Tindley Temple
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 39° 56.482 W 075° 09.964
18S E 485812 N 4421262
Marker Text:
Founded 1902 as East Calvary Methodist Church. Renamed for its founder, Rev. Charles A. Tindley. Born a slave in Maryland, he did much to assist later migrants from the South. After his death, Tindley Temple continued to sponsor needed community programs.
Waymark Code: WMB57
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 04/23/2006
Views: 20
From:
Tindley Temple Ministries
The roots of what is now Tindley Temple United Methodist Church grew out of Zoar Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, when several families cross and flamewho lived south of Market Street formed their own congregation and began worshipping in their homes. In 1837, a small building on Bainbridge Street, near Eighth, was acquired for services and was called John Wesley Methodist Church. The Delaware Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in this church in 1864. In 1882, the Old Bainbridge Methodist Episcopal Church at the corner of Bainbridge and Marvine Streets was purchased and renamed Bainbridge Street Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1902, a total of twenty-two pastors had been appointed to the John Wesley and Bainbridge Street Churches.
In 1885, a man by the name Charles A. Tindley was hired as the janitor of the Bainbridge Street church. Born to slave parents on July 7, 1851, near Berlin Maryland, Tindley taught himself to read and write as a teenager, and later studied theology (including Greek and Hebrew) through correspondence courses from Boston University in order to pass the examination for ordination in the Methodist Episcopal Church. After several other appointments in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland, he eventually became Pastor of the church in 1902.
As Tindley’s reputation as a preacher continued to grow, so did the congregation. In 1924, the property adjacent to the church was purchased and construction began on what Tindley referred to as “God’s Cathedral.” Tindley explained to the congregation that the new church would generally conform to the description of the twelve-gated city as described in the Book of Revelation. In 1924, the name of the church was once again, this time to Tindley Temple, in honor of the distinguished Pastor. A court decree accomplished this on April 25th, 1927.