A Community Living by the Cross

From a Tiny District Church, Four Stories Of Strength and Hope

While living near H and 8th streets in Northeast Washington, filmmaker David Petersen would awake on Sunday mornings to the sounds of salvation spilling out of the half-dozen or so small churches in his neighborhood. The music -- spirited, compelling and even mournful at times -- pulsated through the D.C. streets for hours and ignited Petersen's imagination.

About that same time 12 years ago, he met the Rev. Imagene Stewart, a longtime D.C. activist who runs a shelter for battered people. They started going together to events at tiny churches, some of which Stewart would ask him to videotape. She nourished his long-held desire to paint a portrait of a community of faith.

Petersen, whose grandfather was a pastor with a small congregation, felt drawn to the power inherent in storefront churches, and his quest to find one through which he could tell a story of urban hope and faith took him to scores of churches in Washington and New York.

Ultimately, it was a photography intern's picture of a red brick storefront with a red cross painted on a white door in Washington's Shaw neighborhood that caught his attention. "I just walked in, and when I walked in, I said, 'Okay, this could be the church,' " he recalled in an interview.

World Missions for Christ Church, a vibrant vision of faith in action, became the focal point of "Let the Church Say Amen," part of the PBS series Independent Lens.

Petersen, the Academy Award-nominated director, producer and editor of "Amen," is careful to say that he is not promoting Christianity in the film. He is, however, "looking at faith and community and the power of the small church."

The documentary, which began filming in 2001, offers a provocative glimpse into the ministry of this church in its community, as well as tracking the dreams and difficulties of four of its members during the course of a year.

Set against the somber backdrop of federal Washington, the film comes alive when it shows church members praising God and helping each other overcome personal roadblocks and tragedy. World Missions members also go into the streets to draw needy residents to its church for clothes, food, computer classes, GED classes, and of course, the chance for salvation.

Central to the story of "Amen" are the individual and collective journeys of the Rev. Bobby Perkins; singer Ceodtis Fulmore, known as Brother C; Darlene Duncan; and David Surles.

There is a universality to their stories that transcends their individual struggles with drugs, unemployment, poverty, homelessness and crime. Church members aid Duncan as she pursues her dream of becoming a nurse's assistant, even raising money to help her repair her broken car. They support Brother C when his son is stabbed to death in his Southeast neighborhood. And they stand by as he speaks out against crime and the police's lack of an arrest in his son's death at a town hall meeting attended by D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey.

Mridu Chandra, the producer of "Amen," who grew up in Northern Virginia, said she and Petersen never could have imagined the intricacies of emotion and narrative they would see during filming.

"We witnessed so many intimate moments and dramatic life events and saw how much this community ensured the success of each individual by providing support, love, and humor to their everyday lives," Chandra said.

World Missions, a former corner store at First Street and Randolph Place NW, is a family-based church that was started 26 years ago by the Rev. JoAnn Perkins, who -- while living on welfare -- earned a doctorate degree in special education through scholarships at Georgetown University. She passed the mantle of leadership to her brother, Bobby, about eight years ago, after he was saved from a life of drug addiction and began to preach.

Pastor Perkins, who works as a electrician for Metro, said he and his sister struggled at first with participating in the filming. They eventually realized, though, that "it was an opportunity to show what we do and what the ministry is all about," he said. "We can -- and we are here to -- make a difference."

"Amen" already has allowed World Missions to take its message of reliance on God and on each other to broader audiences. Several members have attended screenings in Washington and at the Sundance Film Festival last year. At each screening, the four members signed autographs, answered questions about their lives, and, as Brother C and the others said, "proclaimed the gospel."

Surles, once homeless and addicted to drugs, is now chaplain at Central Union Mission in the District. He, like the other three featured in the documentary, have left World Missions to pursue what they believe is a greater call in their lives.

Petersen's original goal was to show "the bones of faith" in urban communities such as Shaw and the empowerment found in churches such as World Missions. At one point, he said: "By showing a fundamentalist church from the perspective of its congregation, I hope to show how faith and community become an essential source of strength for those who want to create lasting change in a society that has remained indifferent to them."

LET THE CHURCH SAY AMEN

Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. on WETA