What is Reformation for the African American Church? An Introduction

Well, first of all my wife has informed me that the actual readership of this blog is diverse, if at the same time small...the latter being my own observation and humble acknowledgement. But her main point was that I should not assume that we all have a shared understanding of the meaning of "reformation" as it pertains to the church. This led to the further realization that many of the core terms for "reformation" should be carefully explained with biblical support and clarity, and using very simple language. So, since she's as wise as she is beautiful (here seen dining in her favorite city: London), we'll yield to that counsel.

What is meant by Reformation in the African American Church?
At it's core, "reformation" is a rediscovery of the bible, it's fundamental teaching and it's full disclosure about God, grace, Christ's person and his work, and by extension the mission of the church. The main tenets of this biblical rediscovery is the centrality of God, the supreme value of his glory, the preeminence of Christ in ampliying God's glory through grace, and that we stand before God as the trophies of grace...receiving all of its benefits. In a major way, Reformation means placing God in Christ at the real center of all our preaching, teaching, singing, witnessing, working, etc.

But how do we get there, how is Reformation in the African American church achieved within actual local congregations? I would like to suggest 3 pillars of reformation that are needed for the African American church to walk in the fullness (Eph 4:13) that Christ has called her into:

1. Biblical literacy and interpretation
2. Discipleship and devotion to Christ
3. Awareness of congregation, community, national, and global needs.

I will address the first item very briefly now, and then save the second two to be addressed over the weekend.

Quick Aside: I feel it necessary to briefly address the obvious question: why target these items to the Black Church when they are all well enough relevant to all Christians everywhere? This is a good question and I'm aware of Lionel, Thabiti, Quincy A. Jones and Xavier speaking to this item in other places, and I agree with some of what has been shared and I disagree with others, but let me just say the following as a "defense" for why this is targeted toward the African American church community:

• This is not intended to exclude but to aim. For example, when we talk about problems with the "American" church we don't mean that it is ONLY the American church, or that it pertains to ALL American churches, but only that there is a pattern to problems within the American Christian community. I give this as an example because no one ever gets upset about discussing the "American" church but feathers often get ruffled for some when you mention the "Black Church". I give this example just to say "hey, we do this kind of thing all the time and I'm not trying to exclude one group (say, non-Black Churches) or condemn another one (like, all Black Churches)...cool?


• There is such a thing as a Black Church community, tradition and set of associations that feels like a community and a world. Many of us grew up in it and still worhship and serve Christ in that context. This is the typical weekly church experience of many. No one should feel as if it's racist or Afro-centric, it's simply a way of speaking about a particular reality: the Black Church. Make sense?


• So any and all should feel free to assess this from their own cultural experience, whether it is multicultural and integrated, or largely ethno-centric...both of which can glorify Christ fully. Now, back to our main point...

1. Biblical Literacy and Interpretation

There are a lot of preachers who lift up the bible as symbollicaly and who never really deal with its contents. Joel Osteen is the best example, launching every sermon with his trademark "verse" about the bible and then loosely connecting scripture to his recurring themese of positive thinking and personal uplift. Why is it that many believers even in bible-teaching churches fall under the spell of this worldly sheen? Why is it that when biblically grounded pastors retire or are called home to the Lord, younger mammon-obsessed men come aboard with the congregation totally unawares about the dangerous new worldly teaching? Why do many respond to truth and error with the same zeal?

After Christ-centered preaching, our congregations needs to be taught how to read and properly interpet scripture, i.e. let the bible speak for itself and don't run it through the filter of what you think you already know. Let the bible be our guides...but again, it is necessary to teach people HOW to read scripture in context. We often talk about the importance of contextual bible reading, but I think more importantly we need to teach and show how it's done.

Biblical interpretation is always trying, but I would suggest not as difficult as it has to be...if we can rely more directly on what the biblcal texts actually say. As an example, many people struggle with the doctrine of election not because the bible teaches it in an obtuse way or that it's difficult to understand, but it is largely because people refuse to believe what the bible says about it! A word of advice to a Reformed-minded pastor called to takr over a new congregation: Teach your congregants how to read and understand the bible.

