Lester Ruth

Longing for Jesus: Worship at a Black Holiness Church in Mississippi, 1895-1913 - The Church at Worship: Case Studies from Christian History Lester Ruth

The Church at Worship is a series of documentary case studies of specific worshiping communities from around the world and throughout Christian history that can inform and enrich worship practices today. In this third volume, Longing for Jesus, Lester Ruth vividly portrays a prominent African-American holiness church in Jackson, Mississippi, in the early twentieth century.

Ruth's rich selection of primary documents presents readers with a vibrant snapshot of this dynamic church and its pastor, Charles Price Jones, caught between factors that threatened the existence of the congregation itself: Jim Crow racism, conflicting visions for the church, appropriate Christian piety, and social aspirations. In the midst of conflicts inside and outside, the church fought to create a space where it could worship Jesus as it saw fit.