In 1866, the Rev. Samuel Harding, pastor of Gloucester’s Zion Poplars Baptist Church, called together his fellow black religious leaders in the county in the hope of getting them to work hand in hand—providing assistance to one another and joining together to praise the Lord.

One hundred and fifty years later, the Gloucester Union Relief Association of Missionary Baptist is still going strong. And, to prove it, more than 200 people—including a large contingent of youth—gathered on Friday evening at the Abingdon Ruritan Club in Bena for a banquet celebrating this group’s sesquicentennial.

At the time of the organization’s founding, Zion Poplars was the only organized black church in the county, so it is assumed that the remaining religious leaders attending the 1866 meeting were in the process of organizing churches elsewhere in the county.

Aside from Zion Poplars, member churches include Bethel Baptist, Sassafras; First Baptist, Ordinary; First Mo...