Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
Deacon Larry Graham and the Rev. Edward Steele inside Union Missionary Baptist Church. Steele joined the church about a year ago.
Union Missionary Baptist Church has welcomed its congregation into the same building in Rosedale every Sunday for 131 years. Rev. Edward Steele says that’s a sign the church is doing something right.
“We’ve been on this corner the entire time. That speaks volumes in itself, that God hasn’t brought us this far to leave us now,” Steele said.
Union, located at 1731 26th Ave. S., is older than the city of Homewood itself. It was founded in November 1887, out of the merging of Walnut Street Baptist Church and Healing Spring Baptist Church. Union is one of several historic churches in Rosedale, including Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, organized in 1897, and Friendship Baptist Church, which was formed by a group of former Union congregants.
The church has seen a lot in 131 years. During the turmoil of the civil rights era, Deacon Larry Graham said, Union became the temporary home of Rosedale High School after the school building was bombed. The organ pipes mounted over the pulpit are from the 1930s and still work, Steele said, though the church doesn’t have a company that can repair them anymore.
Union Missionary Baptist Church has held services in the same building in Rosedale since 1887.
Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
Union’s leadership is in the process of applying to be added to the National Register of Historic Places, which would recognize the church’s history in Rosedale and open up grant opportunities to help preserve the building.
The two oldest members of the church are 95 and 92 years old. Willie Pearl Cunningham, a Rosedale resident whose 93rd birthday will be this Christmas, has spent 79 as a member of Union Church, including 30 years in the church choir.
Among her church congregation and Rosedale neighbors, Cunningham said she is known for her sharp wit and sharp fashion sense as much as for her singing voice.
“Oh I love to sing, honey. … I’ve been singing ever since I was five years old,” Cunningham said. “… I started out singing the blues because I loved to hear that B.B. King.”
“They’re a great inspiration to us,” Steele said of the church’s longtime members.
For all that history, though, Steele said Union is very much a living church.
“It’s still an anchor church for this community,” Graham said.
The congregation size has declined, from around 100 when Graham joined the church in 1996 to about 30 on a typical Sunday, with members coming from Homewood, Hoover, Irondale and downtown Birmingham. Steele and Graham said older members dying and younger ones moving to larger churches in the area have been part of the cause of Union growing smaller.
“It used to be, the church was so crowded people would be standing up,” Cunningham said. “… I don’t know what happened.”
However, since Steele moved from South Park Baptist last year to be Union’s new pastor, he said he has seen signs of growth in the “devoted” congregation.
Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
An inside view of the church, which has about 30 members who attend on an average Sunday.
“It’s been a joy. This has been a good year for us. We’re in the midst of growing and doing things preferably the way God wants them to be done. This is a privileged church,” Steele said.
He added, “God does his best work with small numbers.”
The church started a new tutoring program for children in September, and it also offers a Bible study and a health ministry that offers services like blood pressure checks. Steele said his goal for Union is to fulfill the community’s needs.
“Union is a pillar in this community, willing and able to meet the needs of the people,” he said. “… Our mission, our goal is to welcome everybody in, see what the needs are and try to meet the needs.”
He wants Union to be known as an “all-inclusive church” where members are united, just as its name suggests. When asked what it takes for a church to survive for 131 years, Steele’s answer was simple: “Jesus.”
“To be the pastor of one of the oldest churches in this community and in Birmingham … there’s not too many churches that can say that and still be thriving the way we are,” Steele said.
