Religious leaders respond: is the new Black Spirituality real?

Our feelings have been bombarded with too many tragedies that have taken us too far from our comfort zones. We want community but live in the opposite direction. Instead of relating to people face-to-face, we stay at home, order take-out and voyage on reality TV. We spend all night talking to people we cannot see on the Internet!

It is no wonder that there is a new wave of spiritual fervor sweeping our communities. Spirituality is the hot new word in the lexicon of our cultural landscape. Spirituality is even showing up in the nontraditional arenas such as business, politics and science.

The question is: Is this a newer, deeper yearning of the human soul for contact with God, or is this a desire for spiritual individualistic reconciliation with self and others? Is this a new quest for spirituality, a way to be saved with our sins rather than from our sins? Does this new spirituality have anything to do with Jesus?

The churches that are most successful are able to help people find meaning in a nonsensical world. They provide a model of ministry that helps people experience their faith through powerful worship services that touch on the miraculous.

The progressive preach a relevant gospel message that transforms lives and communities. Relationships and resources rise above the regulatory traditions of the 20th century. Inclusiveness has flung open the gates for a plethora of women who are rising in leadership ranks.

The Mega Church phenomena, Parachurch organizations and newer denominations may appear to bear witness to increased spirituality in the Christian community.

The Big Box church is a beehive of services. The satisfaction of spiritual needs is just one item on the help and assistance menu. It is a one-stop shop. People can get in and out with as much or as little involvement as they desire.

The spotlight on the large may make some people overlook the small-to-medium local congregation that provides quality service. They may not have the large campus, swimming pool, or multitiered ministry. What they do have is an intimacy that can soothe the pain of the isolation of the 21st-century culture climate. The church is quickly becoming the last place for doing and learning relationships with God, self and others!

Bishop G.E. Patterson

Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ, Inc.

THERE is a definite spiritual movement taking place in the Black Church. While it is often referred to as a new spirituality, I see it as a new openness to the move of God which was introduced to the United States nearly 100 years ago.

In 1906 a great revival was held in Los Angeles, California, led by a Black evangelist by the name of William J. Seymour. The emphasis was Holy Spirit baptism. The evidence of the Holy Spirit baptism was glossolalia (speaking with tongues). Bishop Charles Harrison Mason received this Holy Spirit baptism and the Church of God in Christ was reborn. For the greater part of the 20th century the major church denominations in the Black community rejected this New Testament doctrine. However, over the last two or three decades, there is a new acceptance.