By Special to the Daily World
Historic Friendship Baptist Church of Atlanta is celebrating its 150th anniversary, marking it as the oldest Black Baptist congregation in the city. Friendship’s story began in 1862, as the Civil War erupted throughout Atlanta and the South, when a group of 25 African Americans under the leadership of the founding pastor, the Rev. Frank Quarles, sought to organize their own church. To them belong the honor of launching the momentous steps toward 150 years of continuous Christian ministry and mission in the city of Atlanta and beyond. Activities associated with this sesquicentennial event have begun and will continue throughout the month of April.
Opening the monthlong events will be the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on Saturday, March 31. The speaker for this occasion will be the Very Rev. Robert C. Wright, the 10th Rector of historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Southwest Atlanta, the oldest Black Episcopal Church in the state of Georgia. He formerly served at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City where he was Canon Pastor and Vicar. Wright has also worked for the Children’s Defense Fund and for two mayors of Washington, D.C., as a child advocate. He is a graduate of Howard University, where he received a degree in U. S. history and political science, and has matriculated at Virginia Theological Seminary, Cambridge University and the Harvard Summer Leadership Institute.
The public is invited to attend the Prayer Breakfast, which will begin at 9 a.m. in Pastors Memorial Fellowship Hall. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children under 12.
The church is located at 437 Mitchell St., S.W., Atlanta. The Rev. Dr. Timothy Tee Boddie is pastor.
For more information, contact the church at 404-688-0206 or visit the website at
www.fbcatlanta.org.
About Post Author
