Not so long ago, there were two ministerial associations in Demopolis: one representing the predominantly white churches, and one representing the predominantly black churches.

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the two groups came together to help provide aid and supplies to those in need. Since then, the two groups have met together as the Demopolis Christian Ministerial Association.

The group held its monthly meeting on Thursday. At the meeting, the association set up a prayer schedule for the Demopolis City Council meetings, heard Jennifer Hallman talk about Relay for Life, further organized its assistance fund, informed each other about the National Day of Prayer on May 7 and decided to send a card of appreciation to Rex Kent, the former pastor of First Baptist Church of Demopolis.

“It has been a slow process in bringing the different ministerial associations together,” said Mickey Green of Church Aflame, the secretary-treasurer of the DCMA.

“I think part of it is that, for years, there has been a division, or separatism,” said DCMA president Lacornia Harris of New Aimwell Missionary Baptist Church. “The blacks have stayed on one side, and the whites have stayed on the other side. When Katrina came, all of the preachers came together at one locale. All of the preachers in Demopolis came together. About 30 or 40 preachers came together, and we said that day that we were going to stop the separatism and become one ministerial alliance.

“We are trying to bring into fruition what we said we were going to do then, and we’ve been working on it ever since.”

With one consolidated alliance, the ministers are able to do more work for more people.

“In the Scripture, it does not dictate or indicate anything about pigmentation,” Harris said. “Together, we stand; divided, we fall. One stick, you can break quickly; with 15, it takes power to break them.”

The DCMA has 11 members and hopes to bring in more. It understands that while they may not have strength in numbers, they have their strength in faith.