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The Newmans on Revitalization at Beulah Baptist Church: "The Mecca of the North End"

Beulah Baptist Church, located on 14th Street in Portsmouth’s predominantly African-American North End neighborhood, was “the Mecca of the North End” during Beulah deacon Al Oliver’s childhood. He recalls a family-oriented church with a weekly congregation of 50-60 people, generations of deacons (including his own family) and a pastor who served for 30 years. It nurtured ministers who have served across the North End, including the current pastors at Pleasant Green Baptist Church and Living Faith Temple. Since the 1990s, the congregation at Beulah has declined in number, though not in love for the community. Its praise team led by Sister Celeste, pianist Mother Carr, and deacon board are devoted and lead praise with love, care, and compassion. But with four pastors in twenty years, some felt Beulah was not the church they had known, and departed for other churches in the neighborhood, like Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist or Pleasant Green Baptist. Families began to go to church in multiple different places, or not at all.

The leadership of Beulah is looking to change that—and in the process, both revitalize this historic congregation and shift the church’s mission. Pastor Charles and Janna “Lady J” Newman were briefly part of this new movement at Beulah, after Pastor Charles' election in 2016. The young couple are known for commitment to building local community. “We want to be different, we want to be that ministry that goes out and is visible outside our walls…so we want to meet the needs right now,” Pastor Newman says, which means reaching out to people who are experiencing despair, poverty, and addiction. On a May 2017 visit to Beulah, fieldworkers Caroline Toy and Cassie Patterson witnessed the emerging results firsthand: with energy high and a much larger congregation than during our first visit in January, a man who came to the church through its nascent street ministry dedicated himself to Christ.

 

Fieldworkers
Caroline Toy
Cassie Patterson

Digital Gallery Editor
Madeleine Smith