OUR HISTORY

 

Rev. John Hammond a native of Hamilton Ontario, Canada and a graduate of Howard University- Class of 1897 and former Secretary for the Inter-denominational Alliance – A.M.E. Conference was the Pastor of Handy Memorial A.M.E. Church, which was a congregation of 100+ membership. In 1946, under the direction of Bishop Davis of the A.M.E. Church, Rev. Hammond and his congregation were left without a church home after Handy Memorial was sold to the City of Baltimore for the erection of the Gilmore Homes Housing Project. Bishop Davis wanted Handy Memorial to merge with Payne Memorial A.M.E. Church.

 

Because of their love for their church and their determination to make it, Rev. Hammond and his congregation decided that they would not merge with Payne Memorial A.M.E. Church, but would continue on in the name of Jesus on their own. On July 18th, 1945, Rev. L. Winston Jaxson, Presiding Elder of the Washington-Virginia District of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church under the leadership of Bishop W.Y. Bell, and with the assistance of Rev. Hand of Norfolk, Virginia the Annual Conference General Business Negotiator of the Conference, Handy Memorial A.M.E. Church became Mt. Pisgah C.M.E. Church. Its early locations were a store front on Laurens Street and a home converted into a church in the 1300 block of Gilmore Street. Because of the sale of its church building, the church lost more than half of its membership in its transition.

 

On Laurens Street there were about 50 members. However, with each new location the membership grew.

On a cold, blistery Sunday, December 8, 1954, Mt. Pisgah C.M.E. Church, formerly, Handy Memorial A.M.E. Church marched into its current edifice located at the corners of Fulton and Riggs Avenues. It certainly was not easy for membership, though by time they had grown to 127 members, they had a mortgage of $400.00 per month. Through faith, perseverance and personal sacrifices of the members, they made it. The evidence is clear. For today Mt. Pisgah C.M.E. Church still sits on the corner of Fulton & Riggs Avenues. A former Pastor, the Rev. John L. Thompson is quoted as saying “It is no secret that the survival of this church has been a miracle.” No one would agree with this statement more than its early creditors. With the birth of this church came the birth of Christian Methodism in the City of Baltimore.

 

Rev. John Hammond served as Pastor until his retirement in 1956. A number of improvements have been made in the church since its inception. A membership of once 50 has blossomed and grown to more than 350 persons. Mt. Pisgah Christian Methodist Episcopal Church is truly grateful to God for His faithfulness and bountiful blessings, and grateful to its ongoing pioneers who are constantly charting out new waters, mapping out new roads, and writing additional pages of Christian history. We thank God for the visionaries.

 

For “Where there is no vision, the people perish”.

-Proverbs 29:18-