Pure Church

This is a video clip from Cone's appearance at Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Union a few years back. I can agree with some of Cone's critique of the predominantly African-American (and for that matter, American0 church, but notice the distortions. How many can you count in this 7-minute clip?



And it's the stuff that he almost gets right that is the most poisonous and dangerous. Can anybody seriously maintain that this man, a professor of systematic theology, inadvertently misquoted Matthew 16:25 at the end of his comments? What he distorts is so critical to understanding everything that the misquote is sinister.

Vincent Bacote, Associate Professor of Theology at Wheaton College, has published a kind and helpful critique of The Decline of African American Theology. Bacote's review is an example of the kind of charitable discussion, disagreement, and nuancing that I hoped the rather blunt critique in The Decline would be met with. So, it was a joy to read even as the author being critiqued. Thank you, brother Bacoste.

Bacote thinks that the "postmodern" era that concludes each chapter needed definition earlier in the book. I agree. Fair critique.

He also thought very important historical figures were so lightly treated as to appear insignificant in the story line. The omission of some figures is owing more to the book's methodology than to oversight or cherry-picking. Because I wanted to work with original sources, persons in their own words, certain historically key figures were omitted. To my knowledge, for example, almost nothing of Richard Allen's preaching ministry survives to be examined. He was committed to extemporaneous preaching, which means the founder of the first African-American denomination may be studied as a historical and sociological figure, but not very well studied as a theological figure. We await someone like Bishop D.A. Payne before we're able to look closely at an AME leader's theological positions. So, this is a weakness in the work but also a legacy of the history. A more complete tome might include more fragmentary comments from such figures.

Only two points in Bacote's critique missed the mark, in my opinion. First, I don't think it's accurate to say that I "chose to forgo any engagement with the major African American denominations. How can one assess African American theology without making much reference to the Church of God in Christ, the National Baptist Convention, the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, and many others?" The book engages with Elias Camp Morris, the first president of the National Baptist Convention, who left a fair collection of sermons and addresses. Also, I've already mentioned the book's coverage of Bishop D.A. Payne of the A.M.E. Church. Payne is prominent in a number of chapters, and is arguably the denomination's first reformer exercising considerable theological influence on that group.

If I were to write a revision of The Decline at some point, I would like to spend more time thinking about Mason and others from the C.O.G.I.C tradition. As Bacoste points out, it would be helpful to not leave the reader thinking Pentecostal and Charismatic are one flat movement. Featuring Azusa Street and William Seymour so prominently inadvertently creates that impression, but it's not what I hold.

Secondly, Bacote finds it "dubious" that I would suggest a regulative principle for worship as part of how the decline might be reversed. Practically, every Christian body that takes the Bible seriously has at least some form of "regulative principle" in play. In some way or another, the Bible serves as rule for faith and conduct, even if there is variety in how the rule plays out or gets defined. That seems inescapable to me. Yet, I don't want folks to think that the book reduces church reform to an application of the regulative principle. Certainly much more than a regulative principle is needed, and I hope The Decline offers some suggestions to that end.

I'm thankful for Bacote's review. Read The Decline and read his review. May a thousand conversations bloom.

Related posts:
Why Write "The Decline of African American Theology"?
The Legacy of the African American Church: Faith
The Legacy of the African American Church: Justice
Can the Predominantly African American Church Be Reformed?

the potential "resurrection" of Henry Lyons inside the National Baptist Convention, the largest African-American denomination in the U.S., is ridiculous.

From the story:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The ousted former president of a national organization of black Baptist churches is running for the position again, a decade after he was sent to prison for stealing millions of dollars from the group. The Rev. Henry J. Lyons was forced out as leader of the National Baptist Convention USA in 1999 after an investigation revealed he abused his power in the convention to steal about $4 million. He used the money to buy luxury homes and jewelry, and to support his mistresses.

With my silence or inactivity on this series, you'd be right to wonder if I didn't have much to say about the African-American church in her heyday. You'd be right to wonder, but you'd be wrong to conclude that.

I'm in Birmingham, AL currently, enjoying the sweet fellowship and hospitality of Harry Reeder and the saints at Briarwood Presbyterian. I'm in the heart of the South, and the literal stomping grounds (marching grounds) of the Civil Rights Movement. Fifty years ago, a revolution rang out from this place. The society Americans now live in was unimaginable just a generation or so ago. What happened?

Lots of things happened. Television entered the American home and for the first time Americans saw graphic images of wars abroad and of church bombings, attacking dogs, water hosed children and so on. The pictures of good looking, promising young men like Goodman, Cheney, and Schwartz were flashed on the screen. Television changed how America saw itself. It shrank the country so that families in Ohio could readily see the happenings in Selma and Atlanta and Montgomery. And many, many people, black and white, did not like what they saw.


Television happened. But that wouldn't have been such a big deal if the African-American church hadn't happened as well. It's a well-worn fact that the African-American church was home base and launching pad for the Civil Rights Movement. There would not have been a movement if there had not been a Black Church. And not just a Civil Rights Movement, but arguably an Abolitionist movement either. Through most of her long and storied history, the African-American church has maintained a tenacious grip on justice as a necessary outworking of the gospel.

This is what makes men like James Cone so nearly right when they write about liberation as the gospel. But in being nearly correct they are completely wrong. Liberation is not the gospel. Whether folks are ever liberated or not, the gospel remains. And the freedom that Christ came to give us (Gal. 5:1) is not bound in chains or behind bars or paroled with out bodies. Justice, liberation, mercy are outworkings of the gospel but not the gospel itself. In her prime, the African-American church knew this and lived this.

We seem to put social justice at odds with gospel proclamation. Many today don't think these can easily coexist. They think that to fight for justice as the Christian church inevitably means the abandonment of the gospel. They may be correct. For since the Civil Rights Movement, the gospel has been thoroughly confused by too many in the African American church with liberation and justice itself.

But even if that caution is correct, to preach the gospel and have no concern and take no action in the cause of justice is as much an abandonment of the gospel as mistaken the gospel. How can a faithful gospel preacher preach the gospel before slaves and never wince at the gross barbarity of that peculiar institution? How can a man claim to live the gospel with fellow brothers in Christ and yet uphold laws that disenfranchise, marginalize, and oppress those same brothers? They may gospel doctrine down pat, but they don't have gospel living at all! Having a form of godliness, they deny the power thereof.

Not so with the African-American church and the many faithful Christians she birthed who laced up worn but shined shoes, straightened their ties and their backs, and marched in love for justice. At her best, she not only understood the gospel but felt the irresistible impulse of the gospel to do something consistent with the gospel in the face of injustice. Today, to many gospel preachers preach and teach in such a way that the fine edges of the gospel are shaved, sanded, and smoothed until the gospel only tickles rather than pierces. We need to learn from the African-American church how to pursue justice precisely because we understand and live the gospel. And we need to learn from the African-American church that justice and liberation are not idols to worship, or themes to supplant the gospel. Black Church history has enough in it to teach both sides of the issue, to keep us from falling off either side of the horse.

Consider Jupiter Hammond, a slave all his life, addressing fellow slaves on this very dynamic:

My dear brethren, we are many of us seeking for a temporal freedom, and I pray that God would grant your desire. If we are slaves, it is by the permission of God. If we are free, it must be by the power of the most high God. Be not discouraged, but cheerfully perform the duties of the day, sensible that the same power that created the heavens and the earth and causeth the greater light to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night can cause a universal freedom. And I pray God may give you grace to seek that freedom which tendeth to everlasting life.

