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| address = 23 Montgomery Street Savannah, Georgia | country = United States | phone = (912) 233-2244 / 6597 | website = (www.theoldestblackchurch.org ) }} First African Baptist Church, located in Savannah, Georgia claims to be derived from the first black Baptist congregation in North America. While it was not officially organized until 1788, it grew from members who founded a congregation in 1773. Its claim of "first" is contested by First Baptist Church of Petersburg, Virginia, whose congregation officially organized in 1774. First African Baptist Church operates a museum which displays memorabilia dating back to the 18th century. ==History== George Leile, a slave who in 1773 was the first African American licensed by the Baptists to preach in Georgia, played a part in the founding of the Savannah church by converting some of its early members. His initial licensing as a Baptist was to preach to slaves on plantations along the Savannah River, in Georgia and South Carolina. Leile's master, a Baptist deacon, had freed him before the American Revolutionary War. Over the next few years, Leile converted and baptized slaves in the area. These included David George, one of eight slaves who were baptized and formed a congregation called the Silver Bluff Baptist Church in Aiken County, South Carolina, across the river from Savannah. George was appointed an elder and preacher, and attracted nearly 30 members over the next few years. After the Revolutionary War started, in 1778 Leile made his way to the British-occupied city of Savannah, to ensure his security behind British lines. The British had offered freedom to slaves who escaped their rebel masters. After the British occupied Savannah, the Patriot master of David George and his followers fled to another area. All the members of the Silver Bluff church went to the city to go behind British lines for freedom. They joined with some of Leile's group. Others were converted by Leile's preaching, including Andrew Bryan and his wife Hannah in 1782. Bryan became a preacher and leader in the congregation. In 1782 hundreds of blacks were evacuated from Savannah by the British, who transported many to Nova Scotia and other colonies, and some to London. Leile and his family sailed with the British for freedom to Jamaica. David George and his family went with Loyalists to Nova Scotia. Both founded Baptist congregations in their new locations. Later George and his family migrated to Sierra Leone, where he planted another Baptist church. Bryan, who had purchased his and his wife's freedom, was the only one of the three early black Baptist preachers in the colonies to stay in Savannah and the new United States.〔 He continued to preach and organize other slaves in the Savannah area despite persecution from local Episcopal authorities. He called people together as the church's first pastor. Bryan led the First African Baptist Church to official recognition with 67 members on January 20, 1788, at their regular meeting place of Brampton's barn, approximately three miles west of Savannah. They were recognized by Rev. Abraham Marshall (a European-American minister) and his free black assistant Jesse Peter (who took the name Jesse Galphin. Galphin was also one of the founders of the Silver Bluff Baptist Church. Marshall examined and baptized members that day.〔 In 1794 the congregation built a frame structure on land Bryan had purchased the year before. They called the church Bryan Street African Baptist Church.〔 Bryan lived to see the church grow to over 400 members.〔 His brother Sampson, who assisted him, remained a slave.〔 In 1800 the congregation had grown to 700. By 1802, Bryan Street renamed itself First African Baptist Church, and two other black congregations were founded: Second African Baptist Church and the Ogeechee (Third) Baptist Church.〔 In 1815, Andrew C. Marshall, Bryan's nephew, became pastor of First African Baptist.〔 In 1822, the First Colored Baptist Church and the Second Colored Baptist Church recombined and became the First African Baptist Church. The church organized the first Sunday School for African Americans (endorsed by the Independent Presbyterian Church) on July 26, 1826. By 1830 under Marshall, the congregation of First African Baptist Church had grown to 2,417 members.〔 In 1832, the congregation had a serious split over doctrinal issues that took years to resolve. Some members felt that Marshall was too taken by the new ideas of Rev. Alexander Campbell. Marshall and more than 2,600 members left to found a congregation that kept the name of First African Baptist. They purchased a building to use at Franklin Square that had belonged to the First Baptist Church.〔 In the 1850s, they constructed a new sanctuary facility on Franklin Square. It has since been continuously occupied by First African Baptist. The congregation at Bryan Street, numbering fewer than 200, kept the facility built under Andrew Bryan and took the name Third Baptist Church.〔 Later they renamed it First Bryan Baptist Church.〔 As the Georgia Baptist association grew, there was competition among congregations to claim lines to founding core members and be declared the first church in the state. In 1888 at the Georgia Convention, claims were examined as to primacy of First African Baptist of Savannah and the First Bryan Baptist Church. The convention declared that First African Baptist of Savannah was the banner church, due largely to Marshall's leadership during the difficult years of the 1830s, which held his congregation together under the name of the original church.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Georgia)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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