I told Marie what I was doing, and she said she wanted to help.”

Bishop Ernest Carl Morris

Editor's Note:  This week we begin a special two-part series about Bishop Ernest Carl Morris Sr., whose remarkable journey from local mail carrier to leader of one of Philadelphia's largest congregations began with a 1967 article in the Chestnut Hill Local. Given the depth of Bishop Morris's story and its unique connection to our newspaper's 70-year history, we've chosen to present this feature across two issues. Look for the conclusion in next week's edition, where we'll explore how Morris expanded his ministry to serve thousands of Philadelphians through numerous social service programs.

In 1967, Ernest Carl Morris Sr. was just a friendly mailman with a small storefront church and a big dream: to create a spiritual home for neighborhood children. After sharing his vision with a reporter at one of his mail stops — the Chestnut Hill Local — an article appeared that would transform not only his life but thousands of others. Today, Bishop Morris oversees 30 churches and manages social service programs serving hundreds of Philadelphia's most vulnerable residents. It all began with a story in his local newspaper and $4,000 in community donations.

The story appeared in the April 20, 1967, issue of the Chestnut Hill Local, then only about a decade old. Written by Marie Jones (who would later become the Local's editor from 1970 until her retirement in 1999), it carried the headline "A Story of Faith: Non-Salaried Pastor Needs $4,000 to Buy 'Real' Church."

Mailman with a mission

Ernest Carl Morris Sr. was a Germantown resident, former Army paratrooper and Korean War veteran (82nd Airborne Division) who delivered mail throughout Chestnut Hill from 1967 to 1983. One of the stops on his daily route was the Chestnut Hill Local, which is still located in the same offices at 8434 Germantown Ave. A gregarious, affable gentleman, Morris would often stop and talk when he was dropping off the mail. He made friends among the staff and eventually began working part-time for the paper – putting address labels on newspapers.

At the time, Morris was also a youth leader at a West Philadelphia church and a licensed minister who had spent four years taking courses at Philadelphia College of Bible, where he was ordained in 1962. 

As he drove to his West Philadelphia church on Sundays, he often saw children who appeared to be untended playing in his East Mt. Airy neighborhood streets. They reminded him of the impoverished children without homes he had seen wandering the streets of war-torn South Korea.  

"I wondered why they were not going to Sunday School, as were my children at the time, Tanya, 9, and Carla, 6," Morris said last week. "Of course the children in the streets of Philadelphia did have homes, but a home that is not God-centered is not a home at all."

Morris told Marie Jones that in June of 1966 he had opened a tiny storefront church at 6656 Germantown Ave., the Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ, whose main purpose was to teach children about the Bible. It had just 37 chairs. 

"My wife, Sylvia, and I went door to door in the neighborhood for three months, asking to teach children about the Bible," Morris recounted in a recent interview. "The spirit told me you have to reach the children. Some people whose doors I knocked on responded, and some were nasty, but you have to keep moving.

"I told Marie what I was doing, and she said she wanted to help,” he continued. “There were churches all around me, and I knew we were too small to survive, so I needed a bigger church."

Divine guidance and community support

What happened next, according to Morris, was nothing short of divine intervention. "I got up one morning for a 7 a.m. prayer service. I prayed, and I heard a voice in my ear saying 'Get the Yellow Pages.' I picked up the Yellow Pages, and the voice said, 'Run your fingers down this page.' I did that, and the voice said 'Stop.'"

In the Pentecostal tradition of the Church of God in Christ, such spiritual promptings are understood as direct divine guidance. Where Morris's finger stopped was at the Grace Baptist Church, 34 E. Sharpnack St. in Mt. Airy. 

"The voice said to call it," Morris continued. "It was still early, so I waited until 9 a.m. and called. I spoke to the minister, Jeremiah Wright. I told him about the voice that was speaking to me, and he dropped the phone. He was shocked because he told me that it was just the night before that he had decided to put the church up for sale for $34,000.”

Morris didn’t have the $4,000 down payment. 

But then Maries Jones stepped in. 

"Marie Jones took my picture and wrote an article on page one with the headline 'Postman has almost reached his goal.'” Morris said. “But after Marie Jones' article came out about how I wanted the church but could not afford it, readers started dropping off checks at the Local office.”

The response was overwhelming, Morris said.

“The pastor at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill said he would see if he could get me on their agenda, and soon afterward, six or seven major churches in the area voted to help me,” Morris said. “We wound up with more than $4,000. Some people even put a lien on their houses. Chestnut Hill people even gave us a lawyer to help with everything."

Morris bought the Church in 1968, and stayed there until his congregation outgrew the space in 1976. “I can still remember how excited I was to be able to buy the church,” he recalled. “It seated 250 people."

Growing through challenges

The path wasn't always smooth. "The lady who lived next door to the church was taking bets that we would not last three months,” Morris said. “Windows were broken, and it was in poor condition."

Then came the challenge of renovation – which the building sorely needed. 

"There was a federal government agency in Maplewood Mall, and I went there and applied for a loan, but then President Nixon came into office (1968), and we were told that the loan program was shut down,” Morris said. “I told my people to fast on Saturday and Sunday, and I got a call on Monday saying that the loan did come through somehow for $25,000. We fixed the lights and the plumbing – and paid off the loan in three years."

For more information, visit mtairycogic.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.

Next week: “Building a Ministry” will cover Bishop Morris's expansion to one of Philadelphia's largest congregations, his extensive social service programs, and the legacy he has built over more than five decades of service.