Noted church history professor Dr. Love Henry Whelchel will help First Afrikan Presbyterian Church mark its 16th church anniversary on Dec. 13.

Whelchel, who will be the featured preacher at the 10 a.m. worship service, teaches courses on African-American and American religious traditions as well as history of Christian thought at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

His publications include “Hell Without Fire: Conversion in Slave Religion”; “My Chains Fell Off: William Wells Brown, Fugitive Abolitionist”; and “How Long This Road: Race, Religion, and the Legacy of C. Eric Lincoln.”

The theme of First Afrikan’s anniversary celebration is “A Gifted and Guided People: Position to do a Good Work.”

The Lithonia church was founded in December 1993 by Dr. Mark Lomax. It is a successor to the white Salem Presbyterian Church, which dissolved in 1991 amid South DeKalb’s changing demographics.

The church’s mission is to empower women, men, youth and children to move from membership to leadership in the church, community and the world.

Lomax, a homiletics professor and interim dean at the Johnson C. Smith Seminary, was called by the Atlanta Presbytery in April 1993 to develop the “new” Salem Presbyterian Church. The new congregation of 150 adopted the name First Afrikan and installed Lomax as pastor.

The church embraces the culture of its members with African-inspired liturgical dance and music, an African Rites of Passage program for youth, Ancestral Walks, and numerous political and community-service ministries.

The church is at 5197 Salem Road in Lithonia. For more information, call 770-981-2601.