Some Harlem Churches in Fight for Survival
Millicent Acham says she has been attending All Souls’ Episcopal Church since she was a child. The church is trying to hold on to its dwindling congregation.
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At All Souls’ Episcopal, a member said, “our congregation is older, many are sick, and I really don’t know what the future holds.”
Her voice was steady and strong, as was her grip on the cane she leaned on as she stood and sang and peered over the sparsely populated pews, peppered mostly with older women with fancy hats and hair as gray as her own.
“I came up through Sunday school, and I’m still here,” Ms. Lynch said, taking a step into an aisle at the 104-year-old church after the last hymn. “Back then, it was packed. You couldn’t get a seat.”
All Souls’ Church, on St. Nicholas Avenue, and any number of the traditional neighborhood churches in Harlem that had for generations boasted strong memberships — built on and sustained by familial loyalty and neighborhood ties — are now struggling to hold on to their congregations.
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