THE PULPIT AND THE PASTORATE

Sep 29, 2026

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A foreword traces Charles Allen Stillman’s life journey from his birth in Charleston, theological training in Columbia, and ordination in Alabama through decades of pastoral leadership. It highlights his marriage and scholarly recognition, then centers on his ministry to freedmen and African Americans after the Civil War. The text explains how the PCUS addressed inclusion through separate Presbyterian organization, the shortage of Black ministers, and the educational barriers created by slavery. It then describes Stillman’s initiative to establish the Tuscaloosa Institute to train Colored Ministers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

FOREWORD

Early life and education

Pastoral service in Alabama

Ministry to freedmen and Black Presbyterians

PCUS resolutions and racial separation

Educational challenges for ministers

Establishing the Tuscaloosa training institute

# THE PULPITAND THE PASTORATE https://archive.org/details/pulpitpastorate0000stil | THE PULPIT AND THE
PASTORATE | | --- | | | | | | CHARLES ALLEN STILLMAN | | | | LOG COLLEGE PRESS
www.logcollegepress.com | | | | | | | The Pulpit and the PastorateBy Charles Allen Stillman 2019 by Log College Press First published in Memorial Volume ofthe Semi-Centennial of the TheologicalSeminary at Columbia,South Carolina(Columbia,SC:PresbyterianPublishing House,1884). Log College Press92 Cotton Wood Dr.Madison,MS 39110www.logcollegepress.com Page and cover design by Clay MeyerPrinted in the USA by Hederman Brothers Printing,Madison,MS ISBN:978-1-948102-21-6(Booklet) ISBN:978-1-948102-22-3(ePub) ISBN:978-1-948102-23-0(Mobi) ## FOREWORD On March 14,1819,Charles Allen was born in Charleston,South Carolina,to Mary and James S.Sillman.Under the ministry of Thomas Smyth,he became acommuning member of Second Presbyterian Church.Charles left his Lowcountryhome to attend Oglethorpe College in Milledgeville,Georgia.Oglethorpe haddeveloped from an academy,and at the time of Stillman's studies the founder,Rev.Carlisle P.Beman of Hopewell Presbytery,was president.Following graduationin 1841,Charles returned to Souch Carolina to attend the theological seminaryin Columbia to prepare for the ministry.He returned home after graduation andwas licensed by Charleston Presbytery.For about a year,he worked in his homechurch wich Thomas Smyth before being ordained by Tuscaloosa Presbytery to servethe congregation in Eutaw,Alabama.Eight years later,he changed calls to serve inGainesville,Alabama,for seventeen years.His final pastorate was in First Church,Tuscaloosa,Alabama,for a tenure of twenty-five years,until his death on January 23,1895.Charles Stillman was married to Martha Hammond in 1846,Fannie Collinsin 1866,and Elfreda Walker in 1872.The Stillman household was blessed withchildren.The University of Alabama honored him with the Doctor of Divinity in1863,and he served at the scribal desk as the Stated Clerk of Tuscaloosa Presbyteryfor thirty-seven years.In 1877,he was moderator of the Presbyterian Church inthe United States(PCUS)General Assembly when it met in retiring moderatorBenjamin Morgan Palmer's First Presbyterian Church,New Orleans During his years of service in Tuscaloosa,Rev.Stillman was not only pastor ofFirst Church but also a missionary to those who were at the time called freedmen,colored,or negroes.Before Stillman went to First Church,some members of thefock started a Sunday School for African Americans which Stillman cultivated into acongregation that he organized as Salem Presbyterian Church in 1880.!His concernfor all of God's image-bearers developed early in his Tuscaloosa Presbytery ministry,and it deepened as the years passed.The census of 1870 tallied Alabama's populationalmost exactly half white and half black.Stillman knew that failure to minister to his black brethren meant exclusion of half a million people from the gospel of Christ.The name of Charles Stillman in Alabama,as that of John Lafayette Girardeau inSouth Carolina,became identified with ministry to the black population. With the end of the Civil War came immediate freedom for all slaves in theformer Confederacy.The Presbyterian denomination in the southern states,thePCUS,believed they needed to decide how those who had worshipped in slaverywould be included in services as freedmen.Resolution of the situation came in1874 when the PCUS resolved that"the coloured people [needed]to organizethemselves into Presbyterian churches,separate from our Presbyteries."Today thiswould be called racial segregation but in that era it was seen as avoidance of racialamalgamation,mixing of the races.By whatever name,the separation denied theunity of the body of Christ. Charles Stillman was concerned that his black brethren should continue to bemembers of the Presbyterian Church,but a great problem was the lack of AfricanAmerican Presbyteria

FAQs

Who was Charles Allen Stillman, and where did his ministry take place?

Charles Allen Stillman was a Presbyterian minister whose pastoral work centered in Alabama, including congregational service such as First Church in Tuscaloosa.

Why did the PCUS create separate Presbyterian churches for formerly enslaved people?

After the Civil War, the PCUS believed it needed to determine how worshippers from slavery would be included, and in 1874 resolved that colored people should organize into Presbyterian churches separate from their presbyteries.

What problem did Stillman identify regarding Black Presbyterian ministers?

The text emphasizes a shortage of African American Presbyterian ministers and the difficulty of educating candidates, since teaching enslaved people to read was illegal before the war.

Sep 29, 2026

Upload by Jake