by Thomas Ray
America’s Oldest African American Church Baptist History T he founding of the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia, in 1788, is a story stranger than fiction. George Liele, the famous black preacher and missionary to Jamaica, had managed to gather a small group of converted slaves in the Savannah area. When Liele departed to Jamaica in 1783, he left his little congregation under the care of one of his converts, Andrew Bryan. Bryan’s owner was in sympathy with his ministry and allowed him to build a small house of worship on his property.
However, there were certain white people in Savannah who, fearing the preaching of the gospel would lead to an uprising, were opposed to the assembling of black people without the presence of a white person. Their hostility to Bryan and his congregation resulted in many members being inhumanely beaten, whipped, and imprisoned. Andrew Bryan and his brother, Sampson, a deacon, were so cruelly cut and their backs so lacerated that their blood ran down. Andrew lifted up his hands to heaven and declared to his persecutors that he rejoiced not only to be whipped, but also to freely suffer death for the cause of Jesus Christ.
Several sympathetic whites informed Bryan that if he could persuade a white Baptist minister to officially organize his church and ordain him to the Baptist ministry, it would help legitimatize him and his church. Bryan enlisted the assistance of his fellow black preacher, Jessie Peter, who explained to Abraham Marshall that blacks in Savannah were suffering for their faith. Marshall, a renowned evangelist and pastor, was always fearless in his Master’s cause. Not fearing the wrath of man, he traveled by horseback 165 miles from Kiokee, Georgia, to Savannah and met with Andrew Bryan.
After examining the candidates, and assisted by Jessie Peter, he baptized 45 persons of color and formed them and others previously baptized into a church, with the newly ordained Andrew Bryan as their pastor. Marshall gave the church two certificates. The first certificate constituted the little plantation mission as an official Christian church and the second was the ordination of Andrew Bryan as a minister of the gospel. This remarkable event was made even more remarkable by the fact that Andrew Bryan was between 65 and 70 years of age at the time of his ordination.
In 1790, Bryan was able to purchase his freedom and eventually purchase the freedom of his wife and only daughter. The same year, Andrew also purchased property in Savannah and, through the sacrificial efforts of these humble Baptist slaves, they erected a meetinghouse.
Beginning with 67 members in 1788, the church increased to 250 by 1790, and by the year 1800, the church could boast over 800 members. The growth of this slave church is phenomenal. However, when you consider that all the church members, including the pastor and deacons, were required to have written permission in order to attend the church services, their growth was truly miraculous.
Bryan’s personal evangelism and the training of co-laborers to minister to the slaves’ spiritual needs on their particular plantation was the primary reason for the church’s growth. Bryan’s faithfulness and Christian character gained him the support of many who had been violently opposed to his ministry. In 1800, Bryan wrote Dr. John Rippon, “We enjoy the rights of conscience to a valuable extent, worshipping in our families and preaching three times every Lord’s Day, baptizing frequently from 10 to 20 at a time in the Savannah (River), and administering the sacred Supper, not only without molestation, but in the presence, and with the approbation and encouragement of many of the white people.”
On October 1, 1812, around 90 plus years of age, this grand old champion of the faith rested from his labors. It is estimated that over 5,000 attended his funeral.