Pure Church

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 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.

A "Concerned Church Member" left this important comment and question in the comments section of this post. I thought it such a good question that I decided to make the response (probably not as good as the question) a post in itself. Below is the question, followed by my response. What say others out there? "Help a brother out!"

My man Lance is casting vision for the reform of predominantly African-American churches.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

More to come.... The revolution will not be televised.

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?

I just wanted to give a word of thanks to the many friends and fellow-laborers, brothers and sisters in Christ, who have made some mention of The Decline of African-American Theology. I am grateful for your encouragements and support of this work.

Tim Challies offered a review at Discerning Reader.

Anthony Carter has been posting quotes and comments as he reads. See here and here.

Eric Redmond, that Man from Issachar, made some very generous comments about the book and posted a critique of Word-of-Faith churches and issues of social justice.

Lionel Woods at Black and Reformed Ministries writes, "I pray that this book will bring the Lord Jesus the glory He deserves in this world. He took on the wrath stored up for us, so that we can live in harmony with the creator. God is awesome and He has given us another nugget in this book. "

Jeff Fuller, one of the Reformed Evangelist team bloggers, has added The Decline to his list of reads for 2008.

TheoSource included a brief review of the book.

Lance Lewis plugged the book with these lines, "After reading it if you feel it’s worthwhile recommend it to friends, family, church members, Sunday school teachers, ministry leaders, assistant pastors and anyone else you think would benefit. While reading it please pray for the black church that the Lord will use this and other means to bring about a reformation for the sake of His savior and the praise of His glory."

Ronjour Locke at magnifyGOD mentioned The Decline in his reflections on reform in the African American church. A sample: "I long for my people to come to the Savior. But I fear that with liberation theology, prosperity theology, black Islam, and countless other ideologies, many blacks in America do not know the God of the Bible, nor do they know that Savior that has come to redeem them. God has uniquely designed the events of black history so that Christ would be exalted and the Gospel would spread. I long that the truth of the Gospel would be heard in black churches and spread throughout communities for the glory of God."

Thank you BaldJim for putting the book on your wish list.

Thanks Justin for mentioning the book.

The brothers at Grace Church Memphis call all to learn more about African American Christianity. They plug Carter's On Being Black and Reformed--which if you haven't read, you should do so immediately.

Laura hears the rumblings of reformation. I hear them, too, Laura!

If I missed giving you a shout, blame it on Google and Technorati :-). Actually, charge it to my head and not my heart. I am grateful to God for all of you who have given any thought or mention to The Decline. I pray the Lord uses your labors for His unceasing glory!
Thabiti

The brothers over at The Council of Reforming Churches have just started a new conversation that will surely be edifying and helpful. The constant nagging question for pastors and those involved in reform is, "What does reform look like?" And if you're in a predominantly-ethnic church, the question couples itself with questions about ethnic identity and expression. Eric Redmond leads off the discussion with a round of really helpful questions. Check it out "Culture Clash" and comment.

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

Tom Ascol recently posted a helpful pamphlet written by Daniel Akin on the need for theologically-driven preaching in the SBC. Perhaps it's helpful for non-SBC churches as well.



1) The non-negotiable of a regenerate Church (John 3; Rom. 3; 2 Cor. 5; Gal. 3)

• First, we need to make it clear that church membership is a privilege, not a right.
• Second, we must preach against easy believism and reject any form of a compromised gospel.
• Third, we must be careful with respect to our own theological integrity concerning infant or early adolescent baptism that lacks a clear understanding and confession of the gospel.

2) The essential nature of believers baptism by immersion with a biblical appreciation for its significance. (Matt. 28; Acts, Rom. 6)

That baptism involved a particular member (a believer), mode (immersion) and meaning (public identification with Christ and the believing community) is grounded in New Testament witness and has been a hallmark of Baptists throughout their history.

We must see evidence of regeneration for those we baptize. The baptism of young children must be administered with the greatest possible care.

Baptism should be viewed and emphasized as a first and necessary step of discipleship and obedience to Christ. We will reject as inconceivable the idea of admitting anyone into our membership without believer’s baptism by immersion.

