Former Myers Park Baptist Church pastor to launch new congregation in south Charlotte
In about a month, the Rev. Ben Boswell will preach to hundreds of people gathered for Sunday worship at a church in south Charlotte — something he’s done countless times.
But this time, when he stands in front of his congregation on June 1, it will be as the pastor of the Collective Liberation Church, a place of worship he founded that will be “rooted in social justice” from the first day.
“This is a brand-new endeavor for me, so I’ve been reaching out to friends and colleagues of mine who’ve done this work before to see what kind of best practices are out there,” Boswell said in an interview with The Charlotte Observer on Thursday. “It’s both terrifying and exciting at the same time.”
About 100 people have signed up for the service so far, Boswell said. It will be held in a sanctuary at the Union Presbyterian Seminary campus on Sharon Road near the SouthPark neighborhood.
While there are some logistics he and church leaders need to resolve before the church’s launch, Boswell’s vision of the direction he wants to take the church is clear. He’s defined it in six points, he said.
“The church is going to be intentionally inclusive, integrated, international, intersectional and ardently anti-racist,” Boswell said. “Right now, our working tagline is ‘Liberation isn’t a metaphor. It’s the mission.’”
He also defined it in the church’s logo: A butterfly breaking free of chains locked around its legs. Its wings, made up of two fists, also form a rainbow, with each color being represented by a finger.
The goal, he said, is to ensure the church does not “compartmentalize” social justice discussions and activism. The church will not have a “social justice department,” he said. Social justice will be intertwined with his preaching and church practices.
“When we create these compartments, we’re doing so to try to limit the side of Christianity that makes us kind of uncomfortable, and that’s the one where we talk about social injustice,” Boswell said. “But it’s just a part of who Jesus was, and it’s a part of what Jesus was teaching about and living, and so we just need to reincorporate that as a part of our faith.”
Grief journey
Starting a church wasn’t something Boswell ever considered doing, he said, since he has always been a pastor at established churches, including Myers Park Baptist Church for almost a decade.
And until last fall, Boswell believed that’s where he would eventually retire. But those plans were cut short when church leaders and Boswell parted ways in November.
“It was devastating. I went through a grief journey,” Boswell said. “It was a tremendous loss for me. I was cut off from a community that I served for almost a decade.”
The church’s council, which includes church leaders and members of the Board of Deacons, voted to approve Boswell’s termination. Boswell resigned shortly thereafter.
The split caused a rift among the deacons, with some, including Tim Emry, resigning. Emry left the church entirely over the matter.
In a previous interview, Emry alleged Boswell’s anti-racist preaching upset some churchgoers and was one of the main reasons for the split. But the chair of the Board of Deacons at the time, Marcy McClanahan, said it was a mutual decision to part ways over disagreements between the board and Boswell on the future of the church, as well as concerns over declining church attendance and morale.
Boswell began to consider his next steps after the split, he said. He said he’s preached close to 11 times at different churches in Charlotte and in other states, and applied for 13 jobs, some at social justice-focused nonprofits or teaching positions.
He also applied to some other churches in Charlotte and other towns.
“I ended up turning any offer that I got out of those applications down, and the reason I did is because, as I was applying for all that, this call was in the back of my mind,” Boswell said. “It was nagging me, and I couldn’t let it go, and it didn’t feel genuine or honest to take a position at a church or at a nonprofit when I knew in my heart that if it wasn’t right, I would never be happy.”
Boswell said he was overwhelmed with support from friends and colleagues. And as the idea of starting a new church grew, he heard from other religious leaders in Charlotte who encouraged him to do it because they saw an opportunity to create an already integrated church.
“I think we’re in an age in America where a lot of the traditional institutions that have always been the bedrock of American society are going through either a massive decay and decline or a revolution in the wrong direction, so I would see white Christian nationalism and church decline as tied directly together and both creating an existential problem for the American church,” Boswell said. “And I don’t see a solution to that.”
But one effective pathway he saw, he said, was building a church from the ground up that is opposed to that “version of Christianity.”
He also heard from people at Myers Park Baptist Church who said they would be interested in joining a new church if he started one. He said he never recruited any members from the church, as he does not want to harm Myers Park, but has had 40 people commit to the Collective Liberation Church, including the deacons who voted against his termination.
Solidarity and service to vulnerable communities
Boswell said he’s also made an effort to make sure the church is diverse and integrated, with membership currently sitting at 50% people of color, 50% white, with LGBTQ members as well. Church leadership is also similarly diverse, he said.
And because it will be a place of both worship and activism, Boswell said he expects to welcome atheists and people from other denominations at services.
“There’ll be others that are there more for Jesus than they are for justice, and that’s OK because they’re really the same thing,” Boswell said. “Whether you get to Jesus through justice or get to justice through Jesus, I don’t really care. Doesn’t bother me.”
And he’s also made sure that services will be available via Zoom so people can watch, not just from home, but from around the world.
The first year will be largely focused on supporting what he said are vulnerable communities targeted by President Donald Trump’s administration, including immigrants, transgender people, and the Black community.
The church is going to start with Sunday worship once a month, he said, and ramp up to services each week.
Other programming will take place the other Sundays, including getting involved in social justice-focused projects in the community, holding discussions and seminars, or attending events like Charlotte Knights games.
But Boswell said he has high hopes for the first day of service, and that he thinks attendees are in for a good experience.
“I think you can expect some incredible music. … They can expect to see a diverse crowd of people,” Boswell said. They can expect a passionate and relevant sermon, and they can expect to meet some people that they may not know … that will welcome them with open arms and be happy that they’re there.”
Service will be between 4 and 6 p.m. June 1 at the Union Presbyterian Seminary, Charlotte Campus, at 5141 Sharon Road.
This story was originally published May 5, 2025 at 5:31 AM.
