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The church built in segregated areas because just about everywhere was segregated. New churches rent space and time from established churches or build in a storefront and then it is a matter of the charisma of the pastor and congregation if they can draw in folks from the immediate area, or just the immediate family and friends of that pastor. And then there comes the chain of members. Maybe if your building is pretty enough in addition to the speaking ability of that pastor. Sometimes you have advantages, being the only church of a specific style or denomination in an area helps. But then you still probably be the 1 in 1000 church plant that grows to the point of building new rather then being invited to merge with/take over or be assigned to an already existing church.
We are black, and we now attend a predominantly (not wholly, but predominantly) black non-denominational near-megachurch church in Plano TX (a growingly more diverse area).
This is, however, the first time since 1980 that we've attended a predominantly black church. Over the years, we have attended mostly white congregations (including one that had a Puerto Rican pastor who preached a mean gospel sermon).
We've attended a mostly Asian congregation where my daughter was baptized in the Pacific ocean by a Fijiian pastor.
We've been the only black members of a tiny rural Maryland congregation of retired white farmers (and it was a long, strange journey that landed us there). Not only was I the only black man, I was the only man beside the pastor still earning a wage. Yet, it was a fulfilling period, and that was the only congregation that gave us a warm farewell when I got transfer orders. I'm still not a great fan of country gospel, but I have to admit the Holy Spirit was there.
We've been lost in a predominantly white mega-church.
We joined a smallish white storefront church where the pastor had preached, "If this congregation is still this white in a year, we're doing something wrong."
Why have we done this? Because while overseas--13 years in the Far East--we worshipped with Christians in places that "Christian" was not the default religion--where Christians were separated from politics and more or less in tension with their governments. That is a whole different Christian experience.
I find it immensely frustrating that I agree theologically with so many white Christians, but we are separated by American politics.
We are black, and we now attend a predominantly (not wholly, but predominantly) black non-denominational near-megachurch church in Plano TX (a growingly more diverse area).
This is, however, the first time since 1980 that we've attended a predominantly black church. Over the years, we have attended mostly white congregations (including one that had a Puerto Rican pastor who preached a mean gospel sermon).
We've attended a mostly Asian congregation where my daughter was baptized in the Pacific ocean by a Fijiian pastor.
We've been the only black members of a tiny rural Maryland congregation of retired white farmers (and it was a long, strange journey that landed us there). Not only was I the only black man, I was the only man beside the pastor still earning a wage. Yet, it was a fulfilling period, and that was the only congregation that gave us a warm farewell when I got transfer orders. I'm still not a great fan of country gospel, but I have to admit the Holy Spirit was there.
We've been lost in a predominantly white mega-church.
We joined a smallish white storefront church where the pastor had preached, "If this congregation is still this white in a year, we're doing something wrong."
Why have we done this? Because while overseas--13 years in the Far East--we worshipped with Christians in places that "Christian" was not the default religion--where Christians were separated from politics and more or less in tension with their governments. That is a whole different Christian experience.
I find it immensely frustrating that I agree theologically with so many white Christians, but we are separated by American politics.
Thank you for that. When Christianity and politics mix, Christianity suffers as a result.
That's fine if you don't believe it. However, I have seen dozens of new churches spring up in the towns that I have lived and worked in over the past five years, all of them led by white male pastors, and all serving a very similar demographic. Not all of them have succeeded and remained, but it has happened.
What I find ironic, though, is that many of them will have "ministries" where they will collect food or clothes for the homeless, or a street ministry, or sponsor a group/village/church in Africa, but don't reach out to invite the people who are needy or people of color to be part of their actual, physical church. I, personally, find it disturbing and elitist.
Even so according to stats at least 3500 churches close each year and it does not give in account of the new churches that have been established. At least 1.2 million leave church each year. 3500 People Leave the Church Every DayGenerally the new churches that have been established, a majority of them used to be from other churches.
No church is perfect and if churches do not reach out and invite people who are needy or if they are from a different race and that will mean that the state of Christianity will be like that of Western Europe and with it not many believers exist.
Thank you for that. When Christianity and politics mix, Christianity suffers as a result.
