The Southside Church of Christ officially began on the first Sunday in October 1982, with 14 members in attendance. The first meeting place for the congregation was the historic Old St. Joseph’s church building.

The idea for a congregation to serve the inner city originated during a monthly brotherhood meeting. Bro. Clifford Davis, the founder of the “Back to the Bible Crusade,” along with the elders of the Olga Avenue and Cole Mill Road congregations, sponsored a soul-winning campaign in Durham. During that time, several congregations supported the crusade; however, the Cole Mill Road congregation served as the host and sponsoring congregation.

Bro. William Stephens, of the Northside Church of Christ in Jacksonville, Florida was a part of a delegation that traveled to Durham to help in the evangelistic efforts. Once it was decided to start a new congregation in Durham, Bro. Stephens agreed to become the minister. After much prayer, he, his wife Altamease, and their three children moved to Durham. For three years, Bro. Stephens received financial support from several congregations to support him in this missionary work. Groups of faithful members of the Carver School Road (Winston-Salem) and the South English Street (Greensboro) congregations supported the work by bringing busloads of members each month to help encourage the members during worship on Sundays.

To enhance the ministry, a Single’s class, the Ladies’ Bible Class, Family Enrichment Class, and New Member’s Class were established. An a cappella ensemble was also established in 1983 to help spread the gospel through song. Under the leadership of Bro. Stephens, God blessed the congregation to grow numerically and financially.

While meeting at the Old St. Joseph’s building, we purchased 5.33 acres of land on Elmira Avenue. Due to renovation plans for the St. Joseph’s Historical building, the congregation had to find a new meeting place. In 1987, the congregation rented a building on Angier Avenue and broke ground for our new edifice in September 1990. In January of 1991, we met at Shepard Middle School to be closer to our anticipated meeting place. By the grace of the Almighty, we moved into our very first church building in June 1991. An addition was made to the building in 1996 to accommodate our growing congregation.

Several ministries were established by the evangelist to address the needs of the church. The ministries established were Koinonia Group Ministry to emphasize the purpose and importance of caring for and sharing with one another; the Southside Ladies Involvement Ministry (S.L.I.M) directed by our Women’s Counselor, Sis. Ricki Fuller; an Education Department; a Youth Department directed by our Youth Minister, Bro. Chris Turner; and a College Campus Ministry.

Some additional ministries added as the congregation grew included Health, Community Outreach, Tutoring, Substance Abuse, Singles, Single Mothers, Blended Families, Grief Support, Door-Knocking, Food Bank Ministry, Communications, K-4 through 5th grade private school, and much more. Every ministry has been established with the sole purpose of addressing known needs as well as helping to save and encourage souls.

We were blessed to ordain six deacons in 1998. In 2003, the Lord blessed us to ordain four of the deacons as elders and seven additional deacons. In 2006, Bro. Bryan Moss was brought in as our Assistant Minister to serve the College and Single ministries. In 2011, the Lord called Brothers Moss and Turner to serve as senior ministers at other congregations.

Also in 2003 by God’s grace, we have erected a fully equipped multi- purpose building at a cost of approximately $1.5 million. In 2008, we established a child development center and today we are a five-star center. In 2015, God saw fit to bring Bro. Orlander Thomas and his family our way to work along with Bro. Stephens as our new Assistant Minister. Due to retirement and relocation, we do not have any brothers serving as Elders at present, however we have ten Deacons serving. In August of 2020, we witnessed the retirement of Bro. Stephens, which has allowed for Bro. Thomas to transition him as the new Senior Minister of the Southside Church of Christ. It has been the foresight of brother Stephens to transition in his lifetime in order to see the furtherance of the vision of the Southside Church of Christ carried out in a manner in which God will be pleased.

From our humble beginnings to our present day, the Lord has added more than 1500 souls through baptism, while several others have placed membership.