STH Alums and Faculty Attend Unity Day at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia
March 24-25, 2019 – The Mount Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA, hosted School of Theology faculty, alums, and community members for an event titled “Living and Building the Howard Thurman Legacy.” Senior Pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church, Rev. Cedric Jones (STH’92) presided over the two-day event, which built on the legacy of Howard Thurman, Boston University’s former Marsh Chapel Dean (1953-1965). The events were scheduled in congruence with Mt. Zion’s 20th Annual Unity Day.
The events on Sunday included a study session, church services, lunch and community walking tour. The 9am study session was led by Sharon Watson Fluker, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The 10:30am worship service featured guest preacher STH Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Ethical Leadership Walter E. Fluker (GRS’88, STH’88) with upwards of 200 people in attendance.
On Monday, about 80 congregants and church and community leaders in Philadelphia attended brunch and the screening and discussion of the PBS documentary, “Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story” by filmmaker Martin Doblmeier (COM’80). Preeminent Thurman expert Rev. Dr. Walter Fluker is a featured interviewee in the documentary and he attended both the showing and discussion, which included a mention of the Howard Thurman Fellowships at the Boston University School of Theology.
“Cedric Jones and his congregation led a beautiful Unity Day with Walter and Sharon Fluker, enacting a collaborative ministry between Mount Zion Baptist Church and the BU School of Theology,” says Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore. “Cedric Jones had galvanized a gathering that one person named as ‘game-changing.’”