Greater Little Zion Baptist Church

Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax County Times newspaper:

Greater Little Zion Baptist Church celebrates 125 years
By Demi Lee Special to the Fairfax County Times Oct 7, 2016

A Fairfax church with over 400 congregants celebrates a rich history of 125 years this month. While the land’s history goes back even further, Greater Little Zion Baptist Church, originally built as Little Zion Baptist Church in Burke, began services in 1891 with Reverend Lewis Henry Bailey. According to the church’s historical records, when Rev. Bailey was a child he was sold from a slave pen in Alexandria, separated from his family, and taken to Texas. He returned to Alexandria when he was 21 years old in order to find his mother, which he did. The records describe him as, “An inspired, God-fearing leader of unshakeable faith.” Since then the church has had nine pastors including Reverend Dr. James T. Murphy Jr. who leads the congregation today.

In 1876, the land on which Greater Little Zion Baptist Church would one day be built on was donated by the son of a slave and his wife. Jack Pearson’s mother was Phillis Pearson, the slave of Francis Coffer IV. Coffer was “one of the most prominent landowners in Burke at the beginning of the Civil War,” and he left almost 400 acres of land to Phillis and her four sons. The original donation by Pearson was meant to build a Methodist church and a burial ground, but the construction never happened. Then in 1891, an organization called the Old School Baptist Groups of Blacks and Whites commissioned the original building which still stands today, which Rev. Dr. Murphy calls, “A testimony to our modern congregation of the lineage of hope of whom they ascend.” Rev. Bailey himself mortgaged his home in order to finance the on-room structure’s $50 mortgage.

In order to celebrate the 125 anniversary, Greater Little Zion Baptist Church will be holding a special service at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, October 16. The sermon will be led by Rev. Dr. Leonard M. Smith of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Arlington Virginia. Leading up to this event, Greater Little Zion Baptist Church will host an old-fashioned revival every evening between Monday, Oct. 10 and Friday, Oct. 14. These services will be led by a different guest minister every night at 7:15. In attendance during this week of celebration will be members of the church and other guests who are descendants from the founding families, as well as surviving relatives of the legacy pastors.

According to Deacon Dr. Alphronzo Moseley, the Chair of the 125 Church Anniversary Team, planning for this celebration started a year ago. A team of 30 people have put it together and have raised $125,000 to renovate the pews and other “high-priority, unfunded requirements.”

The theme is “125 Years: Remembering, Reconciling and Rejuvenating.” Moseley said a trip to Italy was part of the inspiration for this idea, “I learned that Italians were very good at preserving their history, that their churches were immaculate regardless of the town we visited, and that Pope Francis was planning a national day of forgiveness in September 2016. So after much prayer and meditation on the vision for the 125th Church Anniversary, it became quite clear to me what the vision ought to be: ‘125 Years: Remembering, Reconciling, and Rejuvenating’: Remembering from whence we have come over these 125 years, reconciling with each other so that we can do greater things in the Lord, and rejuvenating our physical church as well as rejuvenating ourselves both spiritually and physically.”

After developing a theme, the team then decided what sort of events would be relevant. As Moseley described it, “Remembering would require monthly church events so that the congregation would understand and relate to the many sacrifices and struggles that the initial congregation underwent beginning in 1891. Reconciling meant having some kind of church service so that the current congregation [would] be able to do greater things in the Lord well into the future. Rejuvenating meant developing the appropriate strategy for rejuvenating or renovating the physical church and a strategy for rejuvenating the congregation.”

Rev. Dr. Murphy gave his interpretation of these three Rs, “Our theme infuses the importance of never forgetting and forever forgiving, which helps rejuvenate our vision for future growth. Our goal is to be as forth-telling or prophetic as our predecessors from whom we have inherited two primary principles: being adaptable and being intentional. Nothing can endure for 125 years without a willingness to adapt and a willingness to be intentional to endure.”