Churches of Christ in Birmingham

Article was in a News Paper around 1950


About the turn of the century members of the Church of Christ in Birmingham ceased to meet in private homes and secured the use of "Fox's Hall" on the third floor of a building at fourth avenue north and 16th street for their services. After hearing Brother John T. Lewis through a tent meeting at Pratt City, the little band of disciples got him to move here on November 16, 1907.

When Brother Lewis first came to this town, sectarian congregations already dotted the whole of the county, but he only found a handful of less than twenty members interested in simply following the teaching of the New Testament in its purity and simplicity. He has seen the cause spread throughout the city until today there are some seventeen congregations carrying on the work of the Church in and around Birmingham.

When Brother Lewis was asked by the Steel City Star to write something on his fortieth anniversary in Birmingham concerning his work, he wrote: "I was in town this morning Monday November 17, 1947 and walked down Fourth Avenue and Nineteenth Street and looked at the old three story building on the northwest corner, and walked up the first flight of steps, the very steps that I walked up on my way to the third loft forty years ago this morning to worship with, and preach to, the few disciples that met there t break bread.

That was the beginning of my work in this great city. J.M. Barnes and I held a tent meeting in Pratt City during August and September of the same year. It was during taht meeting that I received unanimous invitation from worshiping in "Fox's Hall" to come and labor with them.

The small crowd that met in that hall that morning moved into a small frame building in March 1910 on the lot where the present commodious West End Meeting house stands, and it has multiplied itself several times during the forty years that have come and gone since that Sunday morning.

For forty years in this great city I have waged a relentless warfare against the inventions and devices of men, in religious matters, against wickedness in high places, and corruption and immortality in the Church. I have had my teachings challenged by religious teachers a few times; I have excepted their challenge and met them in open discussion."

During the years past, tent meetings have been held in most of the suburbs and various sections of the city. In addition to these meetings, classes have been taught and sermons delivered in private homes and in halls throughout the city.

As the cause grew, our gospel preachers came to the city and joined in the great work. Today there are some seventeen congregations of the Church of Christ within the Birmingham district among the white people and nine congregations among the colored. Among the white congregations, besides those shown on this page, there are congregations at Morris, Brookside and Adamsville. The cause is growing now more rapidly than ever before. Two new congregations, with brick buildings, have been established within the last year, and others are planned for the future.