3) The recovery of the lost jewels of church discipline and genuine disciple-making as essential marks of the Church.

Church discipline is clearly and repeatedly taught in the New Testament, yet most do not preach on it or practice it. Jesus addresses it in Matt. 18:15-20 and Paul does so several times in 1 Cor. 5:1-13; 2 Cor. 2:5-11; Gal. 6:1-2; and Titus 3:9-11.

Theologically it is to disobey the plain teachings of Scripture and ignore the necessity of church discipline in maintaining the purity of the church.

• First, we must preach and teach our people what the Bible says about church discipline.
  
• Second, we must begin to implement church discipline lovingly, wisely, gently, carefully and slowly.
  
• Third, we must apply discipline to areas like absentee membership as well as the specific list provided by Paul in 1 Cor. 5.

4) The emphasis and practice of a genuinely Word-based ministry (2 Tim. 4:1-5)

For those of us who profess to believe in both the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture, there must be in our churches what I call "engaging exposition."

We must advocate an expositional method with a theological mindset under an evangelical mandate. It is preaching that models for our people how they should study, interpret and teach the Bible.

5) The vision for a faithful and authentic biblical ecclesiology (Acts. 2; Eph. 4; Pastorals)

• First, there must be the 4 marks of 1) a regenerate Church membership, 2) the Word, 3) the Ordinances and 4) Church Discipline.
• Second the local church should be elder/pastor led and congregationally governed. Here, in my judgment, there is room for flexibility in terms of patterns, structure and implementation.

As we move forward in this century, Pastors will need to give particular attention to a theology of stewardship and discipleship.

The members of our churches must move from being shoppers to buyers to investors.

6) The continued nurturing of a fervent missionary and evangelistic passion that is wedded to a healthy and robust theology (1 Thess. 1; Eph. 4:11-16; Jude 3-4; Rev. 5)

No church will be evangelistic by accident.
First, there are multiple ways churches can do missions and evangelism. That we do it is the key.

Marketplace evangelism which can reach into the workplace is an area needing attention, strategizing and training.

Youth and student evangelism needs renewed emphasis.

Theologically and biblically, we must challenge our people to evangelize without bias or prejudice, loving and going after the exploding ethnic and minority groups where we live.

7) The teaching and preaching of a 1st century biblical model for church planting (Acts 17)
The 21st century is more like the 1st century than has ever been the case in our Western culture.

We are losing America and the West because we are losing the great metropolitan areas where there is a concentration of people.

• First, explore creative methods, but make sure that they are faithfully filtered through the purifying waters of Holy Scripture.
• Second, be wise fishers of men.
• Third, we must ask God to raise a new generation of godly and gifted church planters and missionaries.

8) The wisdom to look back and remember who we were so that as we move forward we will not forget who we are

The Southern Baptist Convention today is not the Southern Baptist Convention of your parents, and certainly not your grandparents.

We now have several generations who know almost nothing of William Carey and Adoniram Judson, Bill Wallace, Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong. They do know nothing of Boyce, Broadus, and Manly; Carroll, Robertson, Frost, Mullins and Truett.

They have never heard Criswell, Rogers or Vines preach, and they are not really sure who they are.

In creative and dynamic avenues fitting a 21st century context, we need to retell the Baptist History story in a way that will grab the attention and stir the hearts of our people. And we need to do it, at least in part, from the pulpit.

Conclusion:
The North Carolina evangelist Vance Havner said, "What we live is what we really believe."

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....

My good and faithful brother Eric asked me to put forward a bare-bones Christ-centered solution for disentangling "blackness" and "whiteness" from "church." If I understood his comments correctly, there is a good and natural question about how to jettison idolatrous notions of blackness and preserve a recognition of the imago dei in black folks. He asks: "what aspects of the image of God in browner skin tones will/should remain when "'black'ness" is Reformed?" A great question.

Trusting Eric's discernment, I've probably reached the point where I need to get past lament and offer some thoughts aimed more clearly at solution. And to do that, I want to be as "bare-bones" about it as I can. And to do that... let me simply ask and answer the question, "Ideally, what kind of church would I really, really like to belong to or pastor?"

