The Rev. Lawrence Thompson was worried that he would have to call off a celebration of his church's 170th anniversary Sunday if not enough people showed up.
But members of Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church didn't let that happen, and they celebrated their church and their faith with song and voice greater than their numbers.
About 50 of the North Side church's 100 members gathered for the celebration.
"God planted this house," said the Rev. James McLemore, presiding elder of the Pittsburgh district of the AME Church. "He made a promise when he put it here."
The Brown Chapel congregation was organized in the winter of 1837, holding its first prayer meetings in members' homes. It moved in 1843 from a former blacksmith shop on First Street to a building on Union Avenue, which burned in 1856. The Union Avenue site now is home to First United Presbyterian Church
The Brown Chapel congregation eventually moved to its present location at Hemlock and Boyle streets in 1866. The first church there was wrecked by a cyclone during morning services on Easter Sunday 1902. The current church, adorned with large stained glass windows, was erected in 1904 and is designated as a historic landmark.
Drawing its members largely from the North Side, the church had as many as 500 members in the early 1960s, when not arriving early meant not getting a seat, Thompson said. Despite the membership decline since then, he sees the church set for rebirth with a new generation of young members and families.
"At one time this was a very flourishing church. Over the years our numbers have fallen off. But, thanks be to God, it's coming alive again," said Thompson, who has been pastor since 1996. "It's a struggle pulling this back to where it should be. It's a struggle. It's a constant struggle."
Janet Bynum, a member for more than 30 years, has no doubt the church she loves will survive.
"My church is dedicated to serving the Lord, sharing the world with the lost, ministering to the lost, the sick and the homeless, and giving hope," said Bynum, 47. "I love it and I'm dedicated to it."
Carolyn McDuffie, 94, has been a member since moving from New Jersey in 1979.
"God kept me here," she said. "It's been very good to me. I love Brown Chapel. I want to see it prosper."
Wendy Simbulini, 36, of Baldwin, joined the church in September 2006, and a year later was married to her husband, Louis, by Thompson. She said Brown Chapel is one of the North Side's best secrets.
"We just found our place here. It was so homey and so cozy," she said, citing Thompson as one reason they chose Brown Chapel. "The way he preaches the word is amazing. It touches you.
"I get the chills every time I come to church."
