The Rural Black Church

There are a lot of Theo-Ethical issues that we face in our community, however, from my viewpoint, the Rural Black Church remains silent. We lack in many instances both the facilities and the finances to bring about change in our communities because of structural racism that is embedded in our communities. Our farmers can't get loans. The same holds true for those who wish to start businesses. The Rural Black Church must embrace advocacy and tear down the theologies, some that are in our Churches, to bring a little bit of heaven right here on earth. The silence is deafening. Many avoid the Church because of that silence. We must open our eyes and realize the one that we say that we follow was a radical. That is why Jesus was a victim of capital punishment. It is past time to give up slave older theology whose sole purpose was to make us good slaves. We must move to the abundant life that Jesus wants us to have.

That is a statement I hear so many times. However, have we ever considered how youth have been treated historically in the Rural Black Church. In my research, so many times I saw it stated, anything considered entertainment or even recreation for youth was to be avoided. All I need to do is look at some of my personal experiences growing up, and as a pastor, to understand why so many children are no longer in church. I was very active in the church as I grew up. I attended Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Methodist Youth Fellowship, was a member of the Children's Choir and I was an Altar Boy. One day when I got home from school, my mother shared a letter she had received from one of our fellow church members. The member was scolding my mother for allowing me to come to Sunday School with candy. To this day, I never understood her point. But think of the effect that would have on other parents and their children. Fast forward a few years later. I had completed college and was...

This has been something that I have been meaning to right on for some time. And now with the recent removal of the president of a major Southern Baptist Seminary for statements he made about females, and the advice he gave to one in an abusive relationship, I knew it was the right time to address this issue. For many of our traditions and beliefs stem from we learned from our ancestors, many of whom worshipped in the master's church and were taught the same. As I look at the "me-too" movement and how so many have been caught up in its web, I have to wonder, how many men of faith, or men who grew up in Christians families felt that they had the right to do things that were not of God to women because of the way women have been treated in the church. Many of the ways that men look at women come from our interpretation of scripture, starting with the two creation stories. Many men overlook the first creation story where God said, let us make humankind in our image. Or as a...

Over the past twelve days, we have celebrated the life of our Risen Savior, Jesus the Christ. Jesus, who challenged by the political and religious establishment of his day. Jesus who suffered and died for our sins. We have also celebrated the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A black Baptist preacher, who opened the eyes of the world, on the legal system of the segregation, a system that negated black people every day, in every aspect of life. Dr. King was also killed. Killed because he dared to speak up against wrong. It appears to me, that in too many instances, both in the urban but more especially in the rural context, the Black Church remains silent. I don't hear much support in the rural black church for #BlackliveMatter, even though young black men and women are being gunned down in rural areas. Rev. William J. Barber, II leads the Moral Movement and is planning a new PoorPeoplesCampaign. But how many of us support the movement? How many of us even take the time to retw...

Even though in the words of Raphael Warnock in his book, The Divided Mind of the Black Church states, the Black Church was born fighting for freedom. I have found too many instances a focus totally on piety or Personal Salvation. We were taught that as slaves, things would be better for us in the sweet bye-and-bye to make us good slaves, so that would not rise us against the oppression of our enslavers. And that same theology enslaves too many of us spiritually, economically, and educationally today.Too many allow that oppression to continue and we fail to preach the liberating Gospel of Jesus. Yes, Personal Salvation is our first and most important goal, however, our members have to live in a cruel world every day, where they lack the means that others take for granted. For too long we allowed people to exist in conditions, less than where God wants them to be, for we have made suffering more tolerable by explaining that our suffering here on earth will be rewarded in glory. To that ...

I can't tell you how many times when I asked the question, what did your pastor preach about Sunday? An answer I have heard too many times was, I don't remember what he preached about, but he sure did preach. And as some of my friends in ministry might say in those Sunday evening and Monday morning conversations, I set the pulpit on fire. However, all of us must answer the question, did my sermon do anything other than give my members a spiritual high, with nothing of substance to carry them through the week. Ralph Felton in his book, These My Brethren points out that many rural black preachers have learned by imitating others and developed a pattern of preaching which gets a response from their hearer. They believe their hearers need to have their emotions stirred. Harry Richardson in his book Dark Glory states. If preaching is not related to the problems of daily life, it is preaching in the air. It might be quiet popular and powerful and may lift its hearers to emotional he...