A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin pulpitum. The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accessed by steps, with sides coming to about waist height. From the late medieval period onwards, pulpits have often had a canopy known as the sounding board, tester or abat-voix above and sometimes also behind the speaker, normally in wood. Though sometimes highly decorated, this is not purely decorative, but can have a useful acoustic effect in projecting the preacher's voice to the congregation below, especially prior to the invention of modern audio equipment. Most pulpits have one or more book-stands for the preacher to rest his bible, notes or texts upon.
The Charles Street Meeting House is an early-nineteenth-century historic church in Beacon Hill at 70 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts.
The black church is the faith and body of Christian denominations and congregations in the United States that predominantly minister to, and are also led by African Americans, as well as these churches' collective traditions and members. The term "black church" may also refer to individual congregations, including in traditionally white-led denominations.
St. George's United Methodist Church, located at the corner of 4th and New Streets, in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest Methodist church in continuous use in the United States, beginning in 1769. The congregation was founded in 1767, meeting initially in a sail loft on Dock Street, and in 1769 it purchased the shell of a building which had been erected in 1763 by a German Reformed congregation. At this time, Methodists had not yet broken away from the Anglican Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church was not founded until 1784.
The Metropolitan United Methodist Church is a church located at 8000 Woodward Avenue in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. It was completed in 1926, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1986. This church should not be confused with Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Washington, DC, which is often regarded as a National Church within the United States as it was specifically established by the General Conference to be a "representative presence of Methodism in the nation's capital".
Salem First United Methodist Church is a Methodist congregation and historic church in Salem, Oregon, United States. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places under its original name, First Methodist Episcopal Church of Salem, in 1983. First United is the oldest Methodist church west of the Rocky Mountains, and is a designated United Methodist Heritage Landmark. It is one of Oregon's few high-style Gothic Revival churches outside of Portland, and has one of the rare tall spires left standing in the state.
The Central United Methodist Church is located in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1977 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Old Bethel United Methodist Church is located at 222 Calhoun Street, Charleston, South Carolina. It is the oldest Methodist church still standing in the city.
Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church is an historic African Methodist Episcopal Church at 551 Warren Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The current church building was built in 1888 by J. Williams Beal and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The First Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, New York was the first organized religious body formed in what was then the western frontier of New York State. The town of Buffalo was sparsely populated when the church was organized on February 2, 1812. However, having survived the War of 1812, the town of Buffalo was rebuilt and rapidly grew with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. The first two buildings were located on the same downtown lot. However, the congregation relocated between 1889 and 1891 to its present location approximately one and-a-half miles to the north in a more residential area.
The Pitt Street Uniting Church is a heritage-listed Uniting church building located at 264 Pitt Street in the Sydney central business district, Australia. Founded in 1833, the congregation was the original church of Congregationalism in New South Wales. The church building was designed by John Bibb and built from 1841 to 1846. It is also known as Pitt Street Congregational Church. The property is owned by The Uniting Church in Australia and was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Mount Zion Methodist Church is located on Primrose Avenue in Somers, New York, United States. It is a white clapboard-sided church built near the end of the 18th century, and heavily renovated around 1860. A century later, in 1970, it was severely vandalized.
St. James' A.M.E. Church is a historic church located at High and Court Streets in Newark, New Jersey. Built in 1850 by architect John Welch and dedicated in 1854, it was originally called the High Street Presbyterian Church until 1926, when it was briefly disbanded. It was re-established as Bethel AME Church before being renamed Saint James' AME Church.
First United Methodist Church is a historic church at 129 W. Hutchison in San Marcos, Texas.
The British Methodist Episcopal (BME) Church, Salem Chapel was founded in 1820 by African-American freedom seekers in St. Catharines, Ontario. It is located at 92 Geneva St., in the heart of Old St. Catharines. The church is a valued historical site due to its design, and its important associations with abolitionist activity.
The Church of the Epiphany was an Episcopal congregation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1834, it merged with St. Luke's Church in 1898 to form The Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany. Its 1834 Greek Revival building, designed by architect Thomas Ustick Walter and located at 1501-15 Chestnut Street, was demolished in 1902.
The Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, also known as "Mother Zion", located at 140–148 West 137th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is the oldest African-American church in New York City, and the "mother church" of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion conference.
The Bethel A.M.E. Church, known in its early years as Indianapolis Station or the Vermont Street Church, is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. Organized in 1836, it is the city's oldest African-American congregation. The three-story church on West Vermont Street dates to 1869 and was added to the National Register in 1991. The surrounding neighborhood, once the heart of downtown Indianapolis's African American community, significantly changed with post-World War II urban development that included new hotels, apartments, office space, museums, and the Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis campus. In 2016 the congregation sold their deteriorating church, which will be used in a future commercial development. The congregation built a new worship center at 6417 Zionsville Road in Pike Township in northwest Indianapolis.
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, colloquially Mother Emanuel, is a church in Charleston, South Carolina, founded in 1817. It is the oldest AME church in the Southern United States; founded the previous year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, AME was the first independent black denomination in the nation. Mother Emanuel has one of the oldest black congregations south of Baltimore.
Morris Brown was one of the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and its second presiding bishop. He founded Emanuel AME Church in his native Charleston, South Carolina. It was implicated in the slave uprising planned by Denmark Vesey, also of this church, and after that was suppressed, Brown was imprisoned for nearly a year. He was never convicted of a crime.