Here are my answers in descending importance. "I would really, really like to belong to or pastor a church where":

1. The gospel of Jesus Christ is faithfully preached each Lord's Day and consistently applied to the Christian and non-Christian. I would love to belong to a church or pastor a church where the teachers "bring da Word," rightly divided, in season and out of season, where the Gospel is proclaimed and protected by leaders and members who search the Scripture.

2. People love radically. Across class, ethnic, language, political, citizenship status, gender, generational and every other natural division. A church of deep and wide fellowship between members, not just on Sundays but daily from house to house and in the workplace. Rejoicing together, mourning together, bearing with one another, receiving the weaker brothers, laying down liberties. A church where the watching world says, "Yep... those folks must be Jesus followers. Surely God sent Jesus to save the world. Look at how they love!"

3. The saints are called up into heaven or call heaven down in prayer. Put me in a church where the people of God call on the God of the people day and night with fervency, expectation, and joy.

4. People are growing and are concerned to help others grow. The fruit of the Spirit are evident and lasting. The brances are abiding in the True Vine. Bible knowledge increases, but so too does obedience to what the Bible teaches, and all without arrogance or being puffed up.

5. Clear, healthy, loving distinctions are kept between those professing faith in Christ and those not professing faith. I'd love to belong to a church that owns its responsibility for knowing the spiritual state of its members and for calling its members to live holy lives depending upon God's gracious aid.

6. Members are zealous in doing good. A church where members are first focused on the needs of the body and secondly the community. Where there are no limits to their generosity, compassion, and commitment to serving others. And the one good they do at all times is spread the Good News to every creature.

7. Family worship is modeled and practiced by all with families. Where Christianity is not a solo sport and nor is it a public, pay-per-view event but is practiced in homes when no one is watching but the children and the Lord. Where seeds are planted and watered by fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, and God gives abundant increase in the conversion and discipleship of young people.

8. Missions is a high priority budgetarily and in individual personal decisions.

Okay... this is the church I'd love to join or pastor. Right about now, the old joke is ringing in my head. "If you find a perfect church, don't join it. Because if you do, it won't be perfect anymore." There are probably other things I'd consider in some measure, but I think this is the meat. And I think this would be a bare-bones, Christ-centered corporate body. Now, to return to Eric's question....

Nothing is said in this list about culture or ethnicity. How much of our cultural identity (black, white, Asian, etc.) needs to be put aside and how much retained? We need put aside everything that hinders the 8 items above, in my opinion. If these 8 things are more or less indicative of the agenda of Jesus in the Church, His body, and if anything associated with our identity hinders any of these eight things, then our "identity" has crossed a very wide and important line.

I receive a fair amount of email from good white brothers in the Lord asking, "How much should I be willing to do to accomodate non-white attenders and members in the church?" And I get an equal amount of mail from good black brothers in the Lord asking, "How much of my culture should I give up in order to join predominantly white churches?" (Notice how both questions arc in the same direction... blacks joining white churches. I almost never get these same questions from the vantage point of whites joining black churches).

The answer in both cases is the same, I think. Accomodate or give up as much as is necessary to live like Jesus in the church, as much as is necessary to live out these eight things (or some similar but better defined list).

Make no mistake. The cost of doing this is quite high--especially for ethnic minorities joining predominantly white churches (again, that's the direction most of this conversation takes. I assume there may be similar costs for white brethren joining predominantly black churches; I just don't have any real data). We might measure the costs on an increasing scale that looks something like this:

• Mild discomfort at being "the only one."
• A sense of alienation triggered by "foreign" or "white" music styles, sermon illustrations, or jokes
• Loss of genuine fellowship and friendship with other Christians at the "white church"
• Family mildly, half-jokingly questions your racial identity or loyalty to the community
• Family and "friends" reject you as "too white"; loss of significant friendships and relationships in your native community and your "white church"
• Troubled self-perception; internalized self-hatred as an ethnic minority
• Isolation, misunderstanding, fear and in some cases depression
• Parents watch their children experience pains of confused ethnic identity

These aren't strictly linear or stagewise. Not everyone experiences the same thing or the same degree of intensity. But these are some of the real costs.

