A morning of fellowship and unity will kick off Black History Month Sunday at The Commons with the annual Community Church Service. Hosted by the African American Pastors Alliance and the African American Foundation, this is a service anyone in Columbus may attend as several churches come together to lead worship.

The service will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. upstairs in The Commons. The Black History Month Columbus ribbon cutting ceremony will follow downstairs at 1 p.m.

Calvary Community Church, Dayspring Church of God, Apostolic, Faith Hope & Love Church, Faith Ministries, Second Baptist Church, Abundant Harvest Ministries and Golden Harvest Community Church from North Vernon will be participating this year. Members from other churches in the area will most likely attend as well, Calvary Community Church pastor Frank Griffin said.

“We typically have somewhere between 200 to 300 people, I believe, that come,” Griffin said.

Pastor James Wood with Golden Harvest Community Church will preach during the service. He plans for his message to pertain to having God’s presence in your life and the need to experience more of God’s presence in life, regardless of who you are, he said.

“If you’re a church goer, if you’re not a church goer, the key is God wants you to understand how real He is and He’s a God that can reach every facet of your life and He desires to if you would allow Him to,” Wood said.

The Community Columbus Choir will perform during the service, and Stunna’s will have soul food available for take out. Griffin said they want to let Columbus experience a standard, charismatic majority Black church service, one that is heavily oriented towards music, prayers and the word of God. He said it’s also a great opportunity for the community to unite, especially on a day that can be very divided as people go to their different churches.

“Also, we want to celebrate the beginning of Black History Month by displaying what we consider is a common worship service for a majority Black congregation and just fellowship,” Griffin said. “Really, it’s about fellowship, we want to fellowship together. It’s important to do so, the Bible says we should do it and we just want to bring the community together anywhere we can.”

Wood believes that the service is powerful and speaks volumes to those who come together under one roof to magnify and lift Jesus’ name even if they are from different doctrinal beliefs. It can also be life changing for those who aren’t a part of African American churches, he said.

“It’s an exciting time for people from all walks of life to come and experience a presence perhaps many of them haven’t experienced before,” Wood said.