This month in Presbyterian history
A congregation mourns, a seminary leader speaks to young adults and Black Presbyterians United gathers to celebrate
The congregation of Forks of the Brandywine Presbyterian Church spent much of November 1785 in mourning.
Presbyterians of the Brandywine Manor area, many of whom previously attended services at Upper Octorara Presbyterian Church, established a meeting house in 1736, in present day Glen Moore, Pennsylvania. Forks of the Brandywine met in that log cabin until a stone church building replaced the log structure in 1761 —the same year that the Rev. John Carmichael accepted the pastorate.
The timelines of the church building and its pastor are intertwined in a bittersweet fashion: they began their journeys in the same year, and their journeys concluded in the same year. 1785 saw the death of Carmichael on Nov. 15, as well as the demolition of the stone church building by fire.
Carmichael, a native of Scotland, was well loved by his congregants. The proof lives within the Presbyterian Historical Society's archives: a 22-page document consisting of handwritten elegies and reflections on the man's life and legacy, offered up by members of his church. The introductory page reads, “A loving mourning freind and relation would here inscribe there grateful memories. He was a flameing Ministor and a faithful, witness for Christ. He delighted much, to use the gifts and strength he received in his Master’s Service. He grately lamented, and bewailed the torrent, of abounding vice since the America war; and longed much, for the return of the, Holy Spirit to the Churches.”
Carmichael was called the “Revolutionary Pastor,” a nickname earned through his efforts to recruit soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and was also said to have been a counselor of General George Washington. The Rev. Nathan Grier was his successor, and the church building was restored in 1787, thanks to generous gifts from donors such as Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, and David Rittenhouse.
In November 1949, over a thousand young adults gathered at the Presbyterian Youth Conference to hear Dr. John A. Mackay deliver a keynote address. Like Carmichael of Forks of the Brandywine, Mackay (1889-1983) was a native of Scotland. He'd crossed the Atlantic in 1913 to pursue his studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. Upon his graduation two years later, he traveled to Madrid, Spain, to continue his education and prepare for work as a missionary to Latin America.
From 1916, when he helped to establish a mission school in Lima, Peru, until 1936, Mackay traveled widely throughout Latin America, working as a teacher before focusing his energy on being an evangelistic speaker. He left the foreign mission field to accept a call from his alma mater; in 1936, Mackay became the third president of Princeton Theological Seminary. He remained there, as both president and professor, until 1959.
As a charismatic preacher and educator, Mackay was often asked to speak at conferences, assemblies, and gatherings alike — such as the Presbyterian Youth Conference in November 1949. At this time, Mackay was also the president of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, a position he held until 1951, along with several other leadership positions. The same year that he spoke at the Youth Conference, Mackay traveled to the Eastern Asia Christian Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, for another speaking opportunity.
On November 13, 1981, Black Presbyterians United (BPU) celebrated their 13th annual fellowship dinner in Detroit, welcoming the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon as their guest speake. One of the earlier pages of the program for the evening carries an inscription that highlights the goal of the organization, as offered by the Michigan chapter of BPU: "It is the purpose of Black Presbyterian United to use its influence and power to achieve full and equal participation by Black Presbyterians in the United Presbyterian Church. We exist as an organization because we want the church to take seriously its calling to ministry with Blacks in all the world."
Prior to the founding of Black Presbyterians United in 1968, there was no national gathering of Black Presbyterians. In previous years, African American Presbyterian ministers gathered together in caucuses, reaching back as early as 1856. That year, a gathering of the Evangelical Association of Colored Ministers of Congregational and Presbyterian Churches was organized at Shiloh Presbyterian Church in New York City. The creation of the BPU was, therefore, a turning point in the history of black Presbyterianism.
Clarence Cave, Thelma Adair, and other prominent black Presbyterian leaders gathered in St. Louis in 1968 to elect the leaders of the newly established Black Presbyterians United, a group borne of the responsibility they felt to change the majority-white denomination. Thelma Adair would eventually serve as president of the Caucus in 1975.
Following the unification of 1983, BPU became the NBPC — the National Black Presbyterian Caucus. On the NBPC website, it is made known that the mission “is to serve Jesus Christ, and enrich the Black Presbyterian congregations and their communities, through our commitment to congregational enhancement, advocacy, social and racial justice; and challenging the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) when it fails to take seriously the needs of the poor, oppressed, and disenfranchised.” In June 2025, the group celebrated its 48th Biennial Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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