Building Blocks

As Harlem Changes, a Church Takes a Defiant Stance

By DAVID W. DUNLAP 10:42 AM ET

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A Saturday service at the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in Harlem. Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times

“History must endure,” declares the senior pastor of Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist, worried that as more whites move to Harlem, the neighborhood’s black heritage is being lost.

Determination, to put it politely. Defiance, to be more blunt, as Harlem becomes whiter, more affluent and ever less moored to its black heritage.

“The beauty of Harlem is being lost,” Dedrick L. Blue, the senior pastor of the church, said in an interview last week. “Pieces of its history are being destroyed by modern development and greed.