As pastor of First Purchase in "To Kill a Mockingbird," what community responsibilities would Reverend Sykes have?

Reverend Sykes appears in the novel To Kill a
Mockingbird the day Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to the Sunday service, at
the trial of Tom Robinson, and assisting Helen Robinson, Tom Robinson's widow. 
African-American communities in the South tended to be very close knit, and the church
and church officials tended to be the informal leaders.  This makes sense when one
considers that African Americans weren't allowed to vote, much less hold any sort of
public office; the ministers were really the only source of leadership the
African-American community had to look to.  As church officials were the de facto
leaders of the community, the church itself was the social fabric of the community,
since blacks weren't allowed into, or were strictly segregated
in public venues.