Black Millennials Hope for a More Relevant Church
- By Kelly Frazier --
- 11 Aug 2017 --
Most black millennials want the church to return to what it once was.
The black church, as an institution, has always included politics as part of its preachings. There were good reasons for this. The church itself was forged in the segregation era exemplified by Jim Crow. A black in the southern United States must be political. The idea of preaching included talking not only about the Christian God, but also the reformation of the ethical, moral, political and social systems during those times.
Black Millennials Hope for a More Relevant Church[/tweetthis]
A majority of black preachers followed the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr, who on Sunday mornings focused on more than the ethical and moral reimagining of political and social symptoms during his lifetime. Preachers nowadays now call on the ruling powers both on the pulpit and outside it. This led to a number of ordained clergy like Reverend Al Sharpton and Reverend Jesse Jackson to package both theology and politics within a neat package. The problem is, as blacks have climbed the political ladder, and have occupied political posts, that raw biting rhetoric has been tamed down. This is as many preachers are afraid of losing their comfortable economic position in the world.
Reverend Dr. Brianna Parker, a well-known pastor of the Assimilation at the Dallas' Friendship West Baptist Church, has a tough critique of the Donald Trump administration. She was also critical of present day leadership of black institutions.
The black church is definitely failing millennials on so many different levels
— Jarred A Smith (@Jayyyslice) April 21, 2017
Are Black preachers and pastors truly interested in engaging Black millennials in church
— iHomiletic™ (@iHomiletic) July 16, 2017
According to Parker, contrary to many reports concerning black millennials hating their church, research conducted on this issue suggest the opposite. Data gleaned from about 1,000 black millennials generates the report that black millennials have an undeniable affinity and also hope for the older version of the black church. She had acknowledged the black churches' multifaceted nature.
.@rev_bri says she is confident that black millennials will find innovative ways to weave spirituality and activism https://t.co/26nd9ASd3l
— Harvard RLP (@HarvardRLP) August 9, 2017
Black millennials need to stop going going to church and invest in their own communities.
— Dolph Obama (@OfficerDolph) July 2, 2017
Although a number of congregations assiduously preserve their worship practices, fellowship experiences and rituals of the older period of the black church, millennials want to return to the central principles of such black churches. Even though there exists a valid discussion on the matter of millennials exiting the church, this argument cannot be used to explain the behavior of black millennials. It is found out that not all are exiting the church, but many among them import a mix of faiths when they re-enter the church. There is no truth in the message sent out by the United Methodist Church of millennials disliking matters of church with politics.
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