History of Greater Framingham Community Church
Greater Framingham Community Church was founded in 1972. Considering itself as an extended Christian family, the church functions in many ways as the only immediate family, outside the primary group, for its largely transplanted membership. Today the church is the largest predominantly Black church in the Metrowest area with a congregation that draws from African, Caribbean, and European cultures.
This interdenominational church is governed by a twelve member Church Council which is the policy making and executive body of the congregation. The Reverend Dr. Cameron Byrd, a United Church of Christ minister, was called in 1973 to serve as its first pastor and provided spiritual oversight for the early development of the church until called to Washington, DC in 1978. He was succeeded in 1979 by the late Reverend Harold G. Ross, Jr, a Baptist minister, who served until the Spring of 1990. While a nationwide search was conducted for a successor, the Reverend Percy Garrett, Jr. assisted the church. In April 1992, the Reverend Dr. J. Anthony Lloyd, a Baptist minister and Associate Dean of Students at Gordon College, was called to serve as the third pastor. Simultaneously, the church relocated from a leased church building at Edgell Road and Water Street in Framingham, where it held worship services for twenty years, to a building purchased from the Assembly of God Church, located at Hartford and C Streets on the south side of Framingham.
Under Rev Dr J. Anthony Lloyd's leadership, the church has experienced phenomenal growth spiritually and in membership. with a current membership of over 400 households, the church draws individuals and families from the Metro west, Greater Boston areas, as well as Rhode Island and New Hampshire. In April of 2000, the church moved into it's newly renovated edifice located in downtown Framingham.