My white brethren need to understand that these are real costs experienced by the brave who would live, love and labor together across ethnic lines, and that a staunch, uncritical adherence to "white" (misread, "neutral") cultural styles is inflicting unnecessary harm on their brown brethren. My black brethren need to trust God that the potential costs will be met (if not in this life time, then in glory) with staggering rewards and crowns of rejoicing. More of my white brethren need to experience these costs and take these risks of faith by joining predominantly black churches instead of driving by half a dozen to find the nice suburban white church. More of my black brethren need to actively seek non-blacks to be a part of their spiritual family. All of us need to risk as much as we can for a vision of a reformed church where all nations are welcomed and loved.

The cost is high, but great are the rewards if we by God's grace can live this way.

I've stayed away from discussing corporate worship (music styles and singing) in pretty much all the posts I've written on race and culture and the church. Eric politely called me on it :-) I've stayed away from it because (a) it's emotional and explosive for many, often leading to unproductive conversations, and (b) I don't think it's really the issue that matters most. In other words, if we really wanted to live like Jesus would have us live in the church, we'd figure something out. We wouldn't mind singing something from 16th century Europe or Latin America or a hymn in Swahili from East Africa (groups ranging from Selah to Donnie McClurkin have figured out how to do this) as long as it celebrated and exalted our one Jesus.

I'm musically illiterate, but I sing just about everything except that rock stuff (I don't get it... where's the beauty?). I've learned to enjoy most classical. Hymns of the Reformation are cool. Mahalia Jackson is still the queen. Fairfield Four... Gaithers... Mercy Me... Budy Jewell... Peter Tosh... Dinah Washington... Marian Anderson... Kathy Trocolli... Phillips, Craig and Dean... Albertina Walker... Kurt Carr. This is a partial list of the artists I'm looking at in my bookshelf right now. Half the folks aren't "native" to me, culturally speaking. But there's much I've learned to appreciate. And learning to appreciate is another way of saying learning to love. And perhaps that's what's missing in our churches when it comes to Christ-centered reform and questions of culture... we've not yet learned to love the way Jesus loves.

At the end of the day, my hunch is that our churches are not integrated--not because our cultural heritages are so intractable and music styles so divergent--but because we're not even trying. We have all the omnipotent aid of heaven to sustain us in our efforts and an omniscient wisdom to guide us in our thinking. There's really no excuse; we're complacent in our cultural enclaves. It's to the church's shame that Jackie Robinson integrated baseball before the church has integrated. It's to our shame that Brown v. Board integrated public schools before the churches have integrated. It's to our shame that the military beat us to it by several decades. It's to our shame that unregenerate men have made more progress on at least co-existing in the same space than the blood-bought church of Jesus Christ has made on loving across boundaries.

I want to join a church so deeply marked by those eight things above that cultural reforms in the church, if not easy, are at least considered an essential part of what it means to be the body of Christ. What parts of the imago dei in darker hue will remain? I suspect the parts that have nothing to do with hue... but with love, peace, reconciliation, and union with Jesus. I also suspect that will be costly.

Not without reforming the pastor.

It seems that so much of the church's health rides on the health of the pastors/elders and the men of the church. And that's by God's design.

Pastors and elders are to be examples to the flock in everything (1 Tim. 4:12b). They are rightly looked to as a model of Christian faith, conduct and virtue. And their prominence and teaching role in the congregation more or less guarantees that they will impress their character upon that of the congregation. The congregation, over time, will think and act much like the elders/pastors think and act. Which is to say, over time they will think and act more like Jesus if that's the pastors' manner, or they will think and act in ways well beneath the calling of Christ if that be the pastors' way of life.