Hammon continued:

My dear brethren, let not your hearts be set too much on the pleasure of this life. For if it were possible for one man to gain a thousand freedoms and not an interest in the merit of Christ, where must all the advantage be? “For what is a man profited if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (See, Hammon, An Evening’s Improvement, in Sondra O’Neale, Jupiter Hammon and the Biblical Beginnings of African American Literature (Meutchen, N.J.: American Library Association, 1993), pp. 172-73)

I know many free men who reject out of hand Hammon's reasoning. They do so never having known the lash and the chain as Haynes did. What a convenient place from which to judge a better man--knowing all the advantages he didn't and none of the oppression. But Haynes is sure correct when he wrote “that liberty is a great thing and worth seeking for if we can get it honestly and by our good conduct prevail on our masters to set us free,” but finally concluded that physical freedom “is by no means the greatest thing we have to be concerned about. Getting our liberty in this world is nothing to our having the liberty of the children of God.”

Consider how Lemuel Haynes reasoned from the gospel outward to the illegality of slave-keeping (original spellings):

But now our glorious high priest hath visably appear’d in the flesh, and hath Establish’d a more glorious Oeconomy. He that not only visably Broken Down that wall of partision that interposed Between the offended majesty of Heaven and rebellious Sinners and removed those tedeous forms under the Law, which savoured so much of servitude, and which could never make the comers thereunto perfect, By rendering them obsolete: but he has removed those many Embarisments, and Distinctions, that they were incident to, under so contracted a Dispensation. So that whatever Bodily imperfections, or whatever Birth we sustain, it Does not in the Least Debar us from Gospel previlege’s. Or whatever hainous practice any may be gilty of, yet if they manifest a gospel repentance, we have no right to Debar them from our Communion. And it is plain Beyond all Doubt, that at the comeing of Christ, this curse that was upon Canaan, was taken off; and I think there is not the Least force in this argument than there would Be to argue that an imperfect Contexture of parts, or Base Birth, Should Deprive any from Gospel previleges; or Bring up any of those antiquated Ceremonies from oblivion, and reduce them into practice.

But you will say that Slave-keeping was practiced Even under the Gospel, for we find paul, and the other apostles Exhorting Servants to be obedient to their masters. To which I reply, that it mite be they were Speaking to Servants in minority in General; But Doubtless it was practiced in the Days of the Apostles from what St. paul Says, 1 Corin. 7 21, art thou called, being a servant? care not for it; but if thou mayest Be made free, use it rather. So that the Apostle seems to recomend freedom if attainable, q.d. “if it is thy unhappy Lot to be a slave, yet if thou art Spiritually free Let the former appear so minute a thing when compared with the Latter that it is comparatively unworthy of notice; yet Since freedom is so Exelent a Jewel, which none have a right to Extirpate, and if there is any hope of attaining it, use all Lawfull measures for that purpose.” So that however Extant or prevalent it might Be in that or this age; yet it does not in the Least reverse the unchangeable Laws of God, or of nature; or make that Become Lawfull which is in itself unlawfull; neither is it Strange, if we consider the moral Depravity of mans nature, thro’out all ages of the world, that mankind should Deviate from the unerring rules of Heaven.

Haynes grew up an indentured servant as well. Served in the American Revolution. Was largely self-taught. Didn't have the advantages of many of us today. And yet he saw clearly that the gospel and justice go together like hand in glove.

Sometimes I wonder if in the comfort western Christians almost universally enjoy we don't make this more difficult than it needs to be. How about Zech. 7:9-10. We may learn this from the best of the African-American church tradition.

How would you define "faith"? How would you know faith when you see it?

Though I think many people could give some general definition of faith, I think it remains a misty concept for many others. It's an intangible. Most folks think you either have it or you don't. Even though we may talk of little faith or great faith, do you feel that sometimes "little faith" is simply a nice pseudonym for "no faith in reality"?

Sometimes life is harder than steel. Sometimes life mangles and twists us like so many guard rails smashed by speeding, out-of-control vehicles. And in those times of hardship, we discover what faith is and whether we have it.

I'm convinced that perhaps the greatest example of genuine faith in American Christian history is the example left by African Americans who love the Lord. The situation most African-Americans live in now was the stuff of dreams just 50 years ago. Recede further into the history, past Jim Crow, past Reconstruction, past the abolitionist movement, on back to Jamestown and you find a people dragged into "history as terror" or "daemonic dread" as one author put it. He asked, "Who do you pray to in the bowels of a slave ship?"

It's a good question.

In time, many Africans sold as chattel in the New World prayed to the One True God through Jesus Christ His Son and entered into eternal life. Howard Thurman, a famed theologically liberal African-American pastor and educator, had it right when he pointed out that the greatest irony of American history was that the slaves should pray to the master's God.

But that irony is why the African-American church's legacy of genuine, biblical, God-centered faith is so rich and necessary to recover and esteem. Read slave conversion testimonies in a work like Clifton Johnson's God Struck Me Dead, or the poetry of Phillis Wheatly, and all you find is soul-deep, God-longing faith in the face of life as hard as steel, as stinging as the lash, as cruel as pregnant bellies ripped open, as horrendous as black bodies burned and swinging from trees, as tragic as young men hobbled and amputated, as wrenching families split and wives raped.

How do you survive such an existence? How do you survive such an existence without checking out of reality? How do you survive such an existence without checking out of reality while knowing that "trouble won't last always"? How do you survive such an existence without checking out of reality while knowing that "trouble won't last always" and simultaneously working for a better day? How do you endure such an existence without exploding in hate toward others? How do you endure such an existence and make any sense of "love your enemies"? How do you endure such an existence and sing and dance and love and create and laugh?

Only by believing that God is good, that He controls all events, that His justice will prevail, that vengeance belongs to Him, that He hears the cry of the oppressed, that social standing is no proxy for God's love, that life in His image is infused with dignity even when others don't think you're human. Only by believing those things and trusting God himself do you survive such atrocities, and not only survive but thrive and contribute.

It was faith in God through Jesus that sustained the African-American church. I sometimes think we don't know how to trust God deeply because we've not suffered deeply. In fact, God thinks that of us. That's why suffering is such a central part of the Christian experience. It breeds trust in God and distinguishes genuine faith its superficial counterparts.

So where does a rich and largely suffering-free generation like ours look for instruction in persevering faith? We have to look to those who have suffered horrifically yet trusted God implicitly. Modern examples exist. But as the U.S. celebrates African-American history month, the domestic parable so glaring and glorious is that of the African-American church which by faith endured bombings, lynchings, cross burnings, sharecropping, Jim Crow, Bull Connor, the Ku Klux Klan, chattel slavery, disenfranchisement, Black Codes, auctions, marches, sit ins, ghettos in the north, plantations in the south with no visible means of support, only a sometimes quiet, sometimes singing, sometimes mourning, sometimes active, sometimes ridiculed, sometimes shut out, sometimes demonstrating, all the time preaching faith in God.

If Hebrews 11 were still being written today, the chapter would be twice as long for its inclusion of now forgotten black faces that would have to be included for their heroic faith in God. What did Moses have on Harriet Tuman, Abraham on Jupiter Hammond, Gideon on Nat Turner, Isaac on Denmark Vesey, or Sampson on George Liele? Nothing.

At her finest, the African-American church offers the most compelling example of centuries-long persecution-triumphing trust in God. May we learn from her and live like her.

and the cross-fertilization she shares with the wider church, our brother Wyeth Duncan is meditating on AME liturgy and its indebtedness to the Methodist Episcopal Church which is indebted to the Book of Common Prayer. But what draws his attention this morning is this line of general confession in the communion liturgy: "We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us."

