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Christ Temple: A Brief History

A reflection upon the origins and history of this great church!  It is appropriate that we understand and appreciate the sacrifice and the vision of our founders who received the call to establish a good work here. You see, this church was founded on holiness. This church is based on the belief in the perfected Word of God. This church is built upon that solid rock that is Jesus Christ!

Christ Temple was formally organized in 1946 as the result of the marriage of two church organizations, the Church of Personal Experience, founded by Rev. W. Frederic Fisher, and Christ Temple Church, pastored by Rev. Oddous R. Barber. Rev. Fisher first came to Boston in the early 1930s, witnessing and preaching as a traveling evangelist. After several years of evangelistic activities he organized the Boosting Jesus Groups, an interdenominational and interchurch service organization. After several years of collaboration and joint services, the two congregations, led by Rev. Barber and Rev, Fisher, confirmed the direction of the Holy Spirit to merge their works into a greater work. Together, along with the founding members, they were blessed to establish a church built upon a foundation of faith and holiness. With a shared vision, the church grew and prospered and was known throughout the city as a church where the spirit of God was given free reign and where the worshipping of God “in spirit and in truth” was preached.

With the assistance of the BJs, Rev. Fisher and the members of Christ Temple established many programs of service to the community including a food bank, a beauty shop, a clothing exchange, a credit union, and a printing company that published the first editions of our present church bulletin, ‘the Voice of the Temple’. His early work was completed with the purchase of the BJ House on Massachusetts Avenue in 1942.

The BJ House furthered Rev. Fisher’s vision that the church provide for the physical and spiritual needs of the people. From that day to this, the BJ House continues to provide shelter and support for community service-oriented students and professionals, and a spiritual home and respite for the BJs, Christ Temple and faith-based groups and individuals. It was from the treasury of the BJs that Rev. Fisher was able to secure the finances to purchase this edifice in which we now worship. Our God has truly blessed this continuing relationship among the saints.

During the past five decades, Christ Temple has served this community’s spiritual and physical needs. Many have been witnessed to, baptized, healed, set free and saved through the work of this ministry. We have served as a clarion, calling the unsaved to Christ; we have served as a beacon, illuminating the path for the lost, and comforting and reassuring the saved.

Our God has commissioned a work and has appointed laborers to faithfully tend to his garden. With the passing of the founders, Rev. Fisher and Rev. Barber, and the founding members, Rev. Laymon T. Hunter, Bro. Brisbane, Bro. Ralph Elliot, Bro. Edward Harris, Sis. Lucy Hunter, Sis. Lilllie B. Williams, Sis. Blanche Peyton, and more recently, Rev. Peyton B. Harrison, Mother McBynum, Sis. Louise Martin, Sis. Walker, Sis. Dorothy Wright, Rev. James Holland, Sis. Doris and Eunice Moore, Sis. Carolyn Fisher, and Bro. Theodore Thomas and all the saints who have been promoted to glory, rejoice that God has preserved and protected this congregation over the many years.

Rev. Massey is the sixth pastor to lead this church. In recent times our church has felt a need for change, a need for revival and reconciliation among the congregation. We needed renewal of our minds, a return to holiness, a new vision leading to the seat of salvation and redemption. We are confident that we have begun to move our church in the direction that leads to righteousness and the blessings of our holy and omnipresent God.

The founders would be pleased with what we are doing today. They would be satisfied that today’s generation of church leadership has, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, chosen a man who is well qualified to take this church forward. A man who has demonstrated his love of God and of this church, a man who will teach, preach and live in holiness, a man who has been tried and tested with the trials and tribulations of living in these last days, a man who speaks truth to power and who walks humbly before his God.

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