The Rural Black Church

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...