The Alfred Street Baptist Church of Alexandria has decided to cancel its annual Christmas performance at D.C.’s Kennedy Center.
The move follows President Donald Trump’s complaints that the programming at the Kennedy Center under its past board was too “woke.” The president has since overhauled the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, which voted to make him the chairman.
The church’s statement on the decision read in part, “We believe that the new leadership’s opposition to the Kennedy’s Center’s long-standing tradition of honoring artistic expression across all backgrounds is misaligned with our unwavering commission to proclaim and practice the transformative and redemptive love of Jesus, to pursue justice, to promote equality, to embrace the gift of diversity, and to care for all of creation.”
Deacon Charles Monterio Jr., the chair of the Board of Deacons at Alfred Street Baptist Church, told WTOP that after the shake-up at the Kennedy Center, the church leadership asked itself a question: “Where will we be in history?”
“Today’s mood of our church family is one of disappointment, one of angst — wondering whether this period will be a step back,” Monterio said.
The feeling was that with “all the progress our country has made over the last 60 years, we don’t want to be passive in allowing us to go backward one step or two.”
“We want to be vocal and outgoing about what we believe should be a continued mission of this country to push us into our next chapter,” Monterio added.
The church has been hosting its annual Christmas performance at the Kennedy Center for several years and the production is large scale, with hundreds of singers and members of the dance and drama ministries of the church performing.
“It is a cast of hundreds. At times, we bring in guest artists,” Monterio said.
It’s not yet clear where the church will hold its annual performance, Monterio said.
“We’re exploring a number of venues, but we have not decided one yet,” he said.
The key, Monterio said, will be in finding a venue that’s both accessible to the public and large enough to accommodate audiences that have, in years past, flocked to the Kennedy Center for the sold-out performance.
Monterio explained that the church membership has grown from 2,800 to more than 10,000 under the leadership of Pastor Howard-John Wesley.
“We’re always looking for venues as we continue to grow, grow, grow and others from outside our church family seek to participate and want to be in worship with us,” he said.
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