Amazing grace: 50 years of the Black church

Ebony, April, 1995

TODAY, as in 1945, the Black Church is a spiritual fortress and an economic and political giant.

Having survived the Jim Crow era, the Black Church is still the biggest and strongest institution in Black America and is in a powerful position to meet the new challenges of the new century.

In 1945, when EBONY was founded, the Black Church was smaller and more cohesive, with less competition from external forces. Perhaps the most powerful religious leaders in that year were David V. Jemison, the president of the National Baptist Convention, and William A. Fountain, the senior bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Among other highly visible leaders of the Church in that year were Adam Clayton Powell Jr., pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church and the newly elected congressman from Harlem, and major spiritual leaders like college presidents Benjamin E. Mays and Mordecai Johnson, and theologian Howard Thurman. There were, of course, strong local pastors like Martin Luther King Sr. of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church. One of the major features of the church scene in these days was the national presence and power of charismatic leaders like Father Divine and Daddy Grace.

This, of course, was in the heyday of Jim Crow, and it was widely said then that 11 o'clock Sunday morning was the most segregated hour in America. (Some church leaders contend that this statement is still true.)

Since that time, largely because of the work of Black Church leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and other members of the Black clergy, the Black Church and the White Church have changed significantly. The Baptist Church, which was the leading Black denomination in 1945 in terms of membership, is still the largest denomination in Black America. But the relatively small Pentecostal denominations of yester-year have grown phenomenally, and current survey figures indicate that the Church of God in Christ is now the second largest Black denomination in the nation. Most denominations, White and Black, have lost ground in overall membership, but the Black Pentecostal groups, according to current figures, are the fastest-growing Christian religious groups in Black and White America.

There have been other changes as well, including the sharp increase in the number of Black Muslims, Black Baha'is and other non-Christians.

At the same time, again largely due to the Black Church-led Freedom Movement, there has been a dramatic increase in the power and influence of Blacks in what one Black churchman calls the "outposts" of the historically Black Church, predominantly Black groups and denominations in historically White churches.

In 1945, there were no Black bishops or major officials in the White Church. Today, there are major officials in almost all White religious organizations. In some cases, and in some cities, Black men and women are the major officials of these churches.

By almost all accounts, the Black Church has made major contributions to Black and White America since 1945. Racial equality has always been a precept upheld and espoused in the Black Church and has since chimed through the halls of White congregations as well. It is generally agreed that the Freedom Movement, led by Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr., increased the amount of political and spiritual freedoms in Black America.

The distinct musical style of Blacks, with its varied meters and African-inspired beats, has lifted the soul and spirit of Christian and Gospel music alike. And, the lively worship style that characterizes the traditional Black Church has become commonplace in the larger church community.

The changing years have also brought about new challenges. The modern-day Black Church is confronted with a membership that includes fewer men and an increasing number of women who are demanding greater participation in the life of the church, according to religious observers, such as Dr. Clarence G. Newsome, dean of the Howard University School of Divinity, Dr. James H. Costen, president of the Interdenominational Theological Center, and Duke University professor and author C. Eric Lincoln. Over the past 50 years, the numbers of Black men in congregational life have sharply decreased. The abrupt decline, religious leaders say, is partly attributed to incarceration, gangs and the lure of non-Christian groups.

While the church works to improve its male population, all observers agree, that it will also have to increase its efforts to include women at every level of church leadership.

"The Church is just beginning to challenge sexism as a social ill," says the Rev. Vashti McKenzie, pastor of Baltimore's Payne Memorial AME Church. "In the next 50 years, I hope that we'll go beyond equal access in ministry to leadership positions and break beyond the glass ceiling in the church as we have in business."

Moreover, the Black Church of the future will be further challenged to establish itself as an even stronger economic, social and political epicenter in the community, some religious leaders say. "The African-American Church needs to be in a position to leverage the decision-making process at every level," Howard University's Newsome explains, "so that the dollars that would be spent to incarcerate mostly Black males could be spent in ways to develop people."