The History of the Harding Street Church of God

Do we dare go back in time by way of memory to count the number of ways that God has blessed his people or to reveal the hand of God as it mysteriously moved among us?  Surely, such a venture will put the faithful in the mood to have a praise fest of thanksgiving and awesome wonder.  For surely God has moved in our midst, and we have seen his hand of compassion extended to his faithful few.  This is especially true in regards to the establishment and growth of a small congregation of believers on Chicago’s Westside.  Let us sit and relax as we go back in time and recount the movement of God that has brought that small congregation now known as the Harding Street Church of God to where it is today.  As we review the past, let us take time to thank God for his past mercy while resting in the fact that what God has done in the past is only an example of what he plans for the future.

    Who would have known that God had visited favor on a group of people, many of whom were not yet born, when he suffered the safe delivery of a male child on May 2^nd, 1922, in the small Mississippi town of Sledge?  The evidence of the future blessing was not immediately known as the male child named Ula C. Bland rebelled against the Church of God influence exerted by his parents.  Young Ula grew up yielding to the dictates of his flesh and resistance to God’s holiness while seeking to follow his father’s footsteps and make his way through the world as a farmer.  Young Ula wanted to be the best farmer possible and put his heart into being successful in his chosen profession.  Some will testify that Ula would work in the fields from “can to can’t.”  This work ethic for farming would manifest itself later in life as God would get a hold on Ula’s heart and send him into a different field than the one to which he had grown accustomed.  For Ula did not know at the time that God wanted him to be a different type of husbandman.  Yes, God wanted Ula to be a farmer, but not the type of farmer who grows plants out of soil.  God wanted to make Ula a husbandman in his vineyard.

    Before Ula could begin his adult life as a farmer, he was called by his country to join the fight against Japan during World War II.  God would use several of Ula’s experiences in the United States Navy to teach Ula lessons for life that he readily shared with the saints he would later instruct in the ways of holiness.  For example, live fire practice taught Ula about humility.  No matter how close to the ground Ula thought he was, he found he could get a little lower when the bullets flew over his head.  One can apply this concept in the Christian life.  One can always find a way to get a little lower to avoid the excesses of the flesh when dealing with people.  Another example of a life lesson Ula learned involved the training the Navy gave to prepare its sailors for warfare with the Japanese.  Brother Bland would sleep during some of the instruction.  Later when he found himself in the war zone, he wished many a day he had not slept when instruction was given on how to avoid traps set by the enemy.  Later he would admonish the saints to pay attention to instruction on what they needed to do to be successful in the fight against the Devil.

            God blessed the young Bland to return safely from the war.  Back at home in Mississippi, the future pastor had grown comfortable with the idea of having a life as a farmer.  Over time, he had married a young country girl by the name of Mary and had purchased forty acres of land to pursue his career as a farmer.  However, Mary felt that there was a better life in the big city.  Ula’s younger sister Onecia, who had earlier moved to Chicago, would let him know that “there was a better way.”  While all of this was going on, Mary Bland would give her life to the Lord.  Her husband would continue to pursue the life of sin and that of being a farmer.  Finally, in 1949, Ula conceded to Mary that if she stuck with him for three more years to give him time to finish paying for his land, he would make the move to Chicago.  True to his promise, Ula Bland arrived in Chicago towards the end of 1952.  Fascinated by the bright lights and life in the big city, it was Ula’s intention to party hard and take advantage of the ungodly life made easy by city living.  However, only six months in his new adventure in life, God saved Brother Bland.

            The future pastor joined himself to a Church of God congregation located at 16^th and Millard.  That congregation was not very far from the current location of the Harding Street Church of God on 14^th Street and Harding.  Brother Bland often tells the story how he wanted to go home and let his mother know that he had accepted Christ as his savior.  After arriving home, he told his mother the good news.  His mother waited until Saturday night to see what her son would do.  When Brother Bland stayed home that Saturday night, his mother knew that he was truly saved.

            As a member of the Church of God congregation at 16^th and Millard, God begin training the future pastor to perform in his calling.  Brother Bland became the Sunday school teacher, and once he preached when his pastor was absent from the congregation.  In addition, Ula would meet with some brothers (the Sam boys) from a Baptist Church to study the Sunday school lesson.  In addition to these study sessions, Brother Bland would attend studies ran by an instructor from Wheaton Bible College.  As a result of these classes, Brother Bland earned certificates in the Old Testament, the New Testament and a few other certificates that he could not name at this time.  It was at one of the Bible studies with the Sam brothers that he met the pastor of the Church of God congregation at 46^th and Drexel.  The pastor of the 46^thstreet congregation, Elder Willie Gordon, invited Brother Bland to attend one of his services.  Unaware to both men at the time, the hand of God was moving.