I remember the first time I heard those words prayed. My heart went, "Yes. I'm grieved by my sin!" The prayer so wonderfully gives wording and vent to the Christian heart drawn in remembrance to its wanderings. And yet, we don't stop with grieving, for in heaven sits enthroned our Perfect Righteousness. Our grief is turned to joy when our eyes are turned to Christ. In the gospel is the complete forgiveness of sins, but also the imputation of perfect righteousness which consoles us even when the knowledge of forgiveness can't.

Grieve for your sins today. Then rejoice in Christ's everlasting righteousness!

Yesterday, February 1st, began African-American history month. The annual celebration of African-American history began at the initiative of esteemed scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950). Woodson is regarded by many as the father of Black history, and a copious preserver of that historical heritage. He participated in the founding of the Society for the Study of African American Life and History and for years ran an influential publication called The Journal of Negro History.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer takes up the issue of African-American churches fighting for relevance and effectiveness in inner-city contexts. See here for the schedule of articles. The series looks to be promising.

The first article points to the difficulty of traditional African-American churches attracting and reaching young people. The dynamic is an old one, the proposed solutions well-worn. But it's useful to think through these things again and to discern biblical from unbiblical or merely pragmatic.

A couple of stats from the article:

There is reason to hope young people can be drawn back. In the 2008 Pew Forum Religious Landscape Survey, 71 percent of black adults under 30 said religion is very important in their lives, compared with 45 percent of all respondents under 30.

Pew Research Center surveys of 3,600 black adults in 2008 found only 14 percent of respondents ages 18 to 29 attended church more than once a week, half the percentage of those 50 and older. In contrast, 43 percent of younger respondents went a few times a year or fewer, compared with a quarter of the respondents 50 and older.

Stephen Nichols, an excellent and winsome historian, recently visited a Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lancaster (named after "Mother Bethel", the founding church for the first African American denomintation). He took his class and made a few observations over at Ref21. Here's his last question:

Imagine falling into a coma and waking 30 years later. Imagine shaking off the slumber and asking, "What's going on with the church?" What do you suppose would be the answers?

While washing up the dishes with my wife the other night, conversation turned again to the U.S. presidential election and the whole Obama-Wright thing. As we discussed Wright's "performance," another lesson learned long ago and taught by many long before me came back to mind: be careful how you build a church. Humanly speaking, whatever you do to build the church is what you'll have to do to keep the church.

A partial transcript of Eric Redmond's discussion of Jeremiah Wright on the Al Mohler radio show is available here. The radio interview is here.
Read more about Redmond here, and about the church he serves, Hillcrest Baptist Church, and the SBC here. And, here the brother share his views on pastoral ministry here and preach here.

Anthony Carter has quickly and easily become one of my favorite people in the world. All who know him know him by that big smile, graciousness and genorosity, and an immense love for the Lord and His people. I first heard of Tony during a dinner conversation with Ken Jones, Tony Arnold, and another pastor in Washington, D.C. Someone asked, "Have you read Tony Carter's book, On Being Black and Reformed?" At the time I hadn't, but my ears shot straight up. I was intrigued. I went out, purchased the book, and devoured it. Tony has great passion for seeing biblical truth proclaimed everywhere, but especially in predominantly African-American churches. He's a reformer and I pray this interview encourages you.


1. Where are you from originally?
I was born and raised in Michigan, in the small rural and wooded community of Woodland Park. It is approximately an hour due north of Grand Rapids.

2. Were you raised in a Christian home? If so, what was your early church experience like? Tell us how you became a Christian?
I was raised in a nominally Christian home. By that I mean the Bible was there and we went to church every Sunday morning and evening. We were the proverbial church kids. My mother was the clerk of the church and directed the youth programs. So when the church doors were open we were there. However, outside of Sunday, little of Christianity was known or practiced. While my mother was in church every Sunday, I never saw my father in church one day of my life.

3. When and how did you decide to enter pastoral ministry? How long have you been in pastoral ministry?
Going into pastoral ministry really grew out of my growing conviction for the primacy of the church in God’s redemptive plan. Christ loves the church. I believe that those who love Christ should love what He loves. Thus, the pastoral ministry became more and more clear for me as I began falling more and more in love with the church.

4. How long have you been at your current church? Tell us about the church? And how has the labor gone so far?
Southwest Christian Fellowship was formed in 1985. I came to the church in 1991. My wife and I left for seminary in 1996. During my seminary years I served as an associate minister at Kingsway Baptist Church in Orlando FL. In 2001 we returned to Atlanta and began attending Southwest again. While we were in seminary, the church was a faithful supporter of ours. So, when the opportunity came to serve and give back to Southwest, it was a blessing to be able to do so.

5. You’ve accepted the necessary and wonderful role of serving as an associate pastor at Southwest. First of all, let me commend you and give God glory for men like you, who with humility and a servant’s heart are contented to use their giftedness as a co-laborer with faithful men in the gospel. But having said that, how is reform in a local church different from the associate pastor’s perch than it might be in a senior pastor’s position? What things must an associate keep in mind as he labors for reform?

Thank you. I remember reading what Spurgeon once said, “It takes more grace than I can tell to play the second fiddle well.” I don’t play second fiddle as well as I should, but whatever I am able to do, it is because of God’s grace. But to answer your question. Reform from my perch begins with support of the lead pastor. I have always felt that my first responsibility was to encourage the lead pastor in reform and preaching. I have frequently said that I don’t have to be the one preaching, as long as the one who is preaching is really preaching. Secondly, I have sought to discern between biblical truth and personal preferences. Personal preferences are not worth dying for, but biblical convictions are. Make sure that you are standing on biblical convictions and not personal preferences. Also, Robert Benson (senior pastor), as you know, is a most gracious and humble man. He makes it easy to serve with him because he genuinely seeks God’s glory and not his own.

6. How would you counsel other associate pastors who might be laboring alongside a man/men who are not reform minded?
The first thing to understand is that God already gave the church Martin Luther. If He wants another one, He’ll raise him up. Don’t spend your time presuming you are him. Commit yourself to people as much as you are to doctrine. I have found that those who are committed to people often find that those people are more open to being committed to their doctrine. Biblical doctrine is essential. Yet, we must make sure that people are seeing that these doctrines make a difference in our own lives before we can expect people to embrace them for their lives.

7. Have there been particular reform initiatives taken at Southwest? Tell us about those and how they’ve gone.
Indeed, there has been a truly gracious work of God in my life and the life of our church. It has not always been as smooth as we would have liked, but it has been a steady transition of important theological truths and their implications. One of the key elements was just getting the leaders to see that theology is inevitable. It also helps when you have written a book because people tend to know some of what you are thinking before you open your mouth. Nevertheless, we have had the pleasure of teaching through Grudem’s Systematic Theology twice. We took the elders and the deacons through the first class. Then we took our lay leaders and worship team through the next class. It proved to be the impetus for further reform, as we were able to frequently refer back to Grudem and have a common reference point for theological issues.

Also, exposing our worship team to Sovereign Grace Music and Worship Conferences has been great. While their music has a bit of a different taste than ours, it did show our team the need for a sound theological undergirding of our worship event. Reform in our worship has been most pleasing largely because of this exposure.

8. What fruit is the Lord bearing in the people of the church so far?
When you witness a Sunday School class on the Doctrines of Grace that is weekly filled to capacity and the pastors are not teaching nor attending, you know that there is fruit of God’s sovereign grace in the life of the church.

