The Rev. Leroy Bailey Sr., left, of True Faith Independent Holiness Church and the Rev. Sterling Fritz of St. John's United Church of Christ in the St John's sanctuary. St. John's in Gibraltar has been sharing its church for about three years with True Faith while True Faith had a new church built.
Among Martin Luther King Jr.'s many memorable quotes, a particularly pointed one stands out: "It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is 11 o'clock on Sunday morning."
But for almost three years, that has not been the case in the rural community of Gibraltar.
There, the primarily white congregation at St. John's (Gibraltar) United Church of Christ opened its doors to the mainly black membership of True Faith Independent Holiness Church.
Back-to-back snowstorms in the winter of 2009-10 damaged the roof and weakened the walls of True Faith's 1893 church building.
The structure, which was condemned, originally served as a dance hall and later was used by another church as a social hall.
"We didn't have a home," said the Rev. Leroy Bailey Sr., 65, leader of the roughly 150-member congregation that began in Reading with about 20 members nearly 30 years ago.
But Bailey for years had a friend in the Rev. Sterling Fritz, 53, of the roughly 335-member St. John's.
Both men knew each other from pulpit exchanges and community ministerial work.
Fritz, with unanimous approval from his board, invited Bailey to share his church facilities.
And that successful partnership is expected to end this spring when True Faith will move into a new $450,000 church building at its old site.
"I knew Sterling," Bailey said. "If he could do nothing but offer me a cup a coffee, he would have done that. He is a man who strives to exemplify what he preaches, and I do the same."
And so the two religious leaders set the tone and the vast majority of their flocks followed.
Both ministers admitted there were only a few people in each congregation who dropped out, feeling the close mingling of the two distinct memberships left them outside their comfort zones.
"Our mission statement is that we are, 'The church on the hill, built on the rock of Jesus Christ, a place to find help, hope and home,' " Fritz said. "And that's exactly what we did with True Faith."
Indeed, St John's is geographically on a hill.
True Faith was located in a Gibraltar valley closer to the Schuylkill River.
In the beginning, because of different time schedules and lengths of services, True Faith met in St. John's education building, but within a short period the two congregations were holding monthly unity services in the main church sanctuary.
Still later, both congregations were using the church sanctuary, True Faith holding its service about an hour after St. John's.
"When we were finished, I'd always tell Leroy I got the spirit warmed up for him," said Sterling, known in religious circles for his sense of humor.
That warmed-up spirit, at church socials and regular Sunday services, lasted for nearly three years through good times and bad.
Both pastors were in the hospital for pneumonia at different times, and the congregations rallied in support of their leaders with prayer cards, fruit baskets and food gifts.
"We were that close, we even shared pneumonia," said Fritz, jokingly.
But it wasn't funny when death took Bailey's mother, brother, sister and mother-in-law during his church's homeless period.
"That's when it became very personal for me," Bailey said. "To have a church to go to, to gather with friends and mourn and to be part of a church home at St. John's, that was very, very special.
"Any congregation always wants to have its own church, but by having this time together we've learned so much from each other in matters of church service and in building our new church. Wherever we go, St. John's will always be a part of our life."
A plaque hung on a St. John's wall in the entrance way expresses True Faith's gratitude.
"Our church will feel empty without them," Fritz said.
But it won't be empty.
The fond memories of parishoners will stay.
And, for Fritz, the living realization will remain of his favorite words in the Bible from John 13:34, 35: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you . ... By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Contact Bruce R. Posten: 610-371-5059 or email@example.com.