Chartering of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fort Washington Heights marks Ghanaian immigrants’ 14-year journey
by Jim Nedelka | Special to Presbyterian News Service
The Rev. Dr. Ebeneezer Christian Annor (Photo by Jim Nedelka)
NEW YORK — Shortly after 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 28, a historic transformation occurred inside a historic sanctuary in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights: the Trinity Presbyterian Fellowship was officially chartered as Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fort Washington Heights within the Presbytery of New York City.
The presbytery’s newest congregation, lauded for its fortitude during its 14-year journey as a fellowship largely comprised of people from, or who trace their heritage to, the African nation of Ghana, will continue being ministered to by the Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Christian Annor, now elevated to the position of founding pastor.
The Trinity congregation is already rejuvenating its new home, a sanctuary opened in 1914 for the then-new Fort Washington Presbyterian Church. During the church’s 110 years and counting service to the community, the building became an icon in the surrounding neighborhood, with its members and ministries reflecting the ever-changing demography, changes celebrated by its native son Lin-Manuel Miranda in his musical “In the Heights”:
“In the Heights, I hang my flag up on display
We came to work and to live and we got a lot in common
It reminds me that I came from miles away.”
The most recent iteration was as Iglesia Presbiterana Fort Washington Heights, which expanded the church’s Spanish language-based ministries beginning in 1948.
As a coda to this ministry, the Rev. Miriam Shelton, Iglesia’s final interim pastor, passed the torch — well, actually, the dust bucket and broom. This gift was presented to Shelton on her first day by the neighbors who came to know the pastor who, in the absence of a custodian, handled the janitorial duties of sweeping the generous amount of sidewalk outside the church.
Shelton explained how the neighbors engaged the pastor in conversations of all stripes, often including pleas to “keep the (church) doors open,” a symbolic sign of life in a transitioning neighborhood that frequently saw the downside of life. The request was received, and a promise made became a promise kept: the “Ministry of the Broom,” a unique way to expanded God’s reach.
Lilly Morgan leads the singing of “How Great Thou Art” (Photo by Jim Nedelka)
But on this particular Sunday afternoon in July, the heartbeat of the afternoon festivities was Presbyterian tradition with a hint of an African beat, the celebration kicking into a higher gear when soloist Lilly Morgan, soon to be a member of Trinity’s first-ever Board of Deacons, led the choir, bedecked in robes and mortar boards, plus many others, in a rousing version of “How Great Thou Art.”
In her sermon, the Rev. Dr. Mary Newbern-Williams, Transitional Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of New York City, referenced the third chapter of John in describing Sunday’s event as a prime example of “Jesus enlightening the life of God’s created; it is about Jesus revealing himself. This passage is about all of us — about Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fort Washington Heights. It is about lifting You up.”
The Rev. Dr. Mary Newbern-Williams (Photo by Jim Nedelka)
While acknowledging John 3:16 as “the key verse here, and so many of us learned this verse from before birth,” Newbern-Williams invited the assembled to join in raising up the words, “some of you may have learned John 3:16 from the old King James Version,” then called back to John 12:32 and John 3:14-15 to complete the connection of “being lifted up.”
Newbern-Williams continued, “Today, we lift up God’s grace and love in the chartering of a faithful congregation to God’s plan for ministry. Today, we lift up God in Christ Jesus and the congregation that has never given up, never let go, never forsaken the journey. We celebrate the next steps on the journey with Trinity Presbyterian Church Fort Washington Heights this day. Ultimately, we celebrate who Jesus is and how God in Jesus Chris is at work in the world and in our presbytery.”
“By doing all we do in the name of Jesus the Christ,” she concluded, “(we) show the world what it means to lift up the love and justice of God in Jesus Christ. Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fort Washington Heights, we lift you up in the Name of Jesus Christ — we lift up Jesus Christ. Believe in the gospel and be at peace!”
For many in attendance, the laying on of hands was the emotional highpoint of Sunday’s service. (Photo by Jim Nedelka)
The presbytery’s moderator, Selma Jackson, gathered the congregation’s initial set of ruling elders and deacons, along with its first pastor, to renew their baptism vows, followed by the laying on of hands by the ministers, ruling elders and deacons in attendance.
Finally, the end to 14 years of waiting, praying and gearing up to smile, to shed tears of joy and — yes — make that biblical joyful noise to the Lord had arrived! Symbolically seated with his family among his congregants, Annor, dressed in a brilliant green robe with black doctoral chevrons, climbed up from the pews into the chancel, where he was met by the Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong-Manso. The two men embraced and then, wearing a smile of his own, the presbytery’s representative from the Chartering Administration Commission presented the framed charter proclaiming the church as “Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fort Washington Heights.”
Jim Nedelka, a member and ruling elder at avenue church nyc in Manhattan, has contributed to Presbyterian News Service since 2008. His career honors include an Associated Church Press award, a duPont- Columbia University Silver award, and a George F. Peabody award.
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