FTE "On Call" Blog

Charlene Brown

FTE Ministry Fellow ('09), Duke Divinity School

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April 30, 2010

The “Death” of the Black Church?

FTE Fellows who attended the 2010 Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference talk about social justice ministry and their emerging sense of vocation.

Hundreds of black clergy and students gathered in Florida, heaving around books and bags, to hear and share stories and challenges of justice and inclusion in the church. And from the looks and sounds of things, the Black Church is far from dead. The 2010 Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference convened, calling ministers, seminarians, and lay leaders from around the country to come and hear, to be awaken and aroused, to be prophetic and persistent, and to respond. It appears that the proclamation of the Black Church as dead is not a rude awakening by Eddie Glaude, Jr., but rather, a call to action. It is far too easy to stand over the operating table of the Black Church without taking its pulse, declare it as dead, and walk away. I believe its purpose is to stir up the life that is left in this institution. This word is one of intention to awaken the black church to re-imagine its purpose and witness in the world. With a history rooted in freedom songs and civil rights, community development, and providing for the poor and needy, it is clear that the black church still has work to do.

As a young seminarian, what is more evident today is the need for prophets in the Black Church tradition. And by this, I don’t mean those who will speak pathetically, as Jeremiah Wright spoke of during the conference, into your future declaring health and wealth, but those who stand prophetically to proclaim Truth in hard places, even in adversity. For that matter, our views of the prophetic are too narrow. The prophet is not just one that seeks to break into the ranks of the elite, but one who is willing to go to the margins, set the captives free, proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ wherever he or she may go, and even live in the fear of losing his or her own life. In recollecting our rich heritage and past, we cannot simply rest on those accomplishments and be satisfied by taking a seat at the table of America, a table that has historically not welcomed us or our people, and marking the box: Mission Accomplished. No, the black church must seek to re-imagine what it means to be people of the cross every single day. This happens in our churches, our seminaries, and in our communities through training old and young, preaching, teaching, and educating. For it is the rich and loud testimony, even when being silenced, that bears witness and interrogates our notions of who Jesus is and what Jesus calls us to be in the world. It is this testimony and witness that gives us hope for the future. As a seminarian at Duke Divinity, I am not only encouraged but moved by the glimpse of the Black Church I saw at the SDP Conference. I can only hope that others who attended the conference and those who have experienced it will continue to challenge this generation to be faithful and persistent. Our faith must be active, seeking out the poor and always working toward justice. As the prophet Nehemiah shows us, we must lament, but after lament and sorrow comes a realization that we must move forward by gathering the people to build. The prophetic happens not only in word but also in deed. So friends, let us be people who lament but those who are always pointed toward the cross and led to build.

Charlene Brown is a 2009-2010 FTE Ministry Fellow at Duke Divinity School. Here she offers reflections on the 2010 Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference in St. Petersburg, FL.