New Covenant Presbyterian Church (Miami)

The New Covenant Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami, Florida. It is significant for being the first Southern congregation in the Presbyterian Church (USA) to break racial barriers. In the 1960s the neighborhood was experiencing a white-to-black overhaul. While many white congregations moved somewhat slowly and reluctantly toward absorbing their black neighbors during the Civil Rights era, New Covenant was the first Miami church to be conceived and organized with the definite purpose of integration. When it was formed in 1965, the congregation adopted the motto: "A church for all people". The church quickly swelled, boasting some 300 worshipers at its peak. Over time, what began as a multicolored mix—including a few Hispanics—remained largely integrated and harmonious, despite the McDuffie race riots and continued white flight—at least until nearly all white members had died or moved away by the 1990s. “It was fully interracial—in the choir and in the organization”, said the Rev. Dr. "Mike" Irvin Elligan, the church’s pastor from 1970 to 1985. “There were white people who were invited to black homes for dinner and vice versa.” Elligan, an African American, had as his associate pastor, the Rev. Dr. Y. Jacqueline Rhoades, a white woman born in France. The church was truly a multi-cultural congregation. N

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).