Celebrating a covenant

In 138 years, Second Missionary Baptist Church had only one white minister preach to its mostly black congregation.

On Sunday, the Rev. Jeff Long of Centenary United Methodist Church will become the second to preach and the only white minister ever to speak at an anniversary ceremony -- all part of a newly formed relationship forged by a natural disaster nearly 600 miles south of Cape Girardeau.

A covenant is what Long calls the recent partnership between the two churches, a covenant that started with Hurricane Katrina in September.

Centenary "adopted" a black family displaced by the hurricane and was immediately helped in that effort by the congregation of Second Missionary Baptist.

From this partnership to help the hurricane victims came the need for a deeper relationship between the two congregations.

"I just have an idea that most of the time when white and black churches talk about doing things together, they talk about talking about it," said Long. "But we're actually doing something that matters."

Long will speak at Second Missionary Baptist's 138th anniversary celebration at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Second Missionary is a breakoff of Cape Girardeau's First Baptist Church. Nearly 140 years ago, slaves left First Baptist -- where they attended with their owners because slaves were not allowed to congregate -- and started their own church.

Some believe it may have been the first black church in Missouri, if not the first west of the Mississippi River.

The Rev. Cecil B. Thomas, pastor at Second Missionary Baptist Church, could not be reached for comment.

"I haven't decided exactly what I'll say, but I know it will be about looking at the mileposts of history, where something wonderful happened and people could have stopped there, but they didn't. They kept going," said Long. "We continue to find ways to drop the barrier and achieve what many believe is a utopian dream -- a colorblind society."

Long said he doesn't plan for the covenant to end after Sunday's celebration or even after the victims of Katrina no longer need help. He wants to develop a long-term partnership between the two churches.

"Each congregation is Christian and that's what matters. Denomination stripes are not nearly as important as they used to be," said Long. "Our experience of living [is] different, but once we get to talking we realize we have a lot more in common than we ever believed possible. That's a wonderful discovery."

cmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128