9. You also maintain an active ministry outside the local church. Tell us about those. What are you attempting to accomplish with those efforts? How do you balance efforts inside and outside the church?

Indeed, God has been gracious in giving me a ministry beyond Southwest. Frequently, my travels will take me away from my family and church, and yet like my family, I always take Southwest with me. Our church is very supportive of my ministry and will frequently allow my wife to travel with me by members of our church watching our 5 children for extended periods of time. It also gives me opportunity to expose people to the ministry of Southwest and vise versa. This has been most encouraging. And yet, with that, my itinerate ministry is third. First is my family. Second is my church. And third are conferences, retreats, and pulpit supply (My blog is somewhere down the list). With these efforts, I pray that in some small way I could cause people to see the truth of biblical, historical, experiential reformed theology. It has made such a difference in my life, I know it will make a difference in theirs.
And yet without a doubt, the only way I do what I do is because God has been gracious in giving me a wife who sees herself serving God by serving her husband and family. Robert is frequently reminding me how blessed we are to have wives like we do. I could not agree with him more.

10. As you look out over the African-American church, and the wider evangelical church world, what things encourage you?

I am particularly encouraged by God’s grace in giving us a spiritual uplift for biblical, substantial theology within this present generation. This is of particular excitement to me among African-American Christians. Thanks to brothers like yourself and those involved in the Council of Reforming Churches, God has been gracious in giving us a vision for the future that looks promising from where I stand. My children and grandchildren will have a legacy of Reformed Evangelical truth that is far more diverse than ours. Brother, it does not get any better than that!

I never get tired of reading that moniker!! There is something about powerful, Spurgeonesque, sound preaching in Africa that is just plain exciting! Nice 3-piece suit, too! The Unashamed Workman reviews a sermon from Conrad Mbwewe on 1 John 5:13-15.

And Lance is stealing Tony's titles and asking some really good questions like:

As we enter the 21st century I’d like to pose some questions for those of us who came from, love and long to see reform in the black church. The first and perhaps most surprising is this: Should we begin to think in terms of a post-black church era? Is this the time to start thinking of re-defining the church apart from dominant ethnic labels? Granted, some of our other brothers and sisters may not be thinking this way, but why not take the lead? While thinking through your answers (and I’d welcome your responses and input) consider this: if we’re to continue having a black church who gets to define ‘blackness’?

Carolyn McCulley shares this quote from G.K. Chesterton passed on to her by a reader named Lindsay : "People talk of the pathos and failure of plain women; but it is a more terrible thing that a beautiful woman may succeed in everything but womanhood." Wow! Now I'm asking myself... with all the beautiful women around me (my wife, daughters, sisters at the church), am I doing everything I can to help them succeed in womanhood? Have I thought carefully, creatively and long enough about that part of my responsibility as a brother in Christ and a pastor to many women? I'm not beating myself up; just noting that this deserves more thought and action.

GospelDrivenLife is taking a blogging sabbatical... I think. He's on post #2 of reflections before going on his 1-week sabbatical. In the first post, he discusses how men around him hold him accountable for his blogging. I found this particularly humble, humbling, exposing and helpful:

What they have most helped with is to point out where my 25 years in ministry have tempted me to have “pet peeves” – or, to use biblical language, self-righteous anger. What do I mean by that? I mean that ministry involves conflicting with sin and error in my own heart and the hearts of people I serve. If a particular issue recurs, I am tempted to 1. self-righteousness (to think I am not guilty of such a thing), 2 impatience (as though I change quickly and they do not), 3. anger (I am tired of this issue and want to press for anger or shame motivated change). All of that is about pride and ambition and being angry that people did cooperate with my plans.

Today, we continue our interview series with brother Lance Lewis, pastor of Christ Liberation Fellowship in Philadelphia, PA. I first met Lance through the church's website a couple years back and later in person at the Miami Pastor's conference where he delivered an excellent address on reforming worship. Lance is good brother with a great love for the Truth of the Scriptures and for God's people. I trust you'll enjoy getting to know Lance; feel free to drop him additional questions in the comment section.
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1. Where are you from originally?

In West Philadelphia born and raised on the playground where I spent most of my days:)

2. Were you raised in a Christian home? If so, what was your early church experience like? Tell us how you became a Christian?

No I wasn't. While my family wasn't actively hostile toward the Lord we certainly weren't a Christian home and never went to church together. My grandmother took me to one of the local Pentecostal churches (COGIC) when I was four or five and later on when I was around 12 I went to another Pentecostal church with an older cousin. I don't remember much about these experiences. I became a Christian through the witness of a very good friend. He grew up in a Christian home but did not claim to be or live like a believer for the first four years we hung out. Following his conversion he constantly told me and another good friend (Rev. Kevin Smith of Pinelands PCA) about the Lord and invited us to church. We went during one summer revival and after a message on salvation we went to the altar and committed our lives to the Lord. Following that we became members of that local Pentecostal church.

3. When and how did you decide to enter pastoral ministry? How long have you been in pastoral ministry?

I believed I got the call to pastoral ministry during my third year of college. Early in my walk with the Lord I had a strong desire to know and talk about the Scriptures. I was often asked to lead small bible studies in church and in college. During the time of my call I was seeking the Lord for further direction in life. While I was drawn to the prospect of teaching the Scriptures as a full time vocation I didn't know if that was me or the Lord. I enjoyed studying psychology (my college major) and was looking into possibly becoming a counseling psychologist but felt or sensed (hard to explain) a growing desire to preach and teach the Scriptures to God's people. One time while in prayer I felt (I cannot tell if it was me or the Lord) a particularly strong call to preach the word. I spoke to my pastor about this and he counseled me to continue seeking the Lord and set me up to preach a trial sermon. (In my tradition those who believed God has called them to the ministry are given the opportunity to preach what's called a 'trial sermon' usually on a Sunday afternoon or weeknight service which gives the pastor and congregation the chance to confirm the call).

In October 1984 I preached my trial sermon from Joshua 1 on the importance of following God's word and the pastor, my church and of course my mother and aunt agreed that I was called to preach.

I've been in full-time vocational ministry for 12 years and served as a full time lead pastor for 5 years.

4. How long have you been at your current church?
I've served at Christ Liberation Fellowship since it's inception in Nov. 2001.

5. Tell us about the church? How did the decision to plant a church out of Tenth come about? And how has the labor gone so far?

CLF actually grew out of my call to preach. I believed that my call was accompanied with a desire to start a church that would feature strong, biblical teaching, sustained community outreach and a warm, informal fellowship. I believe the social/religious context I was in affected these aspects of my call.

By the time God called me I had moved on from the church where I got saved to a larger Pentecostal church in another part of Philadelphia. I grew under the love and care of this church yet believed there were some crucial things missing from its ministry. At the top of the list was sound, systematic biblical teaching from the pulpit. Another was the lack of coordinated and concentrated good works which I believed served to demonstrate the compassion of our Lord and pave the way for beginning relationships in which God's people could share the gospel. During the late 80's I studied and embraced Reformed theology. Upon doing so we moved our membership to Tenth Presbyterian Church under the pastorate of Dr. James M. Boice. Though the venue changed my call didn't. However I now wanted to spread the truths of Reformed theology to those in my community.

I like to describe CLF as a reformed, neighborhood, multi-ethnic church that is committed to making disciples who make a difference in our community, our city and our world. We are a small group of God's people striving to walk before Him in holiness, delight in His Person, spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and have a great time doing it. My hope and prayer is that CLF will be the start of a church planting/revitalization movement in the greater Philadelphia area that promotes biblically driven church planting.

