We invite all SWC congregations to share the following message and litany from the Board and Staff of Franklinton Center at Bricks during their Sunday worship services on Nov. 19th and 26th to commemorate the 152nd anniversary of the Franklinton Center.
Dear Colleague in Mission:
The Board and Staff of Franklinton Center at Bricks invite you to join us in celebrating our 152nd Anniversary. A service of Thanksgiving will be held on Sunday, November 19, 2023, with the Rev. Dr. Edward Smith Davis, Conference Minister as preacher. The service will include a litany of Thanksgiving celebrating the life, liberty, and legacy of Franklinton Center and the Afro Christian Convention as the fifth stream of the United Church of Christ.
It is our hope that conferences and churches of the United Church of Christ will join us in this celebration by including this Litany of Thanksgiving in worship services on either November 19th or November 26th. We ask that you send it with your support to churches in your conference. This allows the fifth stream to flow with visibility and affirmation into the life and witness of the United Church of Christ.
We thank you for your past and present support of Franklinton Center as a life-giving space for education, empowerment, justice, and healing. The Center began with the Afro Christian Convention opening of Franklinton Christian college in 1871. Keep us in your prayers as we witness to the past, remain vigil in the present, and embody hope for the future.
Leader:
Psalm 145:4 affirms that “One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts.” Today, O God, we honor and give thanks for 152 years of Franklinton Center at Bricks existing as sacred, historic, life-giving space for justice, equality, inclusivity, and healing.
People:
We have come this far by faith, leaning and depending on God;
trusting in God’s holy word, God has never failed us yet.
Leader:
We honor and give thanks to the founding mothers and fathers as they moved out of enslavement with an abundance of faith, resolve, resistance, courage, and spirit creating a roadmap for survival and liberation.
People:
We have come this far by faith, leaning, and depending on God;
trusting in God’s holy word, God has never failed us yet.
Leader:
We honor and give thanks for the creation of the Afro-Christian Convention--emerging out of hush harbors, out of balconies to create an independent church. The Convention represented seven annual conferences, 25,000 members, 185 ordained ministers and licentiates, and 150 Sunday schools.
People:
We have come this far by faith, leaning, and depending on God;
trusting in God’s holy word, God has never failed us yet.
Leader:
We honor and give thanks for the Afro-Christian Convention’s quest for education. Its churches were taxed 10 cents a member in order to create the Franklinton Literary and Theological Institute, which was later called Franklinton Christian College located in Franklinton, North Carolina, and is now the Franklinton Center at Bricks.
People:
We have come this far by faith, leaning, and depending on God;
trusting in God’s holy word, God has never failed us yet
Leader:
We honor and give thanks for Franklinton Center becoming a bridge from slavery to freedom by transforming a slave plantation into an educational center, providing skills and opportunities for African Americans in the years following the Civil War and Reconstruction.
People:
We have come this far by faith, leaning, and depending on God;
Trusting in God’s holy word, God has never failed us yet.
Leader:
We honor and give thanks for the Center’s empowerment of youth, laity, and clergy for leadership in church and society. Its summer camps, conferences, and retreats help to transform lives as they answer the call to ministry and resourced church leaders for justice-based ministries.
People:
We have come this far by faith, leaning, and depending on God;
trusting in God’s holy word, God has never failed us yet.
Leader:
We honor and give thanks for the Center serving as a home for bold visionaries and courageous advocates for economic, racial, and social justice as they continue the struggle to preserve the hard-fought rights and opportunities that so many of our ancestors and colleagues sacrificed to achieve.
People:
We have come this far by faith, leaning, and depending on God;
trusting in God’s holy word, God has never failed us yet.
Leader:
We honor and give thanks for the Center providing economic, educational, social, recreational opportunities for surrounding communities and counties.
People:
We have come this far by faith, leaning, and depending on God;
trusting in God’s holy word, God has never failed us yet.
ALL:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses ... we are ready to run with perseverance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1-2). For the Lord is good: his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations (Psalm 100:5). Amen.