After 42 years of preaching, Ronald Braxton has embarked on one of his greatest leaps of faith. His church — the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal in downtown D.C. — has been named one of the country’s most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Braxton, along with thousands of supporters, is determined to save the building that saw Frederick Douglass speak from its pulpit, and the funeral of Rosa Parks. The 61-year-old spoke with The Washington Examiner about his faith, and how it has grown through the struggle.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
We are of the African Methodist Episcopal church — the basic doctrine is Methodism. One of the things I appreciate most is its history. It was founded [in 1816] by Richard Allen as one of the first protest movements among religious bodies in this country. Allen left St. George’s Methodist Church in Philadelphia when he was pulled up off of his knees from trying to pray with the rest of the congregation. In time his philosophy became one of self-help — and that has been a guiding principle in my life. That has been one of the touchstones of Methodism from the early days, and it remains a very valuable message to keep before us in today’s society.
Did anyone especially influence your faith, or your path in life?
First, my mother. She was a single parent, and she worked very hard to make sure that both of her children received the best education they could receive, and that was afforded to them. The second would be my grandfather, who modeled for me what it meant to be a family man, and a strong African American person. He was a stevedore in the naval shipyard [near Norfolk, Va.]. Every day he got up in the morning, put on a shirt and tie, and went to the Navy Yard, only to put on coveralls and go down into the hull of the ship. When he came up, he took the coveralls off, and when he came home he had on a clean shirt and tie. And he worked hard every day of his life — every day. My wife says that’s where I picked up my work ethic.
Your church has served an incredible symbolic importance throughout the years. Explain what the building has meant to this city, and to the struggle for civil rights.
Metropolitan has not been merely a building just for African American people, but it has been a gathering place for Americans. It had been an important venue even before the civil rights movement — I have a flier that announces the coming of [black journalist and activist] Ida B. Wells to speak on mob rule in 1896. Frederick Douglass spoke on that pulpit on many occasions. It was the funeral place for Frederick Douglass and for Rosa Parks. If you look at the number and caliber of people — Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Eleanor Roosevelt in 1935, Teddy Kennedy during the Parks funeral, Paul Robeson — who have come through that edifice, through those doors, to stand and speak on behalf of issues affecting humanity, it’s remarkable.
Like Metropolitan, a lot of churches are facing financial shortfalls. How has that challenge caused you to reflect on your faith?
The answer is it has increased my faith. It has really served to increase my faith because the people at Metropolitan are really digging deep to make sure that we accomplish the task put before us. Every Sunday over the past 10 months, even with this economic crisis, the church has raised over half a million dollars just for this preservation cause. We’ve kept up with our conference assessments, we’ve never turned the lights off, we’ve never closed our doors. The Lord has put the right people in the right place at the right time to do what He needed to be done.
Faith itself is that tool, that element, that resource that defies reality. Reality will say you can’t, don’t try, stop. Faith will say you can, try, make the effort.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
God does make ways out of no way. And I believe with all my heart that if you put your trust in God, God will make the way. And impossible things will become possible.
– Leah Fabel