I want us to focus on having a strong teaching ministry, sustained community outreach and a warm, welcoming fellowship.

6. Why plant a predominantly African-American congregation instead of remaining at Tenth and helping African Americans settle there? Was there a particular neighborhood and/or reform agenda driving the decision to plant?

Good question. There were a number of reasons, but I'll list just a few. I first approached Tenth with the idea of planting a predominantly African-American church in the early 90's. My desire wasn't to perpetuate racial separation but to seek to expand our reform witness into areas of the city where it was absent.

My first thought was that the witness of the gospel may be best spread in a city like Philly with dozens of small to medium sized neighborhood churches, as opposed to large regional center city churches. Philly is a city of neighborhoods and it is my conviction that people in those neighborhoods should have access to a church they don't have to drive or take public transportation to. This is especially important since I believe that the church should pursue ways to live out our mandate to do good works (Eph. 2:10) which build relationships with community residents who should then be able to attend the church that's in their neighborhood.

Secondly, having embraced reformed theology I was convinced that African-Americans should be discipled based on what the Scriptures taught about God, man, sin, salvation, Jesus Christ, the church etc. Along with that I thought that it was biblically prudent and correct to present reformed theology and practice in a context that required those I was called to reach to cross as few cultural barriers as possible. I was concerned that remaining at Tenth would have sent the signal to blacks who embraced reformed theology that they could do so only if they were willing to check their culture and heritage at the door.

Third, while I certainly hold to the genuine multi-ethnic reality of the kingdom I believe that in light of our present ethnic context it's actually better for our white brothers and sisters to join with black believers, submit to black leadership and function as the minority in multi-ethnic settings. It seems too often that we speak of becoming multi-ethnic with the view that blacks should still be the minority in the church. Of course I'd love to have even more ethnicities within CLF. We're currently around 75% African-American and 25% Anglo-American. Lord willing we'll gather more and more believers from other groups also.

7. How has the church been received in the community so far, especially given the Reformed and Presbyterian nature of the church? Are you an odd duckling or does it matter much?

In many ways we are the odd man out. My relatives are encouraged by the messages and appreciate the warmth of our folks but make it clear to me that we are not a 'black church'. For others we certainly aren't your typical Reformed Presbyterian church. The community has appreciated our attempts to connect with them by reaching out and working for the good of the community however. I've come to realize that we will not fit easily in many of the current ethnic church categories. This was especially evident this past Good Friday when I shared the pulpit with several traditional black preachers, as well as one from the prosperity theology culture. My hope is that we'll become known for being a faithful witness to the gospel of our Lord, delighting in His great salvation, loving each other, our neighbors and our city and impacting the greater black community with reformed theology and practice.

8. What fruit is the Lord bearing in the people of the church so far?

God has graced us to have a congregation that is growing in our love for God, His word and the truths that speak of His salvation in Jesus Christ. I'm beginning to see God change much of what we've mistakenly learned about Christianity and orient us to His word. I'm grateful for the attitude of service He's developing among us and the many 20 somethings that hunger for good teaching and want to pair it with godly living. We're learning the discipline of patient prayer, growing in hospitality and have become more sensitive to areas such as biblical social justice and foreign missions. God has also grown us to have a desire to apply our theology to the city we live in.

9. What issues occupy the bulk of your prayer life for the church?

SPIRITUAL GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT, MATURITY AND TRANSFORMATION. I've come to see that the Christianity myself and many of my folks learned was deficient in that it failed to address real issues related to biblical change and growth. WE NEED THE GOSPEL, not the quasi bargain many of us have been taught is the gospel. Many of us have struggled with the same issues for years honestly believing that our 'breakthrough' was just around the corner. My prayer is that we will begin the patient task of leaning on our Lord, studying His word and seeing Him transform our lives.

10. As you look out over the African-American church, the PCA, and the wider evangelical church world, what things encourage you?

mmm... looking at the black church I see more cause for concern than encouragement. Yet, I'm grateful to know that there are some good solid teaching churches in Philly and thank God for their consistent gospel witness. I'm encouraged at their impact on black men in our community and desire to address some of the difficult issues in our city.

I'm more and more encouraged by what God is doing among African-American reformed brothers. I'm about to begin a reformation society with not one but two reformed Pentecostal pastors. I've fellowshipped with both and can't wait for us to work together to bring reform to the churches and communities of Philadelphia. The Council of Reforming Churches is a group I've wanted to participate in for a long, long time. I'm so grateful that brothers like yourself, Tony Carter, Michael Leach, Eric Redmond, Louis Love Jr. and others have joined together to see biblical theology impact the black church and African-American community. I'm encouraged by reading blogs like Pure Church, Non Nobis Domine, A Debtor To Mercy and Black Creole Reformer. More and more I marvel at what God is doing in the northeast as we've been blessed with a growing number of reformed churches led by black pastors like Gaithersburg Community Church with Tony Arnold, Forest Park Community Church (Balt. MD) with Sam Murrell, New Song Community Church (Balt. MD) with Thurman Williams, City of Hope Church (Columbia MD) with Irwyn Ince, Calvary Bible Church (Philly) with Doug Logan and The Church of God in the Word (Philly) with our brother Eric Wright.

We should all be grateful for churches like Tenth Pres in Philly for how they've taken the lead to serve the city and actively participate in planting churches throughout the region. Under the pastorate of our friend Dr. Phil Ryken Tenth continues to be a model for faithful, relevant, biblical ministry to the world and the reformed community. They've faithfully supported me for several years and have shown that Anglo churches can indeed plant daughter churches that model them in the essentials of theology and ministry philosophy while allowing diversity in non-essentials.

Regarding the wider evangelical world it does seem we're experiencing a growing hunger for transforming biblical theology. The CT article on Young, Restless and Reformed, the high attendance at Reformed conferences and the popularity of brothers like John Piper testify to the Lord's faithful shepherding of His people.

By God’s grace and power we may yet see a true revival for the glory of God, the expansion of Christ’s kingdom and the discipline of the nations.

For Christ, the Church and the Truth
Pastor Lance Lewis

Thanks to all those who read and/or commented on the series of posts on reforming the African-American church. It was good to read people’s thoughts, feedback and questions on that topic. My wife suggested I do a more “positive” follow-up by interviewing pastors in churches that are doing good work. Sorta highlighting places where it’s going well—which I think is an excellent idea. So, I’ve began contacting a few brothers I’d like to include in a “Pure Church Reformers” series. The first interview in the series is with Bro. Eric Redmond, Senior Pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Temple Hills, MD.

1. Where are you from originally?
I was born in Chicago, where my parents moved in order for my father to attend graduate school. Since age 2, I was raised in Prince George’s County, MD. I lived in Forestville, MD for all of my pre-college years. My parents still reside in the home in which I was raised.

2. Were you raised in a Christian home? If so, what was your early church experience like? Tell us how you became a Christian.
Until I was a teen, I was raised in a nominally Christian, very moral, love-filled home. My parents, raised in the South, were church-goers with a southern African-American, Judeo-Christian work, family, and community ethic. However, it was not until my parents experienced conversion by Christ that my home took on a distinctively Christian experience. By the mighty working of the Lord’s grace, his work of sanctification in my parents has never diminished from the time of their commitments to Christ. Today they are two of the most mature and sincere believers I know.

