First Congregational Christian Church

First Congregational Christian Church. Founded in 1872. , One of the oldest African American churches in Montgomery, the First Congregational Christian Church was founded in 1872 by members of the American Missionary Association. The church was part of several institutions sponsored by the group in the Centennial Hill community. With the church as one of its cornerstones, Centennial Hill became a civic, religious, educational, business, and residential center for the city’s African Americans in the generations after the Civil War., Rev. Dr. George Whitfield Andrews served as the first pastor. Rev. R. C. Bedford, the church’s third pastor, was the first African American minister to lead the congregation. Having been led over its long history by 22 men, the church called Rev. Dr. Wendy Coleman as its first female pastor in 2012., Following the 1977 designation of Centennial Hill as an historic district, the church made several improvements, including a replica of the original steeple. Fire destroyed much of the church in April 1995. For a number of years, the congregation met in nearby Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church. A new, expanded edifice was dedicated on September 29, 2002. On October 19, 2022, to mark the occasion of the 150th anniversary of its founding, the members rededicated themselves to the work of the church as “a cornerstone of Centennial Hill.”