Selma, Alabama, experienced a devastating tornado on Thursday. Selma is rich in history. One bit of history many may not know is that Selma is home to the only predominantly African American RPCNA congregation. In 1874, Rev. Lewis Johnston’s the first African American to be ordained in the RPCNA, went to Selma to establish a school as well as to preach to freedmen.

On Thursday, January 12, 2023, the building of the Selma Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), one of its historic congregations, lost their 19th century building to a tornado. The Selma congregation and the ministry out of this building has changed the course of Black history in the South and human history for so many. From Knox Academy to Claude Brown’s legacy, good kingdom work has been done in this place for well over a century.

Selma, Alabama, experienced a devastating tornado on Thursday. Selma is rich in history. One bit of history many may not know is that Selma is home to the only predominantly African American RPCNA congregation. In 1874, Rev. Lewis Johnston’s the first African American to be ordained in the RPCNA, went to Selma to establish a school as well as to preach to freedmen. The church was built in 1878, and it has stood for 145 years. On Thursday morning it was destroyed in the tornado. Please keep the people of Selma and the surrounding areas who were impacted by the tornado in your prayers.

Read more on the tornado’s destruction in Selma.