Prior to their conversions, they responsibly took my brother and me to church with them many Sundays. On the Sundays they did not attend church, they placed my brother and me on the local Sunday School van of an SBC church near our home. It was through the work of two missionaries appointed by the SBC Home Mission Board (now the North American Mission Board), who preached the Gospel to us on the van every Sunday, that I was introduced to Christ as a child in my late-elementary / pre-teen years. I can remember learning John 3:16 every Sunday.

4. When and how did you decide to enter pastoral ministry?
I am a Bible college and seminary graduate. However, in my last year of undergraduate studies, through the encouragement of three of my professors, I sensed the Lord directing me to pursue becoming a seminary professor – to pursue the highest level of training. (So as to distinguish this from the modern phenomena of every young seminarian pursuing a PhD, please note that for an African-American, pursuing the lectern over the pulpit was a very novel idea among my classmates, friends, and church members. Even the ministry staff at my church found my passions to be “interesting.” But the Lord had put into me a passion to teach the Scriptures to our people. Also, I began to reason that many of our churches, traditionally, were weak in preaching and teaching sound theology because our young men did not pursue studies at evangelical schools, and that because there were few mentors – i.e., professors – to draw them to such schools. In contrast, there were plenty of examples of pastors to continue to push young men toward the pulpit. However, that was usually without the pursuit of strong solid training in the word of God. I wanted to be a drawing card to thorough, formal, biblical and theological training in an evangelical setting. This is still my passion, so I keep my hand in evangelical academia as an adjunct teacher, chapel and seminar speaker, as a trustee of a large evangelical seminary, and as a member and presenter in the Evangelical Theological Society.)

Upon graduation from seminary – without the PhD, (for the finances for studies past the Master degree were not available then), by the great sovereignty of God – I taught for 6 years at a Bible college in Maryland. While in my fifth year of teaching, the church of one of my students became vacant due to the translation of their pastor to glory. In attempting to help the church fill the pulpit during the vacancy, I was called by the church to be the interim pastor, part-time. I signed a contract in which I agreed that I could not be considered for the pastor, nor could I approach the church about being considered for the pastorate, nor could I speak to the pulpit committee about any potential candidates. Being contented with my position at the college, and only hoping to help a church have solid teaching during their search period for a permanent pastor, I gladly worked within the contract. The Lord used this six-month “interim” period to warm the church to me, and to warm me to the church and to the thought of being a vocational pastor. The church approached me to stay as pastor, offering to rescind the previous contractual agreement. As I like to say, it was only then that I knew for certain that the Lord had called me to (vocational) pastoral ministry!

5. How long have you been in pastoral ministry? How long have you been at your current church?
Prior to my current position, I served on staff as a part-time youth minister at one church, as a part-time outreach and missions pastor at another church, and as a traditional “associate minister” at my home church—a traditional, mainline African-American church. Since the missions pastor position, I have been in some form of vocational pastoral ministry for twelve years. I have been at my current church as a (senior) pastor for six years since the time they called me to the interim position.

6. Tell us about the church? What was it like when you arrived? How has it changed over time?
Hillcrest was founded in 1955. In its early existence, it was a predominantly white congregation. As the demographics around the church changed, so did the membership. I have been told that around 1985 the membership was 50-50 between African-Americans and whites. By the time I arrived in 2001, the church was 90% African-American in membership. As the eighth pastor of Hillcrest, I was the first African-American pastor.

When I arrived, Hillcrest had a history of being a church that preached the Gospel, trusted the word of God as true, welcomed missionaries, and gave faithfully to the Southern Baptist Convention. The church was complementarian in thought, but not completely so in practice. However, I cannot say that we were intentionally Gospel-centered as a corporate body.

The average Sunday attendance was around 250. The church had a high-church version of a traditional, white, Southern-styled, 1970’s-Southern Baptist, corporate worship liturgy, in which hymns, doxologies, and anthems were sung, and some contemporary music was sung to tracks. Only the piano, organ, and hand bells were employed as instruments, and service was (exactly) 1-hour long. There was no freedom for expression of one’s love of God or praise of him; laughter was the only audible response welcomed. Membership was taken from the floor of the corporate worship service though an altar call.

There was a traditional Sunday School model for education, and monthly (yes, monthly) business meetings. Prayer meeting and Bible study were held on Wednesdays.

The membership was significantly older than me in age, the median age now (2007) being 59 years of age, and the median age of the deacons now being about 64 years of ages (which has probably lowered, as four of the deacons have made their transitions to glory since 2001). Other than Sunday School, there was not a consistent ministry to teens and their families; there was a consistent ministry to younger children on Sundays. I was the only full-time pastoral staff member.

Since 2001, the ethnic complexion of the membership has remained the same, even though we now run 350 in corporate worship on Sundays. We are solidly partnering with the works of the SBC, now being part of a strong state-level association—Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (SBCV). They have joined us in our focus of reaching the 20,000 people who live within a 1-mile radius of our church with the Gospel. Primarily through the SBC, we continue to give in a very strong way toward the preaching of the Gospel around the world, and we continue to show hospitality to missionaries in a faithful manner.

We no longer take membership from the floor. (Hallelujah!) Following a modified catechumenate model, and using Nine Marks of a Healthy Church as our core curricula, we now take in members through a process of completing a New Members course, interviewing with the pastor, and applying for membership—that is, being received by the membership through recommendation by the leadership and voting. We have done this in order to have meaningful membership—a membership that closely reflects membership in the New Testament and can preserve the purity of the Gospel. This also has been helpful in casting a vision for a reformation in the church.

We have developed a “scope and sequence” for educating our children and teens in the faith. This includes bringing online the Children’s Desiring God curricula and model for training our children, which is in process. We are developing “Titus 2” models for passing on the faith from the older generation to the younger generation in our men’s and women’s ministries. Being intentional about developing future leaders in accordance with the qualification of Scripture, which is important to the work of the Gospel, we have developed arenas for training men and young men in the Scriptures and for servicing the people of God.

We have added a full-time youth pastor of our teen ministry, a part-time pastor of children’s discipleship, an intern to oversee college-aged ministries, and a part-time director over worship and music. Significantly, corporate worship times have a flavor of reverent celebration. Preaching expositionally has remained central to Sunday services. The idea of becoming corporately Gospel-centered/Christ-centered is taking root around the church. Also, we are now expressly complementarian. It is a work of patient faithfulness, depending upon the Holy Spirit to do what is impossible for man.

7. Were there any areas needing reform in your mind? Did the congregation and other leaders agree that those reforms were needed? How did you lead the other leaders and the congregation through these reform efforts?
The greatest areas in which we needed and still need reform are in our leadership structure, in corporate prayer, in our understanding of evangelism and our burden for the lost, and in biblical hospitality. We have a pastor-and-deacons model for leadership, as opposed to a pastor-elders-and-deacons model. I have said to our church and leadership that our deacons, in all of their faithfulness as servants, play a role of partial-elders and partial deacons, in which they have the authority of elders without the qualifications or roles of elders, and in which they do part of the work of deacons, but not all of what deacons should do. However, I have walked slowly in this reform because earlier attempts at reform were misunderstood by a few people as grasps for power rather than as sincere attempts to position us to live and preach the Gospel with greater joy and power. However, we must reform this area in order to please the Lord. We must reform this area in order for the Gospel-work of biblical shepherding to take place. We must reform this area in order for the Gospel-work of membership care to happen responsibly before the Lord. We agree that we first need a shared understanding of this model of leadership before we can attempt to practice it. We intend to study the concept of biblical eldership and biblical church government as a corporate body. I intend to take the leadership through a preliminary study prior to the corporate study.

