Our Story
Faith United Presbyterian Church was formed shortly after the American Civil War by Black worshippers who no longer wished to attend services at the nearby Old Bethesda Presbyterian Church. The early members met wherever they could; often outside, at homes, or in borrowed structures. The first church building was constructed in 1882. The present sanctuary was completed in 1894. The churchyard cemetery contains some of Faith's earliest members. Nearby land was also sold to the Trustees of Faith by the Blue and Page families and used to build homes for members, a manse, a school later called Sarah Lincoln Academy, and a larger cemetery. Faith Presbyterian Church was the heart of this growing community.
Faith Historic Church is inextricably linked to the region's development after the American Civil War. Its founders were formerly enslaved people who played an important, although largely unrecognized, role in the early growth of Aberdeen, first called Blue’s Crossing. They became loggers, skilled carpenters, blacksmiths, and merchants after the twentieth century. Many of their first-generation descendants were teachers in public schools. The first official pastor, Rev. Henry Davis Wood, is said to have selected the name "Faith" because "the newly freed slaves drawing out of Bethesda Presbyterian Church had nothing but faith on which to start a church where they could worship under their own 'vine and fig tree.'"
Faith United Presbyterian Church was one of the oldest Black churches in continuous use in Moore County until 1990, when the congregation was officially dissolved. Since Faith's dissolution, several other denominational and non-denominational congregations have used the building for worship. Faith's historical significance lies in the fact that it was, for many years, the only Black church in Moore County. It served as a place of worship, a meetinghouse for educational, social, and cultural activities, and, like many Black churches in the postbellum South, a forum for political discussion. It is one of the few remaining nineteenth-century Black churches in North Carolina. Faith Church is a historic landmark property in the National Registry of Historic Places within Aberdeen's Historic District.
What began as a passion project has evolved into something more. We’re proud of where we’ve been and even more excited for what’s ahead.
Sarah Lincoln Academy
Sarah Lincoln Academy
Rev. Dr. William Jones Rankin, the second pastor of Faith United Presbyterian Church, was educated at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and began his pastorate with the newly rebuilt Faith Church and Emmanuel Church (Southern Pines) congregations in 1894. Due to his influence, the original members of Faith were augmented by the influx of well-educated African Americans from the North. As with most Presbyterian churches in the nineteenth century, the congregation soon founded a school, a private academy for their young people, for whom no primary education was available. It was initially known as "The School House in the Woods" or "The School in the Pines" and was run out of the Rankin home. Over the course of several years, the school expanded, additional teachers were hired, and a modest campus was constructed. It was chartered by the Northern Presbytery as Sarah Lincoln Academy in 1896. In 1903, the school became part of the Presbyterian Church USA's Board of Missions. The academy closed in 1932 when public school options became available.