History
Shortly after the turn of the century, Reverend Dr. Charles Satchell Morris – who in later years became a missionary to South Africa – succeeded Robert Wynn as Abyssinian’s minister. From 1902 until his health failed in May 1908, Morris led in a manner his successor called “brilliant.” The Waverly Place church was sold and the income was used to begin purchasing both a church and an apartment house on 40th Street. When illness interfered with his administration and ministry, Dr. Morris relinquished the pastorate. Nonetheless, Abyssinians could look back on 100 years and see that the few had become many, and God had indeed prospered their affairs.
The reputation of the Black Baptist church known as Abyssinian had become familiar to African-Americans and Baptists, not only in New York, but also in neighboring states. Clergymen of considerable ability and renown undoubtedly viewed the vacancy at Abyssinian as an opportunity for important service. On December 30, 1908, God brought together Abyssinian and Reverend Dr. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. (1865-1953), “a young gospel giant” from Immanuel Baptist Church in New Haven, Connecticut. The calling of Powell to Abyssinian’s pastorate ushered in a new era in the church’s history. As he recalled in 1928, Powell, Sr., became “heir to the financial, moral and spiritual progress made by Abyssinian for 100 years under the leadership of sixteen noble ministers (pastors and assistants) of God.”
Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. devoted the first 12 years of his pastorate to the spiritual development and reorganization of the church, but the minister-administrator was also a man of vision who astutely preached about and promoted the idea of a model church in Harlem. By spring 1920, Abyssinian had purchased lots on 138th Street between Lenox and Seventh Avenues. In summer of that year, at the close of an evangelistic meeting, the church initiated a tithing campaign through which eventually 3,000 members pledged to give one-tenth of their weekly income. The loyalty of 95% of these members made possible the ground breaking for construction of the present Abyssinian edifice on April 9, 1922. After only fourteen months, a church and community house that cost $334,888.86 was built and furnished by Abyssinians.
