Is the black church irrelevant? I’ve asked what the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP have done for black Americans because I see them as irrelevant organizations whose time has come and gone. Perhaps with new leadership and a new focus, they could achieve relevance among black Americans. Is the black church becoming irrelevant for the same reasons, or is the black church dead?
The black church of days gone by served a purpose for those living in the black communities. According to Wayne Perryman in his book “Unfounded Loyalty”, the black church was everything to the community. In addition to providing spiritual growth and guidance, the church was used as an institution for training and development, a place where members advocated for justice and supported families.
It was an educational institution for child development, a community resource for employment, a place to find a quality spouse, and an institution dedicated to building people of character. The Bible was taught at church to inspire men and provide them and their families with comfort during times of trouble and strife. The Bible was used to train up children in the way they should go, and provided instructions on how to respect the clergy, to trust God, and lean not on your own understanding.
The Word of God was used to teach all people to work hard and to love their families. The black church was the light drawing people to Jesus. It was a place where families went to worship, pray, and seek the face of God. It was the place where families went to learn the Word of God and how to apply it to their lives.
Black Americans were a faith-based race of people with strong conservative family values.
Black churches were also places where political activism took place. During times of slavery, they were meeting places where abolitionists planned successful slave insurrections in the South. During the Reconstruction era, people like Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and Ida B. Wells were people of faith who fought against injustices imposed upon black Americans. Many black leaders such as Rev. Richard Allen and Rev. Absalom Jones in addition to modern-day leaders such as Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Rev. Andrew Young, and Rev. Benjamin Hooks came from the black church.
There do not appear to be many impressive black leaders coming from today’s black church. The so-called black leaders of today are the same activists from the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. The “new leaders” come from radical leftist groups that do not support the Christian faith or family values. Conservative, biblical leader's voices are ignored.
Some say the black church, as we know it, is dead. I say the black church is irrelevant.
We are witnessing what Eddie Glaude, Jr describes as the routinization of black prophetic witness. In other words, the strength of the church is wrapped up in the past. These lookbacks tend to define the current place of the church. Things tend not to change because of our reverence for the past. This ideal for the church causes it to lose power as the ability to sustain the church is wrapped up in the ability to keep the memory alive. The result, according to Glaude, is church services that entertain, but lack a transformational spirit.
The black church is becoming irrelevant because it has allowed the Word of God to be pushed out of the church and the worship of government to be brought in. Additionally, many black churches have aligned themselves with groups like Black Lives Matter and many continue to support the democrat party and its agenda.
Irrelevant or dead should not be attached to all black churches, but the desire for churches to be more accepting of sin is killing them.
If these churches were preaching biblical truth from the Bible, their congregation would be returning to the family values that used to dominate the culture. They would not align themselves with Black Lives Matter, whose primary goal is to tear down the family structure.
They would not support a party that sees nothing wrong with aborting all babies but makes a point of placing these places of “Reproductive Healthcare” in predominantly black neighborhoods. They would understand that the church can love those in the LGBTQ community but cannot and will not affirm their lifestyle. These churches would teach men to be men and take responsibility for their families. They would help families train their children. They would raise up future churches, business, and political leaders.
My words are not meant to be words of discouragement but to be words of inspiration. As Glaude says, this is an opportunity to breathe new life into what it means to be black and Christian.
“Black churches and preachers must find their prophetic voices in this momentous present. In doing so, black churches will become relevant again and insist that we all assert ourselves on the national stage not as sycophants to a glorious past, but as witnesses to the ongoing revelation of God’s love in the here and now as we work on behalf of those who suffer most.”
These words ring true for all churches in America. Until all churches find their biblical voices and stand firm on God’s word, our leaders will force us to worship at the Church of Government, and our American culture, founded on faith, will become irrelevant.
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
Houses of the Holy. Though at this moment I picture an old whitewashed Church on about 34 acres.
Great job with this piece & have a good weekend.
Amen, Brother! I'm white, but the church in whole needs to wake up and be the bride it needs to be.