St. James Christian Center is Where It’s At

Headed by the spry, youthful and dynamic Bishop James DeLaney, the St. James Christian Center is located at 1358 Mt. Vernon Avenue in the historic neighborhood of Bronzeville just a stone’s throw from the OSU’s African American and African Studies Community Extension Center, the Urban League, King Arts Complex and the Lincoln Theater. The St. James Christian Center is centrally located on a thoroughfare that in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s was as alive as any passageway in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. 

The St. James Christian Center is like no other house of worship and thus promises to be one of the near eastside’s most significant landmarks for years to come. A small but growing congregation the atmosphere is inviting, upbeat and uplifting. 

Last Sunday, November 9, 2026, a most poignant message was delivered by the good bishop that put me in the mind of the prolific writer James Baldwin who titled a 1985 book faith is “the evidence of things not seen” which undoubtedly is an appropriation of a phrase that comes from Hebrews 11:1 which reads, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction [or evidence] of things not seen”). Bishop DeLaney took a different approach than Baldwin offering instead that “faith without action is merely religious conversation.” Again, he said, “faith without action is merely religious conversation.” In other words, no action, talk only.

Those in the pews sat at rapt attention as the good bishop went about the business of applying scripture to the everyday goings-on of the human experience. Even the men of the illustrious Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., of which they were several in attendance on Sunday, appeared to be moved by the good bishop’s verbal histrionics. They were as they appear in the photo from left to right--Dr. DeShannon C. Butler, Sr., Andre Young, Nate Minnifield, Antonio Caffey, Dr. Judson L. Jeffries and the swashbuckler that is Steve Hartley, one of the church’s mainstays standing to the right of Bishop DeLaney.

Bishop DeLaney is no pie-in-the-sky-man-of-the-cloth who placates his followers with promises of the hereafter rather he believes that the bible is a living and breathing document that if studied closely and faithfully can serve as the compass and guide by which one lives his or her life. Faith requires discipline, dedication, devotion, steadfastness and loyalty. Bishop DeLaney offers real world examples that brings his congregants greater understanding and clarity even within the pages of the bible’s most difficult and ambiguous passages.

Each service feels like a revival of sorts but Sunday, November 8, 2026, was especially powerful and moving. For intellectual nourishment and spiritual uplift, the St. James Christian Center is where it’s at. I predict that once word gets out about how lively and enjoyable the St. James Christian Center is renovations will have to be scheduled, to accommodate the significant increase in attendance.

Judson L. Jeffries, PhD, MPH, is Professor of African American and African Studies at the African American at The Ohio State University.