THE HISTORY OF NAZARENE





"NOWHERE IS IT ORDAINED THAT HISTORY MOVES IN A STRAIGHT LINE."
- Barack Obama



We have a long history of being a community of people who love God, love their community and desire to be a church that is relevant with an outward focus where all are welcomed.



JULY 1873

From humble beginnings in a Fulton Street living room, where a handful of dedicated and courageous Christians established the Nazarene Congregational Church, it has persevered “through many dangers, toils and snares” to uplift the Gospel of Jesus Christ and follow Christ’s command to “love one another as I have loved you.” Nazarene has continually interpreted this command as a call to serve others, beyond our walls!


1880’s


Nine men incorporated the Church, seeking to solidify it’s purpose and promote its permanence. Those men were John H. Stout, Peter L. Leonard, William H. Vaughan, Joseph Harold, James H. Duncan, Frank Rigly, Isaiah Vaughan, Henry Smith and Samuel Perry. The fledgling congregation had engaged its first minister, the Rev. Robert F. Wheeler Moved its place of public worship to 541 Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn.


1890's – 1910’s

Church remained small and relocated to premises on Adelphi Street, Troy Avenue and Herkimer Street.



1920's

A seminal point in its history was the call to the Rev. Dr. Henry Hugh Proctor of Atlanta, Georgia to provide pastoral leadership.


The Tennessee-born son of former slaves, he was a graduate of Yale University and had been instrumental in aiding black Congregational churches in the South to become self-sufficient. His commitment to racial and social justice was evidenced by his role in the post-1906 Atlanta race riot efforts to improve conditions for African Americans in the city. As Pastor of the historic First Congregational Church in Atlanta, Dr. Proctor used his church to provide a library, a kindergarten, an employment bureau, a gymnasium, a ladies’ reading parlor, a music room, counseling services and a model kitchen and sewing room for girls. He also helped open the first housing facility for young, employed Black women who had no other dwelling.


Nazarene membership expanded from 167 to 800. The Church was able to acquire a large and stately edifice on Grand Avenue and Lefferts Place.



Early 1930’s


Death of Rev. Dr. Henry Hugh Proctor in 1933


Struggling under the hardships of the Great Depression the building they had worked so hard to purchase is lost. Worship services were held using the Carlton Avenue YMCA and other rented spaces during this difficult period.


Late 1930’s


Nazarene was fortunate to have among its lay-leadership, The Rev. Jesse E. Moorland (for whom the world-renowned Moorland-Spingarn research library at Howard University in Washington, D.C. is named)


It was through Dr. Moorland’s efforts and those of many other stalwart members of the Church that the current edifice at Patchen Avenue and MacDonough Street was purchased. Clearly, the accumulation of debt and discouragement could have dissolved a less determined group of people. But, they leaned on the Almighty, kept the faith and pressed forward!



Late 1950’s - early 1960’s


The Rev. J. Archie Hargraves led the congregation to expand its physical presence by erecting the Nazarene Community Center building. It was in this building that the first Headstart program in Brooklyn was established as the federal government began to act more expansively in the area of social justice. It was under Rev. Hargraves’ creative and community-oriented vision that a “halfway-house” program was established to assist the reintegration of the formerly-incarcerated into their home community.


Present


Through the next 50 years of it’s history, Nazarene has been blessed to forge ahead in its ongoing quest to serve.



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The future is in our hands!








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NAZARENE

CONGREGATIONAL

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST



506 MacDonough Street, Brooklyn, New York 11233