Like many churches, we need more time to pray, and to make the focus of our corporate prayer times items in line with God’s will for the corporate body—the church. Our numbers for corporate prayer meeting are low in comparison to worship service attendance. The majority of the body agrees that this reform is needed and we are working toward it.

In the Lord’s grace, we have reformed the altar call. We first had to gain a shared understanding of the Good News, election, regeneration, and the work of the Holy Spirit in drawing people to faith. We studied these concepts, and the concept of meaningful membership, for more than three months, allowing for the “Billy Graham generation” to ask many questions. It took a period of six months from the time of the first discussion for the actual change to take place. In the end, I struck a compromise with the altar-call-traditionalists among the leadership in which I did not have to sacrifice my convictions about the Gospel, and in which those favoring the altar call did not have to feel completely displaced. There is no such thing as receiving membership from the floor of the corporate worship service, for which the majority is thankful.

In terms of hospitality, we are growing. However, developing biblical community, and receiving people unlike us who have ideas different from our preferences and traditions, are areas in which their significance to the Gospel needs to be grasped more fully. I am in need of grace to lead us to embrace the lepers, entertain strangers, and to receive every new member as a member with equal standing in Christ, and thus in the local assembly and household of God. We have not really explored this area for reform. There have been discussions, but not an all-out assault on this for the sake of the Gospel.

8. What fruit is the Lord bearing in the people of the church through these reforms?
At this time, the greatest fruit is the patience the Lord is working in me to wait on him to bring about reform. The language of reforming, in very primitive forms, is beginning to permeate the church and take root. The Lord is raising up men and young men who are grasping Biblical Theology and a Gospel-centered view of the kingdom. People are beginning to see how marriage and the family fit into the plan of God for the spread of the Gospel; we are beginning to fight for marriage, for marriage joy, and for raising our children in the fear of Christ, and we have hired a part-time associate pastor to help us in this endeavor. Also, people have an expectation of strong, expositional, Christ-centered preaching from the pulpit week to week. As one member said to me, “Pastor, now when I listen to the sermons of others, I notice when they do not tie their preaching to the Gospel. I have noticed that you present the Gospel in every sermon, tying every passage back to Christ’s work.” This is the sort of “ah-ha” in the members that makes me burst with joy!

9. What issues occupy the bulk of your prayer life for the church?
As we continue to grow in the area of corporate prayer, our prayers are changing from being related to sickness and financial provision primarily, to a balance of praying for the physical needs of the membership while also praying toward reaching people around us with the Gospel. As noted above, praying for missionaries has been a hallmark of Hillcrest for decades, for which I am most grateful. Praying for the Lord to send out missionaries from among our own ranks is something that is growing around the congregation.

Our prayer time also is given to the end of the war / peace in the Middle East, and for our staff pastors and their families. In almost every prayer time I hear people call out my name and ask for the Lord’s blessings on me. I am thankful.

10. As you look out over the African-American church and the wider evangelical church world, what things encourage you?
I am encouraged as I see the Lord creating a reformational movement among the African-American church. I am hopeful for a Spirit-wrought revival and reformation. I see younger men talking about the significance of theology and the Gospel to their ministries. I am excited as I see the humble, high-brow theological discussions taking place at Reformed Blacks of America, the Council of Reforming Churches, and at blogs like yours and Non Nobis Domine.

I also am encouraged by our Anglo-brothers’ no-strings-attached support of this reformation. In this I see a shared burden for our reformation, with a desire for ethnic minorities to have equal-in-Christ sitting at the table, without patronization or paternalism on the part of our Anglo brothers in the Lord. I see no suspicion of impure motives or taking advantage of post-60’s white guilt on the part of our African-American brothers; it seems that the Gospel, not guilt (or feelings of inferiority) are driving this cross-cultural reforming partnership. Together for the Gospel, the Alliance for Confessing Evangelicals, Desiring God Ministries, and The Gospel Coalition have been key players in this development. From where I stand, these ministries, themselves, are indicators of a reformation blowing across the land, which brings me great joy.

I'm going to turn my attention away from writing about reforming the African-American church for a while. The comments and engagement both on the blog and by email were thought-provoking and encouragement.

But one last piece of evidence for why we should be praying and urgently laboring for reform is this Black Church Summit recently held in Philadelphia. The first line in the press release:

"Newly out-as-gay former NBA player, John Amaechi will make a special guest appearance...."

A description of some of the conference's workshops:

"Some of the topics covered during the summit will include how to build effective HIV ministries; how to create gay affirming congregations in order to end spiritual homophobia; how to interpret scripture in regards to homosexuality...."

The conference is being hosted at Mother Bethel AME Church, the birthplace of the first independent African-American denomination in the country. I wonder what Richard Allen, Daniel A. Payne, Morris Brown and others in that denomination's rich history would think.

Actually, there's no wondering about it at all. They wouldn't recognize this as the church they founded, the gospel they preached, or the community they sought to build. It's a tragic betrayal of a rich and wonderful heritage.

The short answer is "yes."

The longer answer is: "but we can't start by assuming that what is popularly referred to as the 'Black church' is a true church by any historical definition. So, yes, but reforming her is closer to reviving her and may mean the end of the 'Black church' is we know her."

But having said all of that, the people of God have every reason to trust that He will beautify and reform His people, His church. And there are encouraging signs of reform already available to us.

Tyrannus Hall is a pastor development initiative launched by Elliott Greene. The effort is currently working in four cities across the United States. We should pray that others would create similar efforts and that much support would be given to this work.

The Council of Reforming Churches (site under development) is a new cooperative organization dedicated to networking like-minded people and resources in the cause of strengthening the local church. Many of you will know Anthony Carter who blogs at Non Nobis Domine and brothers Michael Leach and Lance Lewis. They are laboring together to launch this effort. Networks of reform-minded African-American pastors are rare, in my experience. There are lots of personal relationships, but these can only benefit from a more organized symposium of sharing and learning.

The growth of conferences with this concern and theme is encouraging. Ricky Armstrong's efforts with the Miami Pastors' Conference at Glendale Baptist Church and Lou Love's and New Life Church's annual conference in the Chicago area are two events that have been growing. In addition to these, I'm hopeful that more reform-minded African-Americans will participate in the host of conferences offered by our brethren in predominantly white organizations (see Challies' list of conferences).

This is a sampling of what I pray are early tremors in a seismic shift in the church world.

But why should anyone care that the African-American church be reformed?

There are many reasons I suppose. Folks will have varied interests. But here is the one that grips me.

In the first post, I suggested that at its best, African-American Christianity was perhaps the most complete expression of Christian discipleship in American history. We put it this way:

"The African-American church" was once the home of the purest form of Christianity practiced on American soil and she can be the fulcrum of reform in not only the African-American Christian world but the larger Christian world as well."

I really believe that bit about the "fulcrum of reform." Though it's rarely spoken, in many people's minds, the African-American church is the weakest member of the evangelical family. She's like that cousin who can't seem to stay out of trouble with the law, who lives a wanton life and always looks to be bailed out by the rest of the family.

I don't know if she is the weakest part of the family, but I do know that even in her weakness she is a powerful behemoth. The problem, in my mind, is she exercises that influence in all the wrong places and for all the wrong causes. If we could steer her back to the Gospel, back to biblical faithfulness, back to a concern for discipleship and growth... the landscape of American Christianity and culture could change quite dramatically.

