Lisa Reisman Photo
Sunday at Upon This Rock.
Pastor Christine Perry offered the assembled some advice that also described a journey she was launching at the pulpit.
“There may be a little turbulence,” she told them. “But if there is, just hold onto your seat, because we’re definitely going to get there.”
Pastor Perry delivering Sunday's sermon.
The scene was early Sunday afternoon at Upon This Rock Ministries on Grand Avenue, a congregation that plays an outsized role in helping New Haven respond to challenges like violence, pandemic-era learning, and homelessness. Perry was delivering a guest sermon.
As she celebrated the glory of the Lord with a packed house of worshippers Sunday, Perry was launching a journey of her own, to a new pulpit across town.
She called out for a response. Her congregants, their paper fans flapping in the warm air, answered.
“Amen, sister,” they sang back, hands outstretched. “Praise God.”
The road Perry took to the pulpit has been a winding one, one cleared by her sister, Upon This Rock’s pastor, Apostle Valerie Washington.
Washington’s church is in the process of broadening its mission, creating two offshoot congregations, one in Bridgeport, the other on New Haven’s Kimberly Avenue, which Perry is set to lead. Sunday’s guest sermon by Perry was a warm-up of sorts for that mission.
The Road To The Pulpit
Musical selection at Sunday's service.
What makes Perry such an effective preacher is simple, according to Washington. She’s been there.
Perry, who’s 54, grew up in the West Hills neighborhood. “I was a lost person,” she said in an interview. “I got lost in the shuffle.” Pregnant as a teenager, she dropped out of high school. She endured physical abuse. “I was on drugs for years,” she said.
As a little girl, she said, “I never said I want to grow up to be a drug addict, and I’m quite sure no one said I want to grow up to be a drug dealer or murderer or robber. You just get lost in it.”
Then came a night in 2005. At the time, Washington was in the process of founding Upon This Rock Ministries.
“We had service at our oldest sister’s house, and Christine came by that night. She was on drugs, and she gave her life to the Lord,” Washington recalled.
Soon Perry was working at Upon This Rock’s food bank and its clothing pantry. In 2011, the mother of five daughters and grandmother of eight founded the Saturday Academy, which meets for four hours each month, offering fun, games, and lessons on life skills, as well as spiritual lessons through Bible study.
All the while, she was doing outreach. “We go out into the community and offer prayer and just witness to anyone that wants to make a change in their life in a positive direction,” she said.
“I’m able to relate to a lot of these individuals, letting them know there is a way out and I do understand, but most importantly, God understands.”
Perry recounted a call from Alder Honda Smith in the aftermath of the May 19 murder of 18-year-old Anthony Strother on South Genesee Street in West Hills.
“She asked us could we please come out and offer condolences to the family and offer prayer,” she said. “We knew that area. We go there during the summer season.”
At a vigil on South Genesee Street two days after the homicide, Perry watched Washington lead a prayer for the family’s healing. She watched her put her arm around Anthony’s 15-year-old brother Jordan and pray that he avoid seeking retaliation. It worked.
“We’re just letting the people know that we’re there,” Perry said. “We’re there to support them in any way that we can. We’re there to offer resources like drug rehab, domestic violence, any areas to help the families to the end that it becomes a better community.”
A New Direction
Well-thumbed Bible open to the story of Gideon
During her sermon Sunday, Perry shared lessons on how she evolved in her spiritual practice.
“I was a routine person,” she said. “Every day I got up at 4, went downstairs, had prayer with [husband] Minister Perry, drank my tea, watched my news, got my shower, get dressed. I’m going to work from 7 to 4, go home, sit down, drink tea, watch news, wait for Minister Perry, cook dinner, go to sleep, every day.
“I wasn’t leaving no room for God to move, where all I had to say was, ‘I commit myself to you.’
“You know what I do now? Everyday I look for God, I look out the window, ‘Where are you, God? What can I do for you today?’”
“It’s not what you can do for me,” she continued, her voice rising. “He’s done enough for me already. He cleaned me up.”
“Hallelujah,” a congregant called out.
“He gave me a new life. He gave me a roof over my head, a job, not only job but a good job.” Perry works as an administrative assistant at the West Haven Veterans Affairs hospital. “He gave me a car, not any car but a good car. What can I do for you today?”
“Amen, Amen to that.” A man and a woman stood and clapped.
Perry drew from the story of Gideon to ask congregants to honor their calling, recounting the elite force of 300 men whom he recruited for battle.
“You may not be the first pick, or the second pick, but you will be part of the pick,” she said.
That’s why there’s no room for jealousy or envy. “Just say, ‘It’s OK, God. What’s my part?’”
“I see why you chose them. Now why did you choose me?” Perry continued. “Because he chose me, he took me out of that dark world, and he brought me into this light. So now I got to ask him, ‘What’s my part?’ ”
Everyone has a part, she said. Everyone has a gift. “She’s the apostle because she can handle it,” Perry said, gesturing at Washington. Likewise, the praise and worship team, the ushers, the musicians.
“There is no time for complacency,” she said. “The only time we got to do our part is now.”
Hill Bound
Sister Wilonda, member of the Praise and Worship team, at Sunday's service.
In addition to its new church in Bridgeport, Gateway to Heaven Ministries, Washington said Upon This Rock is seeking to expand in New Haven, with Perry in charge.
“There was a space on Quinnipiac Avenue, but we needed her to be in an area where it’s needed,” Washington said.
They are currently looking at a location on Kimberly Avenue.
It will include a food bank, clothing pantry, and outside street service offering prayer, as well as church services, bible study, and Sunday school, Washington said.
“We want to be in the community and active, letting them know that we’re here and we’re trying to bridge that gap before anything happens instead of going in and trying it fix it after,” Perry said.
To that end, “we’re going to offer services to the youth, because I believe that if we can capture the youth, that’s half the battle right there.”
And if they’re unable to stop a tragedy from happening, “we’ll be there for the families, after the first couple days, the first couple of weeks, we’ll still be there.”
Her mission, she said, is simple: “to connect and to reconnect families through our faith.”
To donate to Upon This Rock ministries, visit https://bit.ly/3AxxE72
Where are the black minsters like this today?
We would not be who we are as African-Americans of this date were it not for the Reverend, the Prophet, Nat Turner—who brilliantly merged the religious with the political,The Reverend, The Prophet, Nat Turner didn’t just talk about the world to come but fought to transform the world that is. You know, he is honored and revered today—not because he could quote the Bible well, he could do that, but because he worked in the fields of life to get the slave master off of his neck, off of all of our necks.”
Mumia Abu-Jamal