This gets to a second point: I'm not convinced our most common Bible study models are effective for actually learning what the Bible says...I know I often don't feel I am as effective as I need to be while conducting Bible studies. The model I typically use is an outline of a text, with questions thrown out to the class for feedback and discussion. I think this can be very fruitful, I've done it for years, but what about the following instead:

• A lecture approach that allows the teacher to get out with clarity the context of a passage, it's meaning, connecting it to parallel passages and bringing our clear application; kind of a sermonette but with cool analysis and presentation. Then this would be followed by an extended period of group thoughtful examination of the text and what was presented and of course more meditation on application.


• An advanced approch where there is really more of a group study where each participant opens their bible and there is a searching and discussion for meaning. Relevant and challenging questions are noted, and the group explores the answers together. This should be less of the teacher "giving the answer" and more of the group "searching for the answer"...with the results of answers being captured with an effort to arrive at group consensus. It is important for churches, especially leadership, to strive for agreement on major doctrinal and practical themes, I believe unity in doctrinal thought is achieved by working for it through the labor of group study. It is so important that we recognize that doctrinal unity is only achievable and preservable when there is a shared understanding...not just a shared confession, or even merely a shared hearing.

This weekend's posts:

• 2nd two pillars for reformation
• I need to complete the posting of my sermon notes from a few weeks ago...Sorry!
• I will be preaching this weekend, Lord willing, and will post a BRIEF summary and the audio under the theme: Christ, Our Model

Prayer Needs

• My Mom is still battling health issues, please pray for her
• Our congregation has several members who are battling health concerns as well (Erni, Brenda, Juneirene, and others...please pray for them
• Lenny: I believe the Lord still wants to use you mightily...remember Moses was 80?! We need your service...and I don't mean in the kitchen...[Romans 12:1-2]
• Pastors Dennie, Burrows, and Anthony Carter and his new Church Plant
• The Reformation!!!

Reconsidering the Wright Effect

First, let me commence with the obligatory blows against the Rev. Jeremiah Wright piñata: buffoonery, self-absorbed, incendiary rhetoric, cacophonous ranting of the worst kind of anti-American speech imaginable, and worst of all, trumpeted from a [nominally] Christian pulpit. There is much to disparage here. For evangelical Christians, especially for those of us who have and value our multi-cultural and diverse fellowship communities, Rev. Wright’s bombastic irreverence demand we say the obvious: this brother does not speak for me!

For those interested in a sound, biblical and pastoral assessment of how Jeremiah Wright might have responded differently, I point you to Thabiti’s excellent and Christ-exalting post here.

I, however, would like to speak to the leadership vacuum within which Jeremiah Wright’s voice finds eager ears. For those who have been watching, the metrics indicating the state and stature of the African American community do not reveal a scorecard of tremendous progress or of great prospects for economic future in an increasingly competitive global market place. Consider:

• 69% of African American children born out of wedlock ensures that, without decisive and coordinated action driven by insightful vision, the next generation of black teens and young adults will be even more greatly debilitated by un-fathered sons and daughters.
  
• College matriculation rates for African Americans, especially for young men, continue to decrease…and this in inverse proportion to incarceration rates
  
• The academic achievement gap, forcefully addressed by John McWhorter and by Claude Steele’s recent work on Stereotype Threat, continues to befuddle educators. Economic class, recently thought to be the real-determinant of academic performance, is now being eclipsed by the re-insertion of race into the equation as middle class black students perform behind their white peers

In the wake of Rev. Wright’s Detroit-hosted NAACP speech, many mainstream pundits decried his loud claims that black people are neurologically-wired differently…or at least there is a cultural component to the learning process that causes black children to learn differently from everyone else. I don’t buy into that assessment, but not only should it not be controversial, but it speaks to the simple fact that people are rummaging through the scraps of hackneyed theories to figure out what the jeepers is going on with the achievement gap?

Aside: A good friend of mine, a PhD from MIT’s renown Media Lab who sports a mathematics degree from Harvard…and I might add a sound evangelical believer, recently shared with me his thoughts about the need for a pedagogical redirection for African American kids because they learn differently. Take a look at some of the writings about Bob Moses’ success with Algebra education in Mississippi, or Marilyn Frankenstein’s work on mathematics education in the inner cities, or even the late Paulo Freire’s thinking about how to educate marginalized communities, and you will find a willingness to shed conventional wisdom and practices for hoped for results: desperate times require desperate measures.

