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 he Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn was organized in 1857, at a time when the issue of slavery dominated the national debate. The church called Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, a militant abolitionist, as its founding pastor. Though friends, the Reverend Dr. Cuyler would press President Lincoln relentlessly on the issue of emancipation, both before and during the Civil War. The church was known from the outset as a “temple of abolition.”
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In 1872, Cuyler, himself now a famous preacher, arranged for what would become a transforming event. He invited Sarah Smiley, a Quaker preacher, to be the first woman ever to preach from a Presbyterian pulpit. The congregation took this in stride and supported it. Not so the local Presbyterian authorities, who brought Cuyler up on “heresy” charges and accused him of holding a “promiscuous assembly” (promiscuous because a woman was preaching). The debate raged for days on the front pages of the Brooklyn Eagle and Harper’s Weekly. Cuyler held firm and eventually the church authorities only issued a censure, and backed down on the heresy charges. But Lafayette Avenue Church was forever destined to be in the forefront of the social justice struggles of the day.
In 1892, the second Pastor, Dr. David Gregg, preached a sermon that challenged the religious premise of the Columbus expedition. He later included “Our American Foremothers” and “Our Afro-American Forefathers” in his sermon series on “Makers of the American Republic.”
The Church, through one of its members, Mr. Daniel W. McWilliams, was directly responsible for the opening of Presbyterian work in Korea and for the appointment of Horace Grant Underwood, in the year 1884. The beginning of Protestant Christian Missions in Korea, and the beginning of three generations of Underwoods working in Korea stem directly from the missionary concern of this church. And that historic beginning has been followed by an unbroken record of association between this family and this church, sharing together in the work of the church in Korea.
In the year 1884 Korea had been open to the outside world for two years. But the Church in America, which had hoped for an open door, was failing to enter when the door opened. Uncertainties and dangers seemed too great to warrant the cost, or so it was claimed in a published article against opening mission work in Korea. Mr. McWilliams read that article, and determined to give an equal hearing to someone who would speak for the opportunities instead of the obstacles. At a luncheon with a representative of the Presbyterian Board, he was convinced that there was no Christian ground for further delay. And he then drew a check for $6,000 to begin the work of the Presbyterian Church in Korea. Continued >>
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