{"id":3318,"date":"2026-07-29T15:49:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T19:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/?page_id=3318"},"modified":"2026-07-29T15:56:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T19:56:21","slug":"st-luke-baptist-church","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/st-luke-baptist-church\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Luke Baptist Church\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p data-start=\"1854\" data-end=\"2020\"><a class=\"min-w-0 flex-1 text-sm select-text group font-normal text-token-text-primary text-sm! font-medium! text-token-text-primary! hover:entity-accent! hover:entity-underline! decoration-token-text-tertiary!\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/dir\/?api=1&amp;destination=St+Luke+Baptist+Church%2C+139+Carroll+St%2C+Paterson%2C+NJ+07501%2C+United+States&amp;utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">139 Carroll St, Paterson, NJ 07501,<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1854\" data-end=\"2020\">St. Luke Baptist Church\u00a0is one of Paterson&#8217;s best-known historic African-American congregations. It was organized in <strong data-start=\"212\" data-end=\"220\">1927<\/strong>, during the Great Migration, to serve the growing Black community that had settled in Paterson to work in the city&#8217;s industries. The church has played an important role in the city&#8217;s religious, educational, and civic life ever since.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"494\" data-end=\"506\"><strong data-start=\"494\" data-end=\"506\">Location<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"507\" data-end=\"599\">\n<li data-section-id=\"1dlgsan\" data-start=\"507\" data-end=\"546\">139 A.M. Tyler Place (Carroll Street)<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"vevo7t\" data-start=\"547\" data-end=\"575\">Paterson, New Jersey 07501<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"5l6i3n\" data-start=\"576\" data-end=\"599\">Phone: (973) 345-4309<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\" data-start=\"274\" data-end=\"313\"><strong>The pastors that can be documented are:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol data-start=\"315\" data-end=\"1109\">\n<li data-section-id=\"1e70jtd\" data-start=\"315\" data-end=\"648\"><strong data-start=\"318\" data-end=\"342\">Rev. Dr. A. M. Tyler<\/strong> (dates of pastorate not fully known)\n<ul data-start=\"387\" data-end=\"648\">\n<li data-section-id=\"33emgb\" data-start=\"387\" data-end=\"432\">Longtime pastor of St. Luke Baptist Church.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1yrt72f\" data-start=\"436\" data-end=\"482\">A leading figure in New Jersey Baptist life.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"ka2g8m\" data-start=\"486\" data-end=\"648\">Instrumental in organizing the <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Shiloh Baptist Association of New Jersey<\/span><\/span> in 1958 and served as one of its earliest moderators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"16p7m2t\" data-start=\"650\" data-end=\"1109\"><strong data-start=\"653\" data-end=\"692\">Rev. Dr. Kenneth Darryl Ray Clayton<\/strong> (1997\u2013present)\n<ul data-start=\"711\" data-end=\"1109\">\n<li data-section-id=\"1imn0do\" data-start=\"711\" data-end=\"779\">Called as <strong data-start=\"723\" data-end=\"743\">Assistant Pastor<\/strong> in 1997 under Rev. Dr. A. M. Tyler.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1lci5b5\" data-start=\"783\" data-end=\"838\">Became <strong data-start=\"792\" data-end=\"809\">Acting Pastor<\/strong> following Dr. Tyler&#8217;s death.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"gwtbly\" data-start=\"842\" data-end=\"905\">Officially elected <strong data-start=\"863\" data-end=\"880\">Senior Pastor<\/strong> on <strong data-start=\"884\" data-end=\"904\">October 22, 1997<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1qxnhg0\" data-start=\"909\" data-end=\"1109\">He is the <strong data-start=\"921\" data-end=\"950\">sixth and youngest pastor<\/strong> in the church&#8217;s history. Under his leadership, St. Luke has expanded its ministries, community outreach, and membership.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p data-start=\"940\" data-end=\"1167\"><strong data-start=\"940\" data-end=\"951\">History<\/strong><br \/>The congregation traces its origins to <strong data-start=\"991\" data-end=\"999\">1927<\/strong>, when African-American families migrating from the South organized a new Baptist congregation in Paterson. As membership increased, St. Luke became a major center for:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1168\" data-end=\"1346\">\n<li data-section-id=\"cs2kqp\" data-start=\"1168\" data-end=\"1206\">Christian worship and Bible teaching<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1azas5f\" data-start=\"1207\" data-end=\"1236\">Youth and family ministries<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"4vr1b0\" data-start=\"1237\" data-end=\"1266\">Music and choral traditions<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"171mb63\" data-start=\"1267\" data-end=\"1310\">Community development and social outreach<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1xzlmzi\" data-start=\"1311\" data-end=\"1346\">Educational and literacy programs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1348\" data-end=\"1554\">Today, the church continues to serve both its congregation and the wider Paterson community through worship services and the St. Luke Community Development Corporation.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1556\" data-end=\"1601\"><strong data-start=\"1556\" data-end=\"1580\">Community Ministries<\/strong><br \/>The church sponsors:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1602\" data-end=\"1852\">\n<li data-section-id=\"1d79vyq\" data-start=\"1602\" data-end=\"1635\">Children&#8217;s and youth ministries<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1ou9fzm\" data-start=\"1636\" data-end=\"1666\">Men&#8217;s and women&#8217;s ministries<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"cl2o1f\" data-start=\"1667\" data-end=\"1688\">Christian education<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1p3ft0b\" data-start=\"1689\" data-end=\"1719\">Food and clothing assistance<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"k2p2pn\" data-start=\"1720\" data-end=\"1749\">Reading assistance programs<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"14k782o\" data-start=\"1750\" data-end=\"1852\">Community development initiatives through its Resource Center.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1854\" data-end=\"2020\">If you&#8217;re researching the history of African-American churches in Paterson, St. Luke is considered one of the city&#8217;s most significant twentieth-century congregations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>139 Carroll St, Paterson, NJ 07501, St. Luke Baptist Church\u00a0is one of Paterson&#8217;s best-known historic African-American congregations. It was organized in 1927, during the Great Migration, to serve the growing Black community that had settled in Paterson to work in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/st-luke-baptist-church\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3318","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>St. Luke Baptist Church\u00a0 - Paterson History<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/st-luke-baptist-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Luke Baptist Church\u00a0 - Paterson History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"139 Carroll St, Paterson, NJ 07501, St. Luke Baptist Church\u00a0is one of Paterson&#8217;s best-known historic African-American congregations. 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