Welcome to Zion CDC

Mount Zion Church in Oberlin began when a group of Black Baptists broke off from the city's white Baptist church to form independent prayer groups in the 1880's. Blacks had worshipped alongside whites in integrated churches in Oberlin since 1835; but, with the post-Civil War influx of more Blacks who had experiences of an autonomous Black Christian community, Black Christians began to feel a need to establish a community of their own. Most white people in Oberlin churches supported the Blacks' effort to organize their own church, but local papers reported some opposition. Nonetheless, the first Black church, Rust Methodist Church, had already been established in Oberlin in 1872.

Black Baptists, however, sought to worship by themselves and started meeting in prayer groups and Sunday schools in private homes. Jane and Mary Bows hosted meetings in their house on Sumner Street, and Lucy Brown hosted meetings in her house on Park Street. Although there was no formal organized church, they did have a pastor, a young man named Rev. Brown of Cleveland.

Three families who had recently moved to Oberlin pushed forward the organization of a Black Baptist church. The Martins, the Dickersons, and the McGees sought to establish a church in the southeast section of town. The pastor of the white Baptist Church, Rev. C.J. Rose and other members of the church were sympathetic to their cause. They helped the families organize Mount Zion Baptist Church, which began in 1886 with seventeen members.

Rev. Brown resigned later that year, and a new minister, Rev. Collins became the first official pastor of Mount Zion. He added six new converts, and re-organized Mount Zion church as a regular Baptist Church, connecting it with other Baptist organizations in 1887.