Whenever, I personally broach the subject of church I always feel compelled to offer the fact that I am the grandson of a Bishop and the grandson of a longtime Deacon. I am also the cousin of several and I mean several pastors as well as a tithe paying every Sunday going church member. Matter fact in terms of my own church credentials I find a surreal pleasure of going to church on Sundays and if my schedule permits I often find myself at midweek meditation. Therefore, my critique of the church comes from a place of both love for the institution and the service it has given to our community and a level of disdain for what it has become in terms of that same level of service to those very same communities that have turned pastors in millionaires and churches into franchises for both Jesus and Heaven Inc. With that in mind I offer you this point to ponder.
In the pre Civil Rights era churches were the bedrock of the black community. The social, economic and spiritual well-being was at the heart of what they did and by in large our community was better for it. In the post Civil Rights era a lot of churches have morphed into major corporations disguised as churches and Jesus and heaven and all that comes with it is the product. Therefore, all black people should immediately realize what their place of worship is and act accordingly. No disrespect to the men and women of the cloth that I have grown to respect, but there is a distinct difference between pastor and CEO and very few people can be both.
In my scholarly work surrounding my dissertation I have had the pleasure of reading countless hours of research surrounding the Black church, what it is, what it ain’t, does it even still exist and in this day and time is it still even relevant. While I won’t engage you in the gory analysis of the aforementioned let’s just say in my humble opinion yes it still exist and its relevancy is at best TBD. However, I would suggest that our expectations of the church have shifted from one of both social and spiritual to one of merely spiritual. In the earliest of times the Black church was the source of Freedman societies and benevolent societies, which served as the lynchpin for helping African-Americans get acclimated to their newfound freedom and even get adjusted to life in the North during the Great Migration. Transition to the Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) and the Black church was once again the catalyst for social change. All of this happened while still not losing site of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Matter of fact an entirely new theology was born out of the Black church called liberation theology (See Dr. James Cone). No matter the denomination or the convention the Black church was at the forefront of battling for human equality.
Transition to today’s spiritual landscape and the church’s dual role as both social agitator and spiritual way shower is about as big of a myth as Osama Bin Laden was hiding in a cave in Afghanistan. The gap between the needs of the African-American community and what we can expect and should expect from the Black church is widening everyday, yet there are more places of worship than any other time let alone anything else within African-American communities. I have often suggested that the number one growth industry in the African-American community is church. Yet our expectation of both the institution and the men and women who head them are either very small or none existent. Am I suggesting that every pastor leading Black churches be Martin Luther King Jr. or Dr. Joseph Lowery obviously no. Even during their days they were met with criticism and resistance from the clergy within the African-American community. However, what I am suggesting is that if you have the same expectation for your pastor as you do for your company’s CEO when delivering the company’s annual report then you don’t have a church you have a business you go to.
The last thing communities that are suffering from double digit unemployment, high dropout rates, increasing incarceration rates, an ever increasing HIV and AIDS rate is a great weekly speech. We need men and women of the cloth to stand up and speak out and be the CHANGE communities of color need. I will caution you though this might impact your, Rolex watch, Mercedes Benz, tailored suits, gated community home, private schools for YOUR kids, your jet setting and all the other luxury items “God” Inc. has so conveniently blessed you with. I’ll end with the words of Speech from Arrested Development:
Sitting in church hearing legitimate woes.
Pastor tells the lady it’ll be alright.
Pastor tells the lady it’ll be alright.
Just pray so you can see the pearly gates so white.
The lady prays and prays and prays its everlasting
There’s nothing wrong with praying, it’s what she is asking.
She should be praying for changed circumstances, but church doctrine suggest she simply cope
Instead of concrete social transformation too many content themselves with emotional release through worship
But shouting only makes them lose their voice.
Again no disrespect to all the Rev. Dr. Bishop, Apostle, _____________(inset name here), CEO’s that may read this, but we have created a theology around God hooking people up and not in an emotional or socially transformational way, but in a way that leads to mo money, mo money, mo.
This is my truth and I AM sticking to it.
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