In earlier posts, I've lamented the too-close connection between racial identity, culture and the church. I still think that's a problem to be addressed. But looking at the diamond from another vantage point, there is great opportunity here as well. African Americans, particularly Hip Hop and youth cultures, exert a lot of influence on the cultural scene in the U.S. and worldwide. While riding through a quiet street in southeast Asia a couple weeks ago, what did I see tagged on the wall of some villa? Grafitti styling of "G-Unit" and "50 Cent"! Even in the Middle East Hip Hop has pull!

The destiny of the wider church and world culture is more connected to the spiritual condition and outlook of teenage and 20-something young people in Brooklynn and Long Beach than we can imagine. Now, if we care about the "culture wars," especially those involving young people, if we're concerned about slowing the tide of materialism, violence, and sexual immorality, for example, we must be concerned about the state of the African American church. I can't think of a platform that has as much ready potential for engaging these issues and the cultural trendsetters than the African-American pulpit. But she has to do so from a position of biblical integrity and strength, not a pragmatic position that settles for "gettin' along" with the culture.

I think the benefits of reforming the African-American church are exponentially more than we can imagine. She is a great fulcrum for change... but she desperately needs fixing.

Well, it's time to revisit and complete this series of posts. Lord willing, in this post, I'll offer some preliminary thoughts or proposals to advancing reform. In tomorrow's post, D.V., I want to make a case for why the African-American church may be the fulcrum in a much larger reform movement.

Here's what I'm assuming in the strategies below:
A. We want churches committed to the faithful preaching of the gospel and the teaching of sound doctrine.
B. We want pastors who are well-suited for the task, who have a high view of pastoral ministry and the local church.
C. We are laboring intentionally for not just the African American church but the entire church, which means our focus though starting in one ethnic church is ultimately multi-ethnic.
D. We want to reform the church such that her practice is increasingly in line with the Word of God, her people increasingly reflecting the likeness of Christ, her mission is all nations in scope, and her witness vibrant and loving.

How do we go from where we are today to where we'd like to be? Here's a brief list of proposals--five P's of Reform: Pastors writing, Pastor training, Popular education, Partnerships, and Planting churches. I welcome everyone to jump in with thoughts--a lot of thought and exchange is needed on this issue.

1. Solid African-American pastors must write. This, I think, is the cornerstone of the reform strategy. Historically, African-American pastors have not been writing pastors. Lost to us, then, are volumes upon volumes of sermons and addresses that would be helpful in defining and defending the faith and shaping the church. In that void has stepped writing academics, almost all of whom are advancing a theologically and socially liberal agenda. They've created a certain zeitgeist that downplays the biblical gospel, elevates social and political concern, and reduces the local church to a service organization. All of this is wrapped in a rather selective reading of African-American history and provides the default understanding of the Black Church. Unless the Lord raises up pastors committed to writing (sermon manuscripts, essays, lectures, even blog posts) we won't have a legacy to leave following generations and we will not counter the prevailing message in any sustained, critical, and effective way. Right now, if you're in seminary somewhere and you want to read works by African-American authors, 75% or more of what's available to you will not be evangelical or Reformed. But if we can leave a written legacy of collected sermons by sound expositors, critical works engaging the issues of our day, sound pastoral instruction and reflection, commentaries, etc., we can define for subsequent generations what 'good preaching,' pastoral ministry, sound exegesis and interpretation, and the mission of the church looks like. That's done by writing. We must write.

2. We must take over pastoral training. This can happen in a couple of ways. First, we must recover the idea that it is the local church that trains pastors. The professionalization of the pastorate has meant that men are shipped off to the local HBCU divinity school or seminary and received a thorough-going liberal education. If theologically conservative, evangelical and Reformed pastors would reverse this trend, perhaps the easiest way to do so is to organize and operate internship and pastoral training programs housed at the local church. The advantages are numerous: 1. Cost would at least be comparable if not cheaper than sending the would-be pastor off to school; 2. could more easily train the non-traditional student (the 40 year old with a family to feed); 3. the training would occur in the practical setting of the local church, so folks could both learn and see the church at work; and 4. the instruction would be consistent with the theological distinctives of the local church. I understand that this would be more difficult in denominational settings with specific educational requirements. But those who have the lattitude to do this should consider it prayerfully. If we could organize 6-12 such churches around the country, we could slowly begin raising up a crop of pastors for succeeding generations. We should check out Capitol Hill's internship program, Bethlehem's pastors' institute, and Sovereign Grace's pastors' college--three models for equipping future generations.

In addition to the above, we need more solid pastors to consider teaching posts at area seminaries and universities. Not as alternatives to pastoral ministry, but as an extension of that ministry. Honestly, I need more faith to be able to imagine that historically black divinity schools and seminaries could experience the kind of resurgence we saw in the SBC a couple decades ago. I believe, and I'm asking the Lord to help my unbelief. But reform must also happen at these schools.

3. Popular education. We need to figure out a way to provide air cover for those soldiers on the ground laboring for reform. That "air cover" comes, I think, with popular education. How many of you reading this post came to a Reformed understanding of the faith through Ligonier Ministries--their radio broadcast or TableTalk magazine? My journey began there. Well, how does Ligonier see themselves? As providing education somewhere between Sunday school and seminary. In other words, it's a solid effort to reach the average Christian with educational resources that create the ambient atmosphere for growth and change. We need to do two things, I think. One, we need to figure out a way to get more Ligonier material and other material like it to our congregations. We don't have to replicate everything. Use the good stuff already out there; introduce our people to great teachers and their resources rather than letting the local Christian bookstore stock their shelves with the cotton candy that sells and passes as Christian literature these days. Two, on some issues really pressing to African-American churches, we've got to figure out a popular education and dissemination strategy for addressing those issues. The Miami Pastors' Conference and the annual conference in Chicago are good starts. We've got to promote these and add other opportunities (again, I think written is critical) for the average Christian to be exposed to reform issues.

4. Partnerships. We must partner with "non-Black churches" (I hate the label!) in the pursuit of reform. There are like-minded brethren across the ethnic spectrum that we should be locking arms with in this effort. My guess is there are not two better persons to talk seminary reform with than Al Mohler and Paige Patterson. Shame on us if we don't learn from them. I've already mentioned Piper, Dever, and C.J. as models for training pastors. We've got to beg, borrow, and steal from their work to speed along our efforts. The FUBU (for us, by us) mentality among African Americans is killing us! We need to recognize it as immature, proud and antithetical to the unity of the body of Christ. And after repenting of it, we need to get on with the gettin' on and learn from, accept resouces and help from, and trust others.

5. Plant churches. Here, I mean the establishment of more multi-ethnic churches that leave behind some of the baggage we're laboring under in historically ethnic churches. We need a both/and strategy. On the one hand, we should work for reform in predominantly African-American churches. And on the other, we should be unapologetic in the creation of new churches that better reflect the unity and diversity of the body of Christ across ethnic lines. We should oppose replicating in new churches the issues and problems we all currently lament.

And while we're on church planting, not every group that goes out from our churches should be seeking to start a new church. Part of our "church planting" strategy (perhaps the major part?) in countries like the U.S., should be sending teams from predominantly white, Asian, Black, or Hispanic churches to join already existing churches made up predominantly of some other ethnic group. We don't want to overwhelm another congregation with a mass of folks and cause them to feel "invaded" or "taken over." But, a slow trickle of folks to another congregation, integrating their lives there, diversifying the local body, contributing to the health of a congregation would be a good strategy in my mind.

Thoughts? Help? Partners?

Beliefnet recently published their list of "who's who" in African-American spiritual circles (HT: Tim Challies). It's an interesting smorgasborg of spiritual ideas, and exhibit A in why the African-American church needs to be reformed! And what a most tragic report to release in African-American history month....