Wright’s voice is echoed by amen’s for a variety of reasons, and I would submit to you that theological immaturity in the black church, the uncritical lionization of pastoral leadership, and the simple lack of practice of thinking smartly and prudently about these things are all secondary factors. Wright’s sermons ring loudly because in many ways his voice rings alone. For all of the good done by many simple churches in outreach and down-home helping, and with the good preaching of an increasing number of reformed-minded, evangelical pastors, there is a real dearth of answers as to why the black community is in the statistical tatters within which it finds itself…and how to change it.

Enter Rev. Wright and the Chorus of Liberation Theologians. Did you hear the NAACP speech? It was full of lessons on cultural musicology, ethnic vernacular practices…and all this stated in clear language that common people could understand! In fact, it was also stated in terms that would allow intellectuals and educators to build programs around them. For instance, if black children are creative, intuitive and dialogical, then one could build an educational program that connects with those traits [The problem, of course, is that national universities and the global economy doesn’t really make room for culturally-centered learning styles...you have to read, write, speak with clarity, and solve problems accurately or the premise of interconnected society fades fatally.].

I’m not aware of a similarly fashioned model of social and community praxis that originates from an evangelical or reformed mindset, where these items have been thought through as repeatedly and deeply as many on the African American theological left have done:

• I completely agree with Bill Cosby in his running feud with Michael Eric Dyson, but who will doubt that Dyson has a better appreciation for the force and relevance of rap culture as a means to motivate. Though most of Cosby’s assessments of the genre are caricature, Dyson is able to highlight the genius of the form and his apology for what is in reality a pejorative social phenomenon[in my opinion] resonates with many as truth.


• Cornel West’s claims to be a Christian speaks to all the reasons why I have shared with others the label “Christian” for me is fast becoming a non-distinguishing title. Anyhow, while maintaining his Christianity, along with Wright, Cornel loudly speaks against many of the objective pillars of biblical revelation all in the name of relevance. But, most biblically-centered churches don’t speak to the concerns raised by West with the same degree of conviction, and we have not typically connected these concerns to the core message of the gospel.

The last statement in the previous bullet is the main point I want to raise: there will always be a haven for Wright’s self-absorbed speechifying when it aims its guns at the marginalization of a people and raises a standard of the better possibilities, without any comparative message from more biblically-minded pastors and theologians.

Reformed-minded believers need to get over the specter of the gravity pull of the social gospel and effectively connect the doctrines of grace to the larger needs of the African American community and worry less about how it’s perceived by others. As an excellent model, we need to examine Lemuel Haynes’ connection of the Doctrine of Man [as an expression of human liberty] with his early 19th century calls for abolition and with his further convictions around the nature of a republican democracy. I am struck by how brother Lemuel labored in theological discourse and civic dialogue, while maintaining a pastoral focus; we need that!

Can we say that empowerment…economic, educational, institutional…is a major thrust of the reformation movement within the African American church, though taking a backseat to doctrinal reform around the doctrines of grace and a great emphasis on Christ-eumulating discipleship soaked in genuine Christian love?! Here’s my question to our mentor and friend Pastor Ken Jones: Might the church merge into its principal emphasis on “The City of God” to include a vision to ameliorate our situation in the so-called secular sphere?

The Black Church is the only pervasively independent institution in our community, therefore is it uniquely positioned, through the launching of discipleship programs on the ground, guided by a theological / biblical hermeneutical principle that connects with economic and sociological necessity?

There are many examples outside our culture as well that serve as precedents, e.g. the English Puritan movement, the relationship between protestant anthropology and capitalism, Abraham Kuyper, etc.

We would love to make Jeremiah Wright and his ilk irrelevant, on the foundation of sound biblical thinking, preaching and living, in a spirit of humility and mutual consideration, with full consideration of the local, national, global and cultural forces that are confronting our congregations? Is this a vital element of a multi-generational pastoral program?

Thoughts?

Aside: For a good review of the life and work of Lemuel Haynes, I recommend Black Puritan, Black Republican by John Saillant and The Faithful Preacher by our brother Thabiti Anyabwile

Another Aside: I use "evangelical" and "reformed" together above largely to simply expand the commmuity of believers to be considered in this discussion, but I am thoroughly and unequivocally Reformed! :-)

Exhortation to Lionel

Ran across this blog post on the Black and Reformed Ministries site...excellent site and excellent post, check it out!

http://blackandreformedministries.com/2008/05/01/young-black-and-reformed-where-do-i-go-from-here/