FEATURE STORY: SAVING MOTHER TRINITY
How a landmark moved
from loss to hope
in Augusta, Georgia
by Joshua Castaño
Director of Community Engagement, Partners for Sacred Places
“In the city of Augusta, where Eighth and Taylor meet
Stands a church with steeple reaching to the sky.
There since eighteen hundred forty devoted C.M.E.s
Have been praising Father, Son and Holy Ghost on high
Chorus
Trinity, dear Mother Trinity, for one hundred seventy years
Through faith, toil, prayer and tears
The Lord has worked through thee to serve humanity
And by His grace you’ll prosper many more.”
“Mother Trinity” music and lyrics (alt.) by Dr. Ann D. Poole (1990) for Mother Trinity’s 150 th Anniversary
M
other Trinity CME is a historic sacred place with new
hope, new purpose—and now a new location—after being
moved earlier this year to save it from demolition. When
environmental contamination left this important sacred place va-
cant and threatened with demolition, a major effort to save it gener-
ated a new plan for its future and a remarkable move to a new site in
its historic neighborhood.
The congregation’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Skip Mason sums up
Mother Trinity’s extraordinary story. “We prayed to God to help us
save this building. We know it’s just a building, but it means so
much to our church, the community of Augusta, and our members.”
Now Mother Trinity continues to stand as a proud and important
landmark of faith and the story of African American life for nearly
170 years.
Two decades before the Civil War would alter the destiny of the
nation and the 14 th Amendment would be passed to permanently
end slavery, 125 enslaved persons in Augusta, Georgia came together
to build a house of worship at the corner of Eighth and Taylor
Streets. As Rev. Mason put it, “This building is a symbol of the hopes,
dreams, and aspirations of enslaved people who wanted their own
place to worship freely. Out of this church came many great men
and women who made great contributions to Augusta and the
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SACRED PLACES • AUTUMN/WINTER 2018-19
world.” One of those greats was the godfather of soul, James Brown,
who developed a long and loving connection to the congregation.
Over the years, Trinity CME was given the name “Mother”
because it was a pioneer in its day, giving determination and hope to
enslaved people. Further, it was a founding congregation of the
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. The CME denomination was
formally organized in 1870, and is one of the several historic associa-
tions that make up the rich tradition of African-American Metho-
dism that has come to play a large role in defining the Black spiritual
experience in America. Today the CME tradition includes 3,500
congregations with almost 850,000 members. Part of the CME de-
nomination’s distinctive character is its Social Creed, developed in
the 20 th Century as the church affirmed its concern with major so-
cial issues such as economic opportunity, justice, and human devel-
opment. The values of the CME’s Social Creed are one key to under-
standing the passionate purpose and mission of the congregation
and its allies in the struggle to establish a community-serving future
for Mother Trinity’s historic home and to save it from destruction.
For over 150 years Mother Trinity was filled with voices of
song, prayer, and joy, but for the last two decades it has been vacant
and mournfully silent. In the early 1990s, the congregation made the
difficult decision to move out of its beloved historic home to larger