I would have thought it was the other way around. In fact, when Christianity mixes with politics, Christianity, politics, law, education and pretty much every damn' thing, suffers.
I would have thought it was the other way around. In fact, when Christianity mixes with politics, Christianity, politics, law, education and pretty much every damn' thing, suffers.
It goes both ways. When religion and Christianity mix, both go wrong.
It goes both ways. When religion and Christianity mix, both go wrong.
This is where more American Christians need to read the full-length version of Roger Williams' 1644 treatise "The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience."
But they won't like it.
It's a tough slog because it's in "King James" English, and I haven't seen a translation to modern English.
Let me speak first of Roger Williams:
1. Radical Puritan pastor. Didn't come over on the Mayflower, but came over on the second Puritan ship.
2. Founded the first Baptist congregation in America.
3. Evangelized the local Indian tribes, but warned them not to join the white churches ("Jesus is real, but those people want to steal your land"). He enraged the local whites because he did not given them an advantage with the Indians who trusted him.
4. Was the first American Abolitionist.
5. Founded Rhode Island as the first colony with complete freedom of religion, in his own words, "...including the pagan (atheists) and the Musselman (Muslims)."
Williams was a Calvinist who believed those who will come to Jesus will come to Jesus on their own, and society should not pressure them into the Church. In his view, the result of that was merely a lot of non-believers packing the pews, which was a danger to true Christianity and resulted in all the oppression of Christians by Christians even up to his day (he was writing during the English Civil War, which was essentially a war over the concept of separation of Church and State).
Williams believed (along with other Puritans, called "Separatists" by the English government) that the entanglement of Church and State was the reason for religious oppression, and that Christianity should never have use of the king's sword.
It is in "The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience" that Williams coins the phrase, "...hedge of separation between the garden of the Church and the wilderness of the World," which Thomas Jefferson later cribbed in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Church as "...wall of separation between Church and State..."--recalling to them the words of their own forebearer.
And it was because of Roger Williams that his state, Rhode Island, single-handedly blocked ratification of the Constitution until the Bill of Rights was ratified first.
We are black, and we now attend a predominantly (not wholly, but predominantly) black non-denominational near-megachurch church in Plano TX (a growingly more diverse area).
This is, however, the first time since 1980 that we've attended a predominantly black church. Over the years, we have attended mostly white congregations (including one that had a Puerto Rican pastor who preached a mean gospel sermon).
We've attended a mostly Asian congregation where my daughter was baptized in the Pacific ocean by a Fijiian pastor.
We've been the only black members of a tiny rural Maryland congregation of retired white farmers (and it was a long, strange journey that landed us there). Not only was I the only black man, I was the only man beside the pastor still earning a wage. Yet, it was a fulfilling period, and that was the only congregation that gave us a warm farewell when I got transfer orders. I'm still not a great fan of country gospel, but I have to admit the Holy Spirit was there.
We've been lost in a predominantly white mega-church.
We joined a smallish white storefront church where the pastor had preached, "If this congregation is still this white in a year, we're doing something wrong."
Why have we done this? Because while overseas--13 years in the Far East--we worshipped with Christians in places that "Christian" was not the default religion--where Christians were separated from politics and more or less in tension with their governments. That is a whole different Christian experience.
I find it immensely frustrating that I agree theologically with so many white Christians, but we are separated by American politics.
This is a white christian who probably lines up with your political views although I tend to be a bit "liberal" theologically.
And your transient job work reminds me of growing up in an AF family, traveling across both oceans.
As a youth in my junior year of HS, we lived in Biloxi, MS. My family attended a segregated Southern Baptist church (1963). I was saved in a week long revival on a Tuesday night, where the evangelist asked the question, "Where are the colored folks in this community? Usually, I hold a revival and there will be at least a few in the balcony or in the back pews of the church. God has a plan for their lives, too, and we need to be available to encourage them."
Attendance fell off sharply following that short note.
We've come a long way in the Christian community, yet I fear much racism still hides under the surface--as does sexism.
Anyway, your story brought back a lot of memories.
God bless.
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I would have thought it was the other way around. In fact, when Christianity mixes with politics, Christianity, politics, law, education and pretty much every damn' thing, suffers.
