About Holsey Temple
Holsey ReLaunched : The Village
In 2020, like many businesses and houses of worship, we had to close our doors and isolate ourselves because of the global pandemic. Our decision to suspend our in-person services and operations was based on the guidelines given to us by the city of Philadelphia and national public health officials. In the period from 2020 to 2023, we reduced our impact potential to keep our members and the community safe, choosing to move our worship services online and our feeding ministries operating in a limited capacity.
However, in the wake of effective vaccinations and treatments, and with new leadership, we have decided to fully operationalize our ministries and resources once again.
Vision:
The Historic Holsey Temple in Germantown has operated in the spirit of a Village for over a century. Our founders saw a need for a Village for CMEs from the South who were seeking a spiritual home in the city of Philadelphia during the Great Migration. Today, we are still committed to providing a Village for people seeking community. We believe not only does it take a Village to raise a child; it takes a village to raise people of all ages and at every spiritual stage of development. We take pride in our historic role as a community-centered village, raising people out of poverty, into better health, into discipleship, and dignified lives at every age. We offer ourselves again to our community as a village of uplift.
Unlike many visions cast for churches, we take inspiration from multiple scriptural sources. We first believe, as illustrated in Numbers 11:16-17, that the Village uses its spiritual and physical resources to share burdens. We believe that the Village, as illustrated in The Book of Ruth, is regenerative and restorative. We believe that the Village, as illustrated in Luke 5:1-11, is innovative and contextually responsive, as exemplified by the ministry of Jesus.
Meet the Pastor
Pastor Lynn M. Hargrow
I want to extend a warm welcome to our website. I hope you find here a small portion of what I have found in my time pastoring Holsey - that there is a loving generous village here. My name is Lynn M. Hargrow, and I am the indulgently proud pastor of the Historic Holsey Temple in Germantown. As pastor, I am focused on leading a village where everyone we are connected to develops spiritually, mentally, and physically. At the center of my ministry is wholeness. For as long as historical records go back, humans have struggled in life to become whole, and many of us exist in contexts where some are made whole at the expense of many others. It is our job to dismantle those systems by empowering people with basic tools for survival like housing and food, education and social services, access to employment, and the spiritual tools needed to thrive and grow.