of
the members of his congregation. After showing us pictures and
telling us about the older pbuilding, Hill described the fire itself
and the amazing response of neighbors. People began immediately to
come to the site, expressing grief and anger. White neighbors
walked around the burned-out building, some weeping, several
writing checks immediately for the rebuilding of the church. In
addition, the congregation began to hear from people from all over
the country. Larry told us about how the fire has brought the
white and black communities together as nothing has in recent
memory. The local Roman Catholic priest, local rabbi and several
pastors of white churches have indicated their interest in
establishing a relationship with the congregation. One Board of
Deacons committed itself to worshipping with the congregation on a
regular basis. One couple flew all the way from Germany,
remembering a time in German history when places of worship were
destroyed and burned, to express solidarity with the congregation.

The congregation of Matthews-Murkland is now discussing how to
proceed. They are not certain they wish to replicate the old
building but have a sense that God may be calling them to do
something new and of service ta the neighborhood. Their spirit is
high and full of hope and even has a wonderful sense of humor.
Larry and his members told us that at a recent meeting of the
Evangelism Committee, someone suggested that the congregation
should try to establish a higher profile in the neighborhood.
"Apparently we have achieved that objective," he said, and we all
laughed. Perhaps Presbyterian energy and generosity might resource
a project to reflect the church's concern for racial justice and
racial healing.

We walked around the burned remains one more time and asked Larry
and his members to keep some of the burned wood for future use and
they agreed.

Later we visited Memorial Presbyterian Church, Ed Newberry, Pastor,
for a meeting of people from Charlotte Presbytery. The Clerk and
I brought greetings from the General Assembly and we heard about
efforts in the presbytery to further the cause of healing and
reconciliation.

In Birmingham we were met by Eugenia Gamble, Associate Executive of
the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley, who escorted us to
Begsimer, Alabama, for a meeting of the presbytery. We arrived
just in time for a great lunch and a warm and enthusiastic
reception.

Bugenia escorted us south of Birmingham to Greene County, site of
three recent church burnings. Our first stop was at the Greene
County Courthouse where we were met by the Chair of the County
Commission who introduced us to other commissioners and county
officials. We were joined by pastors of the three churches: the
Reverend Levi Pickens, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, the Reverend
Woodson Lewis, Little Zion Baptist Church, and the Reverend Arthur
Coleman, Mt. Zoar Baptist Church. Reverend Lewis, who is 92 years
old and still an active farmer, and who was quoted recently in The
New York Times, saying, “When they're burning down churches,
they‘re messin’ with the wrong man," told us that he has not missed
preaching on a Sunday for 79 years. Also present at the meeting
were the coordinator of the Mennonite volunteer project and his
counterpart from the Quakers. To our delight, we were joined also
by three Presbyterian clergy from the San Francisco area who were
leading a volunteer group to work on the building project. The
Reverend Frank Jackson, Faith Presbyterian Church, Oakland, the
Reverend Chandler Stokes, First Presbyterian Church, San Anselme,
and the Reverend Vincent Mok, Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church.
They seemed to be as happy to see us as we were to see them.

The county commissioners told us about the situation and how the
county was responding in terms of police investigation, and also
the rebuilding of the churches and the general spirit of the
community. The sense of it was that the whole county, black and
white, knows how important this event is in the life of the
community -

The volunteer coordinator spoke movingly about how the fires have
stimulated a very different mentality in an area that was hostile
to civil rights efforts two decades ago.

We traveled to the church sites and observed the Mennonites in
action, meeting their volunteers from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and
other congregations. The Quakers, on the other hand, accept
volunteers from ecumenical partners and service clubs. The new
churches which are about 75% complete are neat, including
sanctuary, baptismal font, small social hall/dining room, with
several small Sunday school rooms and an office. When this process
is completed, the congregations wiil have functional new buildings
and a new vision for ministry and for their own future.

My sense is that all around this project there is energy building
for some larger and deeper response to the racism and racial
violence which has erupted in our culture. The dream of all of us
is to help build a culture in which this sort of thing is
unthinkable in the future and the daring to hope fora Presbyterian
initiative on racism and reconciliation which might emerge from
this tragedy.