Published: Fri, Apr. 18, 2008 12:00AM

Modified Fri, Apr. 18, 2008 06:43AM

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Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, the associate minister at St. John's Baptist, a historically black church in the heart of Durham's Walltown neighborhood, is a white man in a predominantly black church. He worries that while some middle-class blacks find acceptance at mostly white, middle-class churches, those congregations might be less accepting of poor people, or those who are homeless, addicted to drugs and alcohol, or in and out of prison.

"Jesus wants us to question the system that is hurting some people so that others can have middle-class success," said Wilson-Hartgrove, whose most recent book is called "Free to Be Bound: Church Beyond the Color Line."

Finding a place

But African-Americans who made the move to mostly white churches said their only prerequisite was finding a church where the teaching and preaching were biblically sound. Some said they yearned for more teaching and less preaching.

"We wanted a church aligned with the tenets of Jesus Christ," said James McPherson, a member of Raleigh First Assembly of God.

McPherson grew up in Fayetteville and was the only black member of his high school's basketball team. When it came time to find a church, he and his wife visited several before settling on First Assembly. Two years ago, McPherson, director of learning and organizational development at Duke University Health System, was elected to the church's board of directors, becoming the first African-American to sit on the board.

For Andy Ellis, who is white, joining a predominantly black church was a way of connecting more deeply with a spiritual part of himself he didn't know he had.

After a stroke in 2006, followed by the death of his sister, Ellis visited Church on the Rock at the recommendation of a physical therapist.

"I never felt so welcomed in my entire life," said Ellis, 51, an advertising writer who lives in Wake Forest. "I was being hugged by strangers."

Ellis and his wife, Christie Dowda, continued attending after that first service in January 2007, and eventually joined the church. Last month, Ellis was baptized. Members helped him into a small baptismal pool set up to the right of the pulpit, and Roberson, the pastor, dunked him backward in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

"My wife and I joke that we're middle-aged white people offering ethnic diversity," Ellis said. "But we're not out of place at all. It's a loving environment."