            Brother Bland did accept the invitation to visit the Church of God congregation at 46^th and Drexel.  He made a move to cast his lot with the saints there either in 1964 or 1965.  However, he did not join the congregation until he had consulted with Pastor Gordon on issues like holiness and other relevant doctrines.  Brother Bland joined the congregation and the hand of God on him began to make its manifestation.  At his new place of worship, Brother Bland became the adult Sunday school teacher and a captain of the Westside outreach group.  Every indication was that he earned the respect of the leadership and the membership as a humble, godly man of God.  In 1969, Pastor Gordon recognized the hand of God on the future pastor and asked him if he was ordained.  Brother Bland had not been ordained into the gospel ministry and informed Pastor Gordon such was the case.  Pastor Gordon asked Brother Bland to set a date and he would ordain him.  After ordination, Brother Bland continued to perform in the gospel ministry under the guidance of his pastor, Willie Gordon.  However, the time came when God started stirring up things in preparation for Brother Bland to make a move.  These events did not include any doctrinal differences or any change in the relationship that Brother Bland had with the saints at his home congregation.  These events surrounded another humble child of God by the name of the late Aletha Grady later known by her married name Aletha Grady Tiggs.

            The Name Aletha Grady was not new to Brother Bland.  Sister Grady, as she was known back then, accepted Jesus as her savior in 1953, and was led to the Church of God through the evangelistic efforts of Brother Willie Jones.  Brother Willie Jones was witnessing as he traveled down the block on which Sister Aletha lived.  Brother Jones stopped by Sister Aletha's home long enough to reveal the plan of salvation and how it was working through the Church of God.  Aletha accepted the message and committed the rest of her life to seeking and perfecting the will of God in her life.  (It is with great sadness that I must report while preparing this brief history, Sister Aletha Grady-Tiggs departed this life on Saturday, June, 28, 2008).  Armed with a missionary spirit, the former Sister Grady traveled around Chicago’s Westside and other places establishing cottage meetings.  While attending a Bible study being held in the home of her sister-in-law, she heard the teachings of Brother Bland for the first time.  However, Sister Aletha continued her quest and servitude spreading the Gospel, feeding the hungry, and visiting the sick.  As she busied herself with these activities, Sister Aletha received the inspiration and a vision of having a Church of God congregation on the Westside of Chicago.  As time passed, she would talk to various ministers of the Gospel about her vision.  None of the ministers followed through and accepted the call.  Some of the ministers were against the establishment of a congregation on the Westside and were not shy about letting Sister Aletha know their feelings.  However, the Spirit of God would not allow the desire in Sister Aletha to die nor would she allow discouraging words discourage her.  Finally, Sister Aletha used her private funds to rent a vacant storefront that was located on the corner of Grenshaw and Central Park in the summer of 1972.  We were known then as the Grenshaw Church of God.  Grenshaw Church of God is the name we still have with the State of Illinois for legal reasons though our popular name has changed as we changed worship locations.  Sister Aletha invited several saints to join her in worship and asked Brother Bland if he would come over and teach.  Brother Bland had confided in some that he was seeking direction from the Lord regarding making a move to help with the work being established on the Westside.  At first, he did not receive a response from those with whom he worshiped.  However, after announcing that he believed that God would have him go to work with the Westside saints, he too began to receive advice against starting a work on the Westside.  Nevertheless, Brother Bland felt an obligation to follow the leading of the Lord that he had so faithfully served.  The new pastor came to the Westside with the idea that if God was not in the move, the sooner God destroyed the work the better it would be for everybody.  Therefore, Sister Aletha opened the door to the new work without the visible support of any of the established Southside congregations.  With such a shaky start, the new work on the Westside slowly began to thrive.  It is amazing how what appeared to be a bunch of unrelated events worked together to the forming of the Westside congregation.  These events include Brother Willie Jones walking down a street and witnessing to whomever would listen.  Sister Aletha Grady happened to live on the street on which Brother Willie Jones took his street evangelism.  Willie Jones worshiped under Pastor Gordon who had invited Brother Bland to join him in worship at the 46^th Street Congregation.  Sister Aletha had a burden to reach out to souls on the Westside of Chicago.  Brother Bland was the Westside captain who was also holding Bible classes wherever anyone would open a door.  Sister Aletha had asked several ministers about providing leadership for a Westside congregation.  None of them followed through until she asked Brother Bland.  Without anyone discouraging him, Brother Bland was able to seek the Lord and get an answer from heaven before anyone could discourage him about going to the Westside.  The bottom line is the hand of God was working quietly in the background working through committed individuals to perfect his will.

