Juneteenth Worship Gathering
Friday, June 19 | 7–8:30 PM | Pilgrim Baptist Church, St. Paul
Join Christians from across the Twin Cities for a night of worship, prayer, and community at historic Pilgrim Baptist Church in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, with dessert reception to follow.
Worship will be led by musicians from multiple Twin Cities churches, as we gather across lines of race and ethnicity to celebrate emancipation and remember the biblical faith that sustained an enslaved people.
Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Galveston, TX, the moment freedom’s promise became freedom’s reality. For Christians, this is not merely civic memory. Every person bears the image of God, and Juneteenth invites the Church to celebrate what happens when that truth breaks through, and to recommit to the work still ahead.
Our host church has special significance. Pilgrim Baptist Church in St. Paul was the first African American Baptist church established in Minnesota. The congregation was founded during the Civil War, in 1863, by enslaved people who had escaped from Missouri, eventually boarding a steamboat that carried them up the Mississippi River to Fort Snelling. Among them was pastor Robert Thomas Hickman. He and other families initially worshiped in homes and other sites – calling themselves Pilgrims – before locating to its current location in the Rondo neighborhood in 1928. (See history video).
📍 732 Central Ave W, St. Paul, MN 55104 | Parking available
Optional Registration Here! *This helps us plan accordingly for dessert and fellowship afterwards!
If your church wants to participate in the joint music and worship team, reach out to Brie@transformmn.org.