Beams of heaven as I go, Through this wilderness below, Guide my feet in peaceful ways, Turn my midnights into days. When in the darkness I would grope, Faith always sees a star of hope, And soon from all lifes grief and danger, I shall be free someday. I do not know, how long twill be, Nor what the future holds for me, But this I know: if Jesus keeps me, I shall be free someday. (Beams of Heaven, Charles Albert Tindley, 1906 United Methodist Hymnal, No. 524, (c) 1984,J. Edward Hoy) For Throwback Thursday-Tindley Temple United Methodist Church Address: 750-762 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Neighborhood: Avenue of the Arts Year Built: 1923-1928 Architectural Style: Beaux Arts Romanesque/Art Deco Architect: Walter F. Ballinger Philadelphia Register of Historic Places: 2008 National Register of Historic Places: 2011 Current Use: Church services Historical BackgroundTindley Temple is home to an outstanding tradition of sacred worship music in Philadelphia that includes gospel, traditional spiritual hymns and contemporary, jazz-influenced Christian songs. Its namesake, Rev. Dr. Charles Albert Tindley (1851-1933), was a prolific hymn writer, who composed such gospel classics as “Stand by Me,” “Leave it There,” and “We’ll Understand it By and By.” If Thomas A. Dorsey can be called the “father of modern gospel music” then Dr. Tindley is gospel’s “grandfather.” Dr. Tindley was born to slave parents in Berlin, MD in 1851. He taught himself to read and write as a teenager, and while working as a janitor at the Bainbridge Street Methodist Episcopal Church took correspondence courses from Boston University to become a minister. Tindley served several congregations in the region before returning to Philadelphia in 1902 to become pastor of the same church where he swept floors. Under Dr. Tindley’s charismatic leadership, the small, multicultural congregation swelled to an estimated 12,500 persons at the time of his death (in the 1920’s Tindley was reportedly the largest Methodist congregation in the country, black or white). To accommodate its growing congregation, Tindley commissioned a new building from the engineering firm Ballinger & Co. The Beaux Arts Romanesque/ Art Deco church was built between 1923 and 1928, and has changed little in the years since. It can seat 3,200 persons and has one of only two Moller four manual organs in Philadelphia with six divisions and more than 6,000 pipes. When the current building was dedicated in 1927, the congregation renamed itself in honor of Dr. Tindley. Dr. Tindley was an influential leader in Philadelphia’s black community, successfully lobbying the John Wanamaker department store to hire black workers. His church was also an important provider of social services. Tindley’s parishioners provided temporary housing for southerners who migrated north for industrial jobs during WWI, and the church ran a soup kitchen beginning in the 1930s that is still in operation today. An important influence on gospel great Thomas A. Dorsey, Dr. Tindley’s music has been performed by artists as diverse as Blind Willie Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Sweet Honey and the Rock. Tindley Temple is listed in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and was recently approved for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 23:07:17 +0000