DAYTON, Ohio — Through its storied history, Zion Baptist church has seen 20 pastors, three buildings, a devastating flood, civil rights milestones and hundreds of parishioners dedicated to keeping the faith tradition alive.
That’s why on Sunday afternoon, dozens filled a Fairborn banquet hall with hugs, joyful singing and a short service to mark the 150th birthday of Dayton’s first Black Baptist church, one year late.
On Nov. 30, 1870, Zion Baptist Church met for the first time in the living room of one of its founding families, the Moodys. Due to the pandemic, the parish wasn’t able to gather for the true birthday, but the church’s pastor, Rev. Dr. Rockney C. Carter, said he wanted to find a time to recognize the occasion as soon as he could.
“We’re all excited just to be here and still be serving the Dayton community,” he said.
Raised just south of the city in Middletown, Carter said he never expected to find himself at the head of this storied Dayton church.
“I’m humbled to just be here,” he said.
Carter said he moved to Dayton with no intention of serving the church, but within a few years he felt the call and became an assistant pastor at a sister parish to Zion. Then ten years ago, he was tapped to take on the Sr. Pastor position here.
“For the Lord to give me an initial assignment of such a historic church is such a testament to Him, the Lord’s faith in me,” he said.
Carter said his biggest test as pastor came in 2020, when the pandemic forced the church to close.
“We’ve had to change. We’ve had to adapt,” he said. “We’ve got people who we know will never come back to church again.”
Zion moved to online services, live streaming everything on YouTube since last spring. Carter said Zion recently opened to allow some in-person worship, but only masked and at limited capacity.
“COVID has ravaged some 750,000 families across this country,” he said. “We are very serious about the protocols, we’re very serious about social distancing and masking, and we’re grateful we haven’t lost anybody, but it’s changed the way we do ministry.”
As pastor at Zion Baptist Church, Carter said he stands on the shoulders of giants, men who spent generations building a strong faith community in Dayton. Carter said he’s still looking for ways to keep it going through the city’s new normal.
“I think that that’s something that’s gonna stay with us for the near future anyway,” he said.
Through its 150-year history, the church has seen its fair share of changes. Until the early 1900s, the congregation bounced around homes and locations around the city to gather every Sunday. In 1906, the church opened a sanctuary along the west bank of the Miami River, and less than ten years later, its equipment was devastated in the 1913 flood.
The building would survive however, and by 1915, local Civil Rights leaders would formally organize the Dayton Unit of the NAACP at the church.
The church sold its building to the city in the 1980s so Dayton could extend Edwin Moses Boulevard and relocated to its current home in West Dayton in 1984.
Through it all, those who grew up in the church, like Sharon Pittard, said the church community served as a constant.
“Those are your roots so it’s who I am today,” she said. “I grew up in the church got married there, baptized there. My aunt taught vacation bible school.”
Even though Pittard has since moved to Cincinnati, she said she still feels at home visiting the parish and she had to make the trip to mark its 150th birthday.
“It feels good to be here to celebrate something positive,” she said.
Carter echoed that sentiment, telling everyone he saw, just how happy he felt to celebrate in person. He said the pandemic is far from over but he looks forward to the church hosting more community events as people feel more comfortable to gather again.
“I feel so good just to be able to see people and to know that we’re praying for them and they’re praying for us and we’re still here and we’re still active and we’re still vibrant,” he said.