06/15/2026
Powerful.
Before the televangelists, before megachurches became common, and before women pastors were widely accepted, there was Elder Lucy Smith — a Black woman in Chicago who built a ministry people called miraculous.
Born Lucinda Madden in Georgia, Elder Lucy Smith became one of the most powerful Pentecostal leaders of the early 20th century. In 1916, she started with a small prayer group in her home. By 1918, that prayer band had grown into All Nations Pentecostal Church on Chicago’s South Side.
And she did something historic.
In 1926, All Nations moved into a church building on Langley Avenue — reportedly the first church building in Chicago built by a woman pastor and the first new African American church construction in the city in more than two decades.
But Elder Lucy Smith was not only known for preaching.
She was known as a faith healer — a woman people traveled to see because they believed God worked miracles through her prayers. Reports say she claimed to have seen more than 200,000 healings during her ministry.
At the height of her influence, All Nations drew thousands. Her church fed and clothed people during the Great Depression, served poor families in Bronzeville, and became known for powerful gospel music.
In 1933, her church launched “The Glorious Church of the Air,” one of the earliest live radio broadcasts from a Black church. Her voice, her ministry, and her music reached far beyond the walls of the sanctuary.
When Elder Lucy Smith died in 1952, an estimated 60,000 people paid their respects. Her funeral was remembered as one of the largest in Chicago history.
Elder Lucy Smith was more than “the miracle worker.”
She was a pastor, builder, mother, organizer, broadcaster, healer, and pioneer who made room for Black faith, Black women’s leadership, and Black spiritual power in a world that tried to deny all three.
Her story deserves to be remembered.