St Joseph Missionary Baptist Church
St Joseph Missionary Baptist Church is a Baptist church located at 500 9th Avenue North in Birmingham's Smithfield neighborhood.
The church was organized on December 21, 1914 as one of six churches affiliated with the Peace Baptist Association. The four original members had left Trinity Baptist Church after the sudden death of pastor J. C. Reed. 21 new members joined the original four during the first services.
The congregation originally occupied a leased frame building on the 500 block of Joseph Street before constructing a new church with a belfry at 700 9th Street North between 1915 and 1917. By 1938 the congregation claimed about 100 active members. A new building was erected in 1958.
St Joseph's was the long-time pulpit of Civil Rights leader Abraham Woods Jr. Under his leadership the church constructed a $300,000 day care adjacent to the church building in 1970. That facility, which has been expanded, is now known as the Abraham L. Woods Jr Daycare & Family Life Center Complex. A new sanctuary building designed by Walter Carlos Anderton was erected in 1979.
Pastors
- B. A. Hawkins, 1915
- S. M. Rucker, 1915
- F. S. Jones, 1938
- Richard Cunningham, 1954
- Abraham Woods Jr, 1967–2008
- Boykin Hunter Jr
References
- Smith, Alpha (c. 1938) "Historical Sketch of St Joseph Baptist Church" typescript, attached to "Works Progress Administration church records survey for St. Joseph Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama" at the Alabama Department of Archives and History
- "From early days blacks bound to the church." (December 19, 1971) The Birmingham News, p. C-70 - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
- Fallin, Wilson (1997) The African American Church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1815-1963: A Shelter in the Storm. Taylor & Francis ISBN 9780815328834
- Bains, David R. (April 20, 2024) "St. Joseph Missionary Baptist Church" Chasing Churches