The Rural Black Church

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...