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Ministry Highlights
African American Churches
Each of the merged congregations of St. Philip & St. Thomas has a unique place in the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota. St. Philip and St. Thomas have long histories (more than 100 years each) of serving the African American communities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. They share many similarities in history and parallel development of their ministries. Each began as a subset of another Episcopal church to serve “colored” Anglicans. Saint Philip began as a part of Saint Mark’s, calling themselves Saint Mark’s Guild (1888) before officially separating and becoming Saint Philip Mission (1895). At about the same time (1899) Saint Thomas became a mission of Gethsemane Church. Both were able to secure meeting space, begin their ministries and expand their congregations.
Then, as now, African American priests were in short supply. Therefore, in the early years (beginning sometime after 1905 and continuing until about 1934) the congregations shared a priest. The Reverend Alfred Lealtad conducted services at Saint Philip on Sunday morning and at Saint Thomas on Sunday afternoon. It is said that he rode the streetcar between Saint Paul and Minneapolis each Sunday. Following his departure, The Reverend Edward James became the priest at Saint Philip. Saint Thomas was served by The Reverend Ed James. It is very likely that this was also a shared priest as the names are so close and it would be unlikely to have two Episcopal priests with this name serving the Twin Cities at the same time. (Each history mentions that he stayed only a few years.)
Both parishes secured long serving priests about the same time. These priests brought needed stability. The Reverend Louis Johnson served St. Thomas from1947 to 1975 and The Reverend Denzil Carty served Saint Philip from 1950 to 1975. Both were devoted to their parishes and under their leadership membership grew. During their tenure each parish left mission status, each parish built a new church and both parishes were active in the local civil rights movements to secure rights and improve job opportunities for African Americans in the Twin Cities.
In recent years each parish has continued under the leadership of a succession of parish priests, interims, supply priests and dedicated lay leaders and members. Due to membership decline and in order to respond to the rapidly changing demography and missional changes and challenges of the modern world, in 2006, the parishes began new shared ministry initiatives. On January 27, 2008, a merger decision was reached, church buildings subsequently sold, Articles of Incorporation filed, and now is one church called the St. Philip & St. Thomas Episcopal Church. Currently, we are worshiping at the Epiphany Episcopal Church in St. Paul.
Throughout their many years of existence, Saint Philip’s and Saint Thomas have had shared family ties, members, and activities. Although both parishes were started to serve the needs of African Americans in the twin cities, their missional focus re-shifted over the years and both are now multicultural congregations serving the entire metropolitan and welcoming to all.
