I grew up in the Lutheran church. I could see the church that we attended from my bedroom window and it was pretty much the case that whenever the church building was open for an event some if not all of my family would be there. I stayed in that congregation for my entire childhood before moving on to a new congregation that I attended in college and then to a Lutheran seminary. And yet in spite of all of that time in Lutheran circles, it was only a few years ago that I first learned the story of Jehu Jones, the first African American Lutheran pastor.
Rev. Jehu Jones was born to parents who were held in slavery on September 4th, 1786. When Jehu's parents were freed from slavery in 1798, Jehu Sr. applied his skills as a tailor and then built a business as an innkeeper in Charleston, South Carolina. When the local Lutheran church, St. John's desegregated, the Jones family was among the first to integrate the sanctuary. Soon after, the pastor there sensed a call on Jehu Jr's life and sent him to New York where he received training and was ordained to be a missionary to Liberia. His charge was to preach the gospel to freed enslaved people who had returned to that nation. He headed back to Charleston to meet up with others who were about to travel to Liberia by boat, but he was arrested by local officials and told that he could either remain in prison indefinitely or be effectively exiled from South Carolina. Jehu chose exile. He tried several other avenues to make his way to Liberia to follow that calling some mentors suggested that Jehu begin a new congregation in the United States.
After several jurisdictions turned him away because of his race, he eventually found support and a calling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was there, with the support of a coalition of multi-ethnic congregations that Jehu founded the first mission to African Americans in the United States, St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Soon after he traveled around the area making stops in Gettysburg, Chambersburg, Hagerstown, and Frederick, planting congregations in those communities as well. In a report from 1834, Jehu Jones reported meeting 2,781 families and calling on 163 more who were ill or homebound. Although there was plenty of praise to go around for Jehu and his missionary efforts, the congregations he founded quickly found themselves in financial difficulty and were unable to find support from other Lutheran congregations in their areas. Ultimately, St. Paul's concluded its formal ministry just five years after it began. Jehu Jones continued to travel, visit, and preach in the Mid-atlantic region of the United States until, at 66 years old, he died in 1852.
As we continue to dream together about our future, we can draw strength and inspiration from our past. Although his story was buried for many years, it remains an incredible testimony to resilience, perseverance, and the power of the Gospel to change lives and break down the walls of division that persist in our culture even today.