            Over the years under Pastor Bland’s leadership, the Westside congregation began to grow.  A good number of the saints worshiping in the very small congregation were converts to the faith.  The Sunday services were not enough to feed the growing hunger of the congregation.  A proposal was made to start a Tuesday night Bible class in which the whole time would be devoted to study of the Bible.  The saints thought this was a good idea and supported the Tuesday night Bible class with their attendance and prayers.  It was not long before some of the saints wanted to have another service in the middle of the week.  Brother Bland agreed and soon we were having service every Thursday night.  Though the place was small and the saints few in number, there was much joy among the saints and thankfulness to God for the blessings that he provided to such an undeserving group.

            Unfortunately, our first place of worship was in a building that was later condemned by the city.  In 1973, this left the saints in a position of needing to find a new place of worship.  The congregation was small and the money was little.  However, God moved his hand upon the Blands.  The late Sister Mary Bland was the owner of a lucrative beauty shop on 22^nd Street.  The Blands had full ownership of the building as well as the business in it.  The Blands agreed to close the business and donate the building to the little congregation.  The few brothers in the congregation met on Saturday and put labor into turning the building into a place where service could be held.  Even in this endeavor, the hand of God was moving on the unsaved son of one of the saints to come and help with the renovation.  Later, when the building opened for services, this same son would attend one of the services and walk out a changed man.  To this day, he continues to work around the church property to keep it fit for worship service.

            The new place of worship was probably four times the size of the previous place of worship.  It was not long before the Sunday morning services began drawing standing room only crowds.  Several Sundays it was necessary to take the children outside to make enough room for the adults to hear the word of God.  Sister Mary Bland used to warn that we shouldn’t let the numbers of people attending the service mislead us.  To her, the real test would come when people found that they had to live the Gospel that they heard preached.  During that time, we were known as the Cermak Church of God (Cermak Road is the given name for 22^nd Street).  True enough to Sister Bland’s warnings, we witness the numbers increase in the Cermak Church of God and then the numbers would thin out only to see them revive.  The services eventually revived to the point that the storefront on Cermak was not sufficient to hold the crowds attending on Sunday mornings.  Most weeknights the crowd was nearly standing room only.  Once again, the congregation was settled with seeking a worship place large enough to hold the congregation and give us room to exercise ministry related to the Gospel outreach.

            We found a building that matched our needs at a price with which we could afford at 1333 S. Harding.  The church building was vacant at the time because the owners had moved into another building.  While vacant, no one kept the building up.  The roof had sprung a leak and had damaged the inside of the building.  The late Brother Washington, when he saw the building, voiced an opinion “that the only thing that could help that building was the wrecking ball.”  Some of the brothers laughed in agreement.  However, other brothers had a vision of what the building could become.  The saints agreed to purchase the building, and the brothers went to work to make it fit for worship service.  Once the building was completed and we moved in, the services we had on 22^nd Street were nothing compared to the service we enjoyed in the new place.  The year was 1978.  It was at this time that we became known as the Harding Street Church of God.

    Over time it became clear a complete renovation of the worship place was needed.  In 1986, the leadership decided on taking the building down to the brick walls with the intent of doing a redesign of the interior to make a larger assembly area with more classrooms in the balcony.  While the renovation was underway, the saints would worship with the saints at 44^th Street and St. Lawrence.  The renovation ran into major trouble as the workers ran into problems that were not foreseen before the walls were torn down.  We also had to go with a new contractor as some of the blue print plans were changed without notifying the church’s leadership.  The city inspectors also came in and added requirements based on the new findings when the bare walls were exposed.  Some believed that the problems were evidence that God was done with the work on the Westside and that we should permanently join the congregation at 44^th Street.  However, we stuck with the project and God saw us through.  We were able to continue the work on the Westside though the finish project was not what we wanted when we started.

