MANSFIELD, Ohio – On any given Sunday for the past 150 years, the walls of Greater Mitchell Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church have barely contained the sounds of praise, fellowship and song coming from its pews.
Leading the congregation in music is Winston Greene, sitting quietly behind his keyboard at the front of the chapel while providing the heart and soul of the worship songs in the church.
At the young age of 12, Greene had to make a choice: to continue attending Greater Mitchell Chapel A.M.E. Church with his mother and grandmother, or attend Mount Calvary Baptist Church with his father?
“Well you never want to hurt your mother and grandmother, and my grandmother was of the temperament that had I joined Mount Calvary she would have come and snatched me out of that congregation and brought me back here, and told me this is where you belong,” said Greene with a laugh.
And so, in 1956, Greene joined many others in Mansfield and made his spiritual home at Greater Mitchell Chapel A.M.E. Church – a church with a storied history that continues to this day as they celebrate a century and a half in existence.
“Mitchell Chapel has a very loving, caring congregation, and I think that is what has sustained us through the years,” said Greene. “And our faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – He’s the one that sustains us because all of us sitting here could have been gone, but we’re still here for a reason.”
The African Methodist Episcopal denomination was first founded 228 years ago, in churches across the country and even outside the United States. Greater Mitchell Chapel was the first A.M.E. church established in Mansfield and Richland County.
“From where we started in someone’s home, we have built two churches and acquired this one,” said Rev. Louise Jackson, Senior Pastor at Greater Mitchell Chapel. “It is a testament to the commitment and dedication of the members of this congregation.”
The church has been at their 182 S. Adams St. location since 1998, but before that had two separate locations on Glessner Avenue. The second location, erected in 1951, was built in part by Wesley Hood.
Now 90 years old, Hood has been a member of Greater Mitchell Chapel for 69 years, where he sits proudly in the front row of pews every Sunday.
“When they started the church there were very few African American people here … back in the day when segregation was dominant, that’s why the church got started,” said Hood. “And then it just expanded all over the world – the church was that connection.”
Currently Greater Mitchell has about 80 members in their congregation; Hood remembers a time when the church had more than 150 members at one time.
“But in all the churches people have stopped going,” said Hood. “In my life when I come up, you didn’t dare say you wasn’t going to church. My mother said if you live in my house you’re going to church. But now parents don’t do that.”
For Pearl Black, a member of Greater Mitchell for almost 52 years, her first step towards becoming a member of the church came when the older generation welcomed her with open arms. She remembers offering to help in the kitchen during her very first Sunday service.
“There was all the older ladies in the kitchen, and with those ladies you didn’t just walk into their kitchen, but me being me I just walked into their kitchen and I said, ‘I have two hands!’ As if to say, what can I do?” Black remembered. “Some of them turned around and looked at me as if to say, ‘Who do you think you are?’”
“But there was one lady who looked at me, took her apron off and put it on me and said, ‘Yes, that’s exactly what we need, we need some younger women to help us old ladies,’” she continued. “One of the ladies’ husbands told me, ‘Pearl, if you keep hanging with these old ladies you’re going to be just like them.’” And I said, ‘That’s what I’m working for.’”
Other members of the Greater Mitchell congregation remembered similar first experiences in the church – an immediate feeling of love and acceptance.
“The feeling I had when I entered the church was a feeling of love, and I liked that,” said Barbara Wilkins, a member for six years. “When I came to this church there were things I could join and be part of, and I was welcome. And I enjoyed it, so this is where I made my home.”
Cortez Dear, a newcomer to Greater Mitchell by only five months, described the congregation as “very loving and caring.”
“What makes me feel comfortable since I’ve been here is, I’ve been in congregations that were younger, but here everyone has a history in this church,” said Dear. “We have to teach our children about this; this is a church that was created for them so they can fall in love with it and continue the legacy. That will help keep it here another 150 years. And the love will never end; God’s love is everlasting and everlasting.”
The Greater Mitchell Chapel congregation not only embraces love, but laughter.
“God has a sense of humor, laughing is allowed, and we do that here a lot,” said Rev. Loretta Norris, Associate Pastor at Greater Mitchell. “If you sing a song and miss the words then somebody makes up words real quick. It’s good to have humor with that love, understanding and respect. We can laugh and not feel like people are laughing at me, you have fun while you’re making mistakes.”
Jackson said the love among her congregation is very important, as it is difficult to function in an atmosphere void of love.
“No matter what you are going through, if somebody smiles at you and gives you a hug when you walk through that door, and they know all about you – they know your faults, they know the things you did 20 years ago – then it invites the spirit into you,” she said. “And all that which is not of God goes away.”
Jackson described Greater Mitchell’s congregation as “evenly divided,” with children, young adults, middle-aged adults and seniors all members of the church. She noted Greater Mitchell takes special care to welcome the younger generations.
“Mr. Hood is really good at this – as you talk about your history, your children’s eyes will light up because your eyes light up,” said Jackson. “Their eyes light up when they learn about what their great grandfathers and great grandmothers have done to make this a successful church, and then they start to do the same.”
“The kids growing up will remember and come back and continue to do the things their parents did,” said Hood. “I can remember my mother and father in the kitchen singing and cooking and doing things like that, and I remember. You don’t forget those things, and I encourage my children to do the same.”
It is this dedication and commitment to the church, surrounded by an environment of love, that will permeate the younger generations and keep Greater Mitchell Chapel alive, Jackson believes.
“When I see the children grow up and do things within the congregation, I know at that point whatever they’re learning now as children they won’t forget when they get to be adults,” said Jackson. “I see them as they grow in knowledge, in spirit and in their commitment to this church, and they do that because everybody loves them, and we encourage them. Whatever you do in this church, we’re going to love you through it.
“It’s the stories that will keep people connected,” she continued. “Those are the memories the kids will keep, and that’s what makes it so great. They will remember the stories. That’s the legacy that will keep us and sustain us for the next 150 years.”
