Lewis C. Sheafe: Apostle to Black America

Lewis Charles Sheafe (1859-1938)

Though virtually unknown today, a century ago Sheafe was by all accounts the leading figure in the rise of Adventism among African Americans.  Not only that, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg described him as “a more liberally educated and cultivated man” than “any other Seventh-day Adventist minister,” adding that the church did not have “a white minister that can begin to stand next to him.”

 

Described by a Washington, D.C. newspaper in 1902 as the "noted apostle of Seventh Day Adventism," Sheafe is the subject of a new biography by Douglas Morgan, published by Review and Herald Publishing Association as part of its Adventist Pioneer Series.

 

Sheafe organized Adventism’s first predominantly black urban congregation, the People’s Church in Washington, D.C.  The evangelistic campaigns that led to the church’s formation in 1903 attracted mixed-race audiences numbering in the thousands, and catapulted Sheafe to prominence in the cultural center of black America.

Deeper Treasure from the GC Online Archives

The Office of Archives and Statistics at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists makes available a phenomenal wealth of full-text historical sources online.  Long-time director Bert Haloviak initiated the service several years ago and oversaw steady expansion its offerings, and his successor, Dr. David Trim, is carrying it forward.

via www.historyandhope.org

Shaking Up the Segregationists

Sheafe's fiery denunciation of the Republican party in 1895 for its betrayal of black Americans during the decades following Civil War not only caused a stir in Ohio, but also sent shock waves further south.... more

Sheafe and Strachan: Lessons From the Careers of Rival Ministers

Sheafe's career is compared with that of a fellow black minister, Matthew C. Strachan, who at times opposed him on matters of Adventist church organization and authority, in an article published in the April 2011 issue of Ministry magazine. Entitled, "Proclaiming the Gospel and Changing Society," the article "reveals how these two men spent their lives -- exhausting themselves -- in fulfilling the gospel commission, changing both the Adventist church and society at large," writes Willie E. Hucks II, associated editor of the magazine.

Sheafe, Not Sunday

When America's most famous revivalist, Billy Sunday, laid plans for an evangelistic campaign in Washington, D.C. to begin in January 1918, a correspondent to the Washington Bee newspaper proposed that, in view of Sunday's refusal to address racial injustice, the city's black churches organize their own revival, and that Sheafe would be the best counter to Sunday as preacher.

See "The Greatest Evangelist and Singer the Race Has Produced," posted 4 December 2010.

Reader Comments

Comments on the biography by Charles E. Bradford, Martin E. Marty, Monte Sahlin, Emory Tolbert, Michele Riley-Jones, George Knight, and Myles V. Lynk (grandson of Lewis Sheafe) in Reviews & Commentary.

New photos for 1902-1906

Posted September 6.  Click here to see them.

New Photos for 1896-1902

Click here to see them,  Posted August 9, 2010.

New in Documents

Entry on Sheafe in Who's Who in Colored America and the "parable" about two sheep on a mountain path that Sheafe related in explaining his reconciliation with the Seventh-day Adventist denomination in 1913.

Posted July 30, 2010