This makes reforming the man in the ministry of paramount importance. Will he leave the imprimatur of Christ on the people of God, or will he leave them stamped with the stains of his deficiency and unprepared to meet Christ on the Day of Judgment? Each time we enter the pulpit, each time we gather as the church, we confess our belief in the coming Day of the Lord. We need the kind of reformation of pastors that makes such faith in the coming Day clear in our lives, our pursuits, our preaching, etc. Here's how Lemuel Haynes expressed it in one ordination sermon:

[His preaching] is not to display his talents; but like one who feels the weight of eternal things, he will not address his hearers as though judgment was a mere empty sound; but viewing eternity just before him, and a congregation on the frontiers of it, whose eternal state depends upon a few uncertain moments; Oh! with what zeal and fervor will he speak! How will death, judgment, and eternity appear as it were in every feature, and every word! Out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth will speak. His hearers will easily perceive, that the preacher is one who expects to give account. He will study and preach with reference to a judgment to come, and deliver every sermon in some respects, as if it were his last, not knowing when his Lord will call him, or his hearers to account. —We are not to suppose that his zeal will vent itself in the frightful bellowings of enthusiasm; but he will speak forth the words of truth in soberness, with modesty, and Christian decency.

The reformation of the African-American church--again, the entire church--will come when the men who shepherd her "feel the weight of eternal things" and leave off vain and trivial trifles. Eternity will press itself into their personal lives and will overflow in their public ministry. Fitness for heaven will be their grand theme. He will disdain the praise and applause of men, the diversions of the world, and the trappings of a perishing society, and choose instead the ineffable joys of glory in the presence of the Father and the Risen Lamb!

You don't get this at convention meetings, or seminaries for that matter. You get this primarily by sitting at the Master's feet, seeing the world the way He does, and usually through the careful discipleship and training offered by a godly, seasoned, serious pastor. The Lord and the church train men for this kind of ministry.

A couple weeks ago, a small swirl was created when Bro. Piper issued a call for ethnic minorities to join his staff. Now I, for one, would send every prospective African-American pastor I know to Bethlehem to learn from John. I would send every prospective African-American pastor I know to the internship program at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. Both of these congregations and pastors give themselves to training future pastors, and I'd have no problem flooding their efforts with young ethnic brothers. Never mind the politics of race or the angst of affirmative action. We want the church reformed according to the Word of God and that will require reforming the men who lead her--"by any godly means necessary!"

I wish every solid African-American church had a similar training effort. But even lacking that, I would send every prospective African-American pastor I know to learn from Ken Jones, Tony Carter, Michael Leach and a thousand other faithful shepherds laboring in anonymity with the weight of eternity resting on their hearts and minds.

This weekend, I had the disquieting experience of attending a local church in my home town. It was "disquieting" for a number of reasons.

1. There was the blend of hope and history so characteristic of African-American churches. What's wrong with that? Well... at first glance, nothing. But... it was a humanistic hope and a selective history.

2. The sermon was full of truth and the preacher said some things that took real boldness and love. But... almost none of it had anything to do with his chosen text nor were Gospel links and implications drawn out. Good truth... no grounding.

3. The songs... well, it was a Black church! The songs were great. There was good theology in most of them, sung in the experiential key of black folks. I was moved. Then, the shoutin' began. One lady immediately in front of me; I placed a stiff arm in the small of her back and tucked my feet and toes under the pew. A few moments later a lady sitting next to my wife and youngest daughter lept from her seat. An older woman left the choir stand and began shouting. The pastor, a slight fellow with a big mouth (his self-description), tried to hold her up but was buried beneath her when she came down on him in piles! The most disquieting moment came in the midst of all this when my 7 year old daughter looked up at my wife and said, "It's a zoo in here!" We don't know where she got the phrase from; we don't like the overtones that she is oblivious to but we know all too well; we don't want her confused theologically or practically about what she saw and its appropriateness; we are concerned about her conception of black religious expression and identity; and, yet, the ethos feels so important, so essential to our experience.

It was a disquieting Sunday.

