How will you ring in 2003?

For African-American churches, New Year's Eve - or Watch Night - is a chance both to worship and to commemorate the night when the Emancipation Proclamation took effect.

By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 31, 2002

Tonight is Watch Night.

That means that at the stroke of midnight, thousands of African-American Christians in Pinellas County and hundreds of thousands across the nation will be in church instead of at a club for New Year's Eve.

"It's a very important thing to a Christian, especially one that is truly committed," said Benny Dyer, pastor of St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church in Largo. "It's just one of these things about being thankful and bringing praises to God for bringing us through one year and giving us a chance with another."

The Watch Night tradition also has historical significance. The first Watch Night was Dec. 31, 1862 -- the last night of legal enslavement in the Confederacy.

That night, African-Americans living in the South gathered together and waited until the stroke of midnight, the exact time when the Emancipation Proclamation set them free.

More than a century later, black churches from Tarpon Springs to Ridgecrest are teaming up to hold Watch Night services for the community.

Dyer's church is teaming with around 10 others that are part of a Ridgecrest-Largo area minister's alliance. This year's service will be held at the Christ Church of Universal Love. Two pastors will preach and a choir including members of every church will sing. Hundreds are expected to attend the service, which in years past had such an overflow that people were turned away.

This year, the greater Ridgecrest church group will hold a separate service for the youth in a neighboring church to make more space for the adults in the main sanctuary.

Seven churches in Tarpon Springs will worship together at Mt. Hermon Baptist Church for a 9:30 p.m., nondenominational service. The highlight of the evening is when a pastor shouts out: "Watchman, what time is it?"

The "watchman" will announce that it's 11:59 p.m. and then turn off the lights. Everyone will fall to their knees and pray. The lights will come back on at 12:01 a.m., and the service will be over.

Though the Church of God in Christ, African Methodist Episcopal and Baptists have different theological doctrines, they have much in common, said the Rev. Milton Smith of Mt. Hermon.

"We have respect for one another's beliefs and doctrines," Smith said. "We believe in what the Bible says, that there's one God, one Lord."

One Safety Harbor church is "watching" with two Clearwater churches.

"We started this 10 or 15 years ago when nobody around here was having watch," said the Rev. Algie Coleman, pastor of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist in Safety Harbor. "It's an old tradition to watch the new year in and the old one out. Sometimes it's a great crowd, sometimes not. Anyone who wants to come is welcome."

Coleman's congregation will be "watching" starting at 9 p.m. with St. Matthew's Missionary Baptist Church in Clearwater.

Some churches, such as Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist in Clearwater, will offer breakfast after their Watch Night Service. It's one of many ways to help bring God to the community, said pastor Leroy Campbell.

"It's a tradition but it's reality," Campbell said. "Somebody might testify. We'll have two preachers. People will be saying different things, thanking the Lord for the things that transpired through the old year."

African-American churches aren't the only ones gathering for New Year's Eve. Many mixed-race and mainly white churches hold special services.

Countryside Christian Center in Clearwater, for example, invites everyone to a free, 9 p.m. concert with singer Natalie Grant. A church service until midnight will follow.

"It's absolutely beautiful," said Naomi Powell, a church staffer. "It beats going to the bar or staying home."

-- Adrienne Samuels can be reached at 445-4157 or samuels@sptimes.com .