Local churches working together to break down racial barriers

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD)- There are decades of history between James Island Presbyterian Church and St. James Presbyterian Church.

The two churches used to be one.

“Here, blacks and whites did worship together with the blacks in the balcony and the whites on the floor,” Pastor of St, James Presbyterian, Reverend Dr. Brian Henderson said.

However, after James Island Presbyterian burned down, the church split.

“Whites went to one of the church members’ homes, a plantation, but the blacks couldn’t come. So they walked down the street and began to have worship under an oak tree in that direction where the church still is,” Dr. Henderson said.

The white members stayed at James Island Presbyterian, and the black members formed their own church, St James Presbyterian.

Since that split, the cemetery, where members of both churches have been buried for decades, remained segregated, separated by a fence.

However, in the last few months, the pastors of both churches, Reverend Tricia Petraven and Dr. Henderson decided the barrier between the two needed to come down.

The two church bodies came together one Saturday and removed it.

“Within an hour, all those posts were gone, all the cable was out,” Petraven said.

Now the two churches are putting up peace posts where the fence used to be, with words on the posts like remorse, truth, and partnership.

“It’s a whole litany of words that we think need to characterize this relationship,” Petraven said.

Both pastors saying even though the pains of the past can’t be changed, what they can focus on is healing.

“When people walk through here, they will see what was done to further the unity that we claim in our faith,” Dr. Henderson said.

On Saturday at 9 a.m., the two congregations plan to hold a ceremony as they officially put up the peace posts.