Perhaps it became a bit clearer for me that reforming the African American church isn't merely a matter of adopting a preaching technique or membership procedures. Those help, and I'd argue are essential. However, there's that something more. There is that something that leaps to the mind and the heart for most African Americans when you say "black church." There is an emotional memory and a certain longing for place and space that intertwines itself with the very definition of blackness itself--even when the person you're speaking with isn't a Christian or church attender.

In one sense, talk of reforming the Black church is or can be a call to re-evaluate the concept of "blackness" itself. In the secular literature, Debra Dickerson has called for just such a re-evaluation. Meanwhile, in the African-American religious literature, the concept of blackness is central, defining to the point of launching the school of Black Theology that makes an idol in black face. All the while, most black folks go on somewhere in the middle, thinking that our core notions of blackness are just fine. Don't get me wrong. I don't know many folks who aren't at least privately troubled by images of blackness in the latest rap video or prime time news. And I don't know many people who don't lament absentee fathers, youth under achievement and crime, and a host of other problems that get lumped together rightly or wrongly with "blackness."

But to lament the problematic conception of blackness where the Black church is concerned appears to me exponentially explosive... not just because of the likely reaction from the uncritical apologist of the Black church but more importantly because it conjures questions of identity that no one seems capable of resolving or addressing. "Blackness" and a certain expressive/emotional spiritually are siamese twins in the minds of most. You can't separate them without risking traumatic complications.

And yet... from my little beach side perch in the Caribbean... the surgery to separate historical notions of blackness (and all the memory and emotion it entails) from a much-needed contemporary call to church reform is critically urgent. Put another way... I left church Sunday thinking, "There's no way to reform the Black church without detangling the adjective 'Black' from the noun 'Church'." And I'm concerned that the surgical incision will cause the patient to convulse and hemorrhage in revolt against the procedure. It is quite possible that the patient has grown so accustomed to life with ailments that they'd rather the debilitating disease than the painful cure.

For the longest while I've been thinking that we need a new theological anthropology for our day, one that addresses the question of our humanity with a particular eye toward "race," culture, and the church. The historical formulations seem so inadequate to me. Our "natural" thinking seems wholly inadequate for fostering reform inside the church--black, white, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino.

Can the predominantly African-American church be reformed? Am I the only one that thinks this question is a little like asking, "Can 'blackness' be reformed?"

Can the predominantly African-American church be reformed? If so, almost certainly it will require a revival of sound, biblical preaching.

The last post explored the assertion that by any historical definition of "true church" the African American church (writ large) is not one. At the top of the list of woes contributing to this situation was this critique:

The Word is not rightly preached in most African American churches. That is, the biblical Gospel is wholly absent in far too many churches. Forget about a commitment to exposition... topical rules the day and ironically, many African-American preachers sound like white plantation preachers (only it's not "slave don't steal massa's chicken," it's "black folks, you gotta vote democratic down the line or God wants you rich"). Different lyrics, same tired tune.

This is by no means an original observation. There is a trail of African Americans lamenting the woeful state of black preaching, including some of African America's greatest church statesmen.

For example, Bishop Daniel A. Payne, one of the most influential and tireless bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church described the preaching in his day this way:

First, then, the preaching of the Gospel. What do we understand by this? Various are the answers given. Some there are who believe it to consist in loud declamation and vociferous talking; some in whooping, stamping and beating the Bible or desk with their fists, and in cutting as many odd capers as a wild imagination can suggest; and some err so grievously on this subject as to think that he who hallooes the loudest and speaks the longest is the best preacher. Now all these crude ideas have their origin in our education, for we believe just what we have been taught. But if any man wishes to know what is preaching the Gospel, let him not ask of mere mortal man, but let him find his answer in the teachings of Him who spake, and whose wisdom is without mixture of error. Hear him in the matchless sermon on the Mount, teaching us to find blessedness in poverty and meekness, in peace and righteousness, in mercy and purity, and to find exceeding great joy in persecution for righteousness sake. See with what divine skill he expounds the moral law, and carries its application beyond the outward and visible conduct into the interior and invisible workings of the human soul. Behold Him either in private houses or on the sea shore, or in the temple, by parables of the most striking beauty and simplicity, unfolding the great principles upon