Remembering the Rev. Dr. F. Allison Phillips: ‘The Crying Preacher’ with a heart for justice

The United Church of Christ lost a legendary leader on Sept. 9, 2024, with the passing of the Rev. Dr. F. Allison Phillips. Phillips, 87, died peacefully with his wife of 57 years, Velma, by his side.

Phillips joined the national staff as executive for the American Missionary Association in 1994. He saw the association through its restructuring and renaming to Justice and Witness Ministries, assuming the new title of executive director. It was a position he held from 2001 until his retirement in 2003.

Born Jan. 5, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York, to Baptist minister, the Rev. Porter Phillips Sr., and Dorothy Fletcher Phillips, a church organist, Phillips had “a personality larger than life and beautiful voice,” said the Rev. Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson of First United Church of Tampa, Florida.

He was also passionate about justice for all people, a work that was informed by Phillips’ belief that taking the time to be fully present to others mattered the most. That often meant talking to everyone, hearing their stories, offering prayers with and for others, and breaking bread with both strangers and friends.

“He always took time to have a meal with people. He believed that in the breaking of the bread you got to know the other person,” said Powell Jackson, who not only had the honor of calling Phillips a colleague, but cousin as well.

Just as legendary as Phillips’ heart for justice was, so were his tears. They flowed freely whenever Phillips, affectionately called “Al” by colleagues and “Pastor Al” by congregants, would preach God’s word.

He cried without apology for joy. He cried with gratitude. He cried in awe. He cried, colleagues and friends say, because his heart was one that beat in sync with God’s.

“He was a great pastor. He had a pastor’s heart,” said Powell Jackson.

On Sept. 27, family and friends gathered for A Celebration of Life service at Mt. Zion Congregational Church UCC in Cleveland, where Phillips served as pastor from 1982 to 1994. He later was given the honorable title of Mt. Zion’s pastor emeritus.

Justice and compassion ran in the family

As those gathered remembered Phillips’ achievements, Jackson observes that his story is part of a larger story of a family committed to justice and witnessing to God’s greatness.

“His story cannot be told without mentioning his family,” she said.

While born in Brooklyn, Phillips grew up in Pittsburgh. He was the youngest of six children. Four of the five Phillips brothers — Porter Jr., Channing, Wendell and F. Allison (Al) — all followed in their father’s footsteps, becoming ministers. The fifth son, Treadwill, became a lawyer and the only girl, Marie, married a pastor.

Powell Jackson explained that Phillips chose to use his middle name rather than his first name, Fletcher, which was his mother’s maiden name.

Phillips answered the call to ministry in 1963, subsequently earning a Master of Divinity in 1967 and Master of Sacred Theology in 1975. In 1981, he received his Doctor of Ministry from the New York Theological Seminary.

Although his father was ordained Baptist, the Phillips boys would all become UCC ministers instead. “I think the move to the United Church of Christ was because of the denomination being progressive and justice oriented, especially in the area of racial justice,” observed Powell Jackson.

While not becoming a Baptist, the youngest Phillips did carry on the family legacy of not being afraid to let the tears flow in the pulpit.

The first congregation to experience Phillips’ soul-moving sermons was the Congregational Church of North New York UCC in the Bronx, where he served from 1971 to 1982. It was when he joined Mt. Zion Congregational in 1982, though, that he began being called, “The Crying Preacher.”

It was a title that made Phillips smile as his father shed tears in the pulpit, too. Porter Phillips Sr. was known as “The Weeping Prophet.”

“Yes, Al was known to cry in the pulpit,” said Powell Jackson, noting those tears revealed how much compassion he had for God’s children — a compassion displayed in his habit of offering prayers for everyone he met.  

Phillips once shared with his cousin how when he was shopping for a new car he stopped and invited the salesperson to pray with him.

“I laughed that that was one way of getting the price down,” said Powell Jackson, chuckling that she has yet to try that strategy. She noted, though, that prayer was not a strategy for Phillips. It was the very essence of who he was.

“It was never about personal gain for Al. He truly cared about people,” said Jackson. “He was passionate about working for justice and he made sure to walk the walk.”

The Rev. Paul Hobson Sadler Sr., who followed Phillips as pastor of Mt. Zion Congregational, had the privilege of working alongside the justice-oriented, prayer warrior.

Sadler was general secretary of the division of Evangelism and Local Church Development at the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries of the United Church of Christ the same time Phillips was serving the Justice and Witness Ministries.

It was then Sadler witnessed firsthand just how much Phillips walked the justice walk, playing an instrumental role in the donation of a million dollars to Howard University and subsequently more millions to several Black colleges associated with the United Church of Christ.

“He was a man of God. A preacher and prophet in so many ways,” said Sadler.

Speaking at Phillips’ Sept. 27 Celebration of Life service, Sadler shared it was because of him that Mt. Zion Congregational now has gospel music as part of its worship music repertoire.

“Phillips made that stipulation part of his contract with Mt. Zion, citing that if he came to the church, so would gospel music,” said Sadler.

‘He laughed just as easily as he cried’

Just as legendary as Phillips’ passion for justice and free falling tears were, so was his “jovial personality,” said Sadler.

“My cousin laughed just as easily as he cried,” said Powell Jackson in agreement with Sadler.

Powell Jackson recalled one October meeting when members of the Justice and Witness Ministries gathered for a meeting in UCC National Office in Cleveland. It was around Halloween, and during the meeting they noticed a person dressed in an animal costume roaming the halls. It was Phillips.

“He liked to joke around and laugh. He was a remarkable gift to the United Church of Christ,” said Powell Jackson.

Mentoring future pastors

And not just to the national ministries, but to local pastors as well.

The Rev. Courtney Clayton Jenkins, senior pastor of South Euclid United Church of Christ, Euclid, Ohio, credits Phillips for leading her into ministry.

“I am often asked when I first knew I was called to ministry, and my answer always points back to the impression Rev. Phillips made on me at the age of five,” said Jenkins.

Jenkins, who spoke during Phillips’ Celebration of Life, recalled as a child seeing the pastor standing tall in the pulpit with “his silver-gray afro glistening from a fresh spray of TCB Afrosheen, and the United Church of Christ logo draped around his neck.”

His sermons, filled with tears and the “palpable presence of the infilling of God,” left an impact on her.

“I remember wanting to read the Bible, inspired by his preaching, affirmation and love. For that, I am forever grateful,” said Jenkins, adding that someday she, too, hopes to inspire young people the same way Phillips inspired her.

It was Jenkins who had the privilege of praying with her mentor and his wife, Velma, during his last days. The prayer ended with the words to the hymn, “Blessed Assurance.”

And though Phillips’ voice was weak, Jenkins said with all his might, strength and heart, he whispered a profound “Amen.”

“It was an ‘Amen’ I know Jesus heard,” said Jenkins.

For the Rev. Dr. Allison Phillips’ full obituary, click here.