    We returned to the building at 1333 S. Harding and worshiped there for many years.  However, the new renovated building left us feeling somewhat handicapped in our attempt to use the building to the full glory of God.  To the south of the 1333 location, the Church over time had purchased nine vacant city lots that took the church’s property to the corner of 14^th and Harding Streets.  More and more the saints looked to the lots as a solution to the shortcomings inherent in the renovated 1333 building.  The church started a building fund and it was not long before a decision was made to build a new building on the vacant lots.  The year was 1992-1993.  The design of the new building was such that the length of the building exceeded the city restriction that required twenty-five feet from the end of a building to the alley.  To make the building fit within city code, it was necessary to place the entrance to the new building on 14^th Street.  However, the congregation continues to go under the name of the Harding Street Church of God.  We still own the 1333 building, the length of the new building runs down Harding Street and the entry to the parking lot is on Harding Street.  Though the congregation did not have enough funds to finish the building, Brother Bland moved forward with the confidence that God had the resources to allow us to finish what we had begun.  Many of the saints dug deep into their pockets to provide the money needed to finish the building.  The late Brother Ransom, though seriously sick at the time, instructed his sister to donate a large sum of money to the building project.  After making considerable contributions to the building fund, our Pastor financed the completion of the building.  Pastor Bland provided the money needed to finish the project without charging the church any interest.  Because of that kindness, the congregation was able to pay back the interest free loan in five years.  Brother Bland again assisted the congregation in paying off the loan by forgiving the church of $40,000 of the original loan amount.  Brother Deryck Rand sacrificed his time and labor to oversee the work after it became necessary to relieve the General Contractor of his duties.  Without Brother Deryck’s effort and the unselfish support of his wife, Jan Rand, the building would have cost the congregation much more money, and it would have taken longer to complete the project.  Brother Deryck and Sister Rand are living proof that there is always a ram in the bush.  Though much of this story regarding the history of the congregation involved the location of buildings, the real story is what occurred in those buildings.

    Time will not allow us to detail all of the blessings that God has poured down on his saints since the inception of the Westside congregation.  The story would continue to flow if time was taken to mention the influence and labors of the late Elders Arthur Cox, O’Cephus Starks, and Lewis Ransom.  To those whom have worked with these departed brothers, it was a wonder to watch how God worked in their lives to comfort, exhort, and influence the saints to walk with God. 

    Over the years, the congregation has been active in many ministries to the glory of God.  For years, the congregation devoted an hour every Sunday evening to a program of teaching that we called Youth and Family Hour.  In an attempt to reach the youth, the congregation supported an annual Vacation Bible School for the last thirty-two years.  In recent years, this effort has been supported by the Missionary organization within the congregation.  Talking about the Missionaries, this group of faithful saints have supported both foreign and domestic missions down through the years and have continue to do so to this day.  Locally, many saints and friends have been recipients of the generosity of the Mission in terms of monetary and domestic support.  The impact of the congregation’s missions has reached as far as Kenya, Africa.  Aside from the missions, the congregation has reached out to the lost in the form of street meetings and a jail ministry.  In recent years, we have organized a spring and a fall festival to attract those seeking for something better than what they have.  For those that are shy about coming to worship with us at the meeting place, we will arranged a home meeting to discuss the Bible and encourage those that need a place to worship to come and join our fellowship.            

    The story of the Harding Street Congregation is a story of how many saints began their walk with God through the labors of the Westside saints.  Some have lived their lives on this earth and have gone to meet their maker.  Others started their walk at other congregations, but now they have joined forces with saints on the Westside to reach out to the lost.  There are saints in our midst today who are thankful that their paths crossed with someone who worshiped with the saints on the Westside.  There are children who grew up in the truth and avoided many of the pitfalls that awaited them out in the world.  There are children who were raised in the truth and strayed only to come back to the training of their youth.  There are some families in the congregation in which there are four generations who have the opportunity to sit together under the truth of God’s word and receive a vision of what God is calling for in these last and evil days.  As we look back and consider the storms that we went through as a congregation, we can only thank God for his sufficient grace with a confidence that the God who brought us through the past will take us through the future.  For these reasons, we dare to think back over the time that God has brought us.  For these reasons, we dare to give God glory for how he has saved, nourished, and perfected his people while giving them an inheritance with all of those who are sanctified.