At last Sunday’s service at Riverside Church, Reverend Dr. Brad Braxton, the church’s senior minister, did something unexpected: he abruptly ended the original service, saying that he didn’t want to ruin the congregation’s “good feelings” by continuing as planned.
Only a few weeks into his new role as senior minister, Braxton has been bringing an experimental style of leadership to the historically interracial, interdenominational, and international church. Following a tense selection process, Riverside is looking to its new minister to smooth past controversies.
Braxton’s improvisational style is no novelty to Riverside. His predecessor and the church’s first black minister, Reverend Dr. James Forbes, was also known for fusing his scholarly perspective with a less-traditional Pentecostal style. This shift in style, controversial among more conservative congregants, sparked a shift in the church community. It attracted new worshipers but also discouraged some long-time churchgoers.
In the wake of such controversy, members of the church are now looking to thirty-nine year-old Braxton’s numerous accomplishments and youth to help revitalize Riverside.
As congregants have pinned expectations on their new minister to help lead the revival of the church, he seems to be living up to expectations. On Sunday, few congregants seemed to be upset by his improvisational conclusion of the sermon.
“Each minister has their own style,” said Cheryle Wills, a long-time member of the church and chair of its social committee. While Wills said she is a fan of both Forbes and Braxton, she described Braxton as a “Renaissance preacher.”
“He may be young, but he is not young to God in his glory,” she said, citing his profound intellect and spiritual understanding of the scripture as positive attributes.
Most congregants are eager to embrace Braxton’s unique style and to bury the tensions that have been building up over the last several years under Forbes.
“People seem ready to move on,” said Reverend Winnie Varghese, the chaplain of Episcopal Campus Ministry. Though Varghese is not a regular at the church, she was attending services because she was interested in the congregation’s reaction to their new minister.
Margaret Walton, a regular at the church, said the drama over the church’s shift in worship style “is over now—it’s not really worth discussing anymore.”
Braxton was particularly willing to discuss his preaching style with any congregants who may have been dissatisfied with the abrupt end to the service, inviting all those concerned to share their thoughts with him.
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