Like many who accomplish the grueling work of pouring their lives out as founders, it was no different for the quintessential apostle of our age, Apostle Smallwood E. Williams. The great impact of some founders gets lost in the context of the political aftermath of their transition. Nonetheless, as a boy, Apostle Williams was one man that stood taller than most others. He was a leader of leaders, a revivalist, an astute businessman, a justice advocate, and a truly revelatory biblical scholar.
Bishop Smallwood E. Williams was a prominent figure in the Pentecostal movement and the founder of the Bible Way Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, World Wide, Inc. The Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ was organized in September 1957 by Smallwood Edmond Williams, who at the time was the General Secretary of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith (COOLJC).
Under Williams' leadership, about 70 churches withdrew from that organization to form the Bible Way Church, citing the autocratic leadership of COOLJC leader and founder, Bishop Robert C. Lawson. Nearly half of the 177 churches in the organization left and followed Williams. He and four other leading ministers from COOLJC and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World were soon formally ordained as bishops in a ceremony performed by Bishop John Holly of the PAW. Williams became the first Presiding Bishop of the church.
I will never forget the day that he laid in that glass casket in the Bibleway Temple. In some way my heart was broken, in other ways, provoked. At 8 years old, I was so young that I could only dream to grow up to follow in the path of such a great man. He served as the Presiding Bishop of the Bible Way Church until his death in 1992. During his tenure, he played a significant role in the growth and expansion of the denomination and was known for his strong commitment to evangelism and social justice.
Williams was also active in ecumenical efforts, and played a key role in the formation of the United Council of the Apostolic Faith, an organization that brings together Pentecostal denominations from around the world. The organization has a strong emphasis on evangelism, education, and social justice, and is committed to spreading the message of the gospel globally.
EXCERPT FROM HISTORIC SITIES IN DC (Click Here)
By the time Bishop Williams (1907-1991) called for the resignation of the members of the Board of Education, he was already a well-known preacher and prominent civil rights activist. Williams began his career in DC as a street preacher at the corner of Seventh and O streets NW. In 1927, he organized the Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ; as a bishop in the denomination, Williams used the bully pulpit to promote civil rights.
In 1948, soon after President Harry S. Truman abolished segregation in the U.S. military, Williams, then chairman of the National Prayer Service for Brotherhood, joined other civil rights leaders in urging the president to end segregation in DC as well.
Four years later when Bishop Smallwood’s son, Wallace, was just 5 years old, the two of them staged a sit-in at the whites-only Wheatley Elementary School. It was 1952, and as part of a plan to ease crowding in the “colored” schools, the Board of Education had transferred Wallace from Young Elementary School to another school much farther from his home at 1328 Montello Avenue NE. Wheatley, however, was just one block away with plenty of room for new students, so Williams sought to enroll Wallace there. Although he gave up his quest, the minister’s sit-in garnered attention in the local press.
In 1962, just as the Civil War Centennial Commission put the final touches on its planned centennial celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation, it hit a bump. Williams, who was president of the Washington branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, threatened a boycott if the Commission didn’t add an African American speaker to the lineup. The Commission quickly acquiesced, and Federal Judge Thurgood Marshall spoke at the September 22 event at the Lincoln Memorial. The next year, Williams joined other Washington clergy to form the Interreligious Committee on Race Relations, which urged passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1963 (finally signed in 1964). Over the years Williams also served in leadership positions in the DC branch of the NAACP, DC Democratic Central Committee, National Negro Council, and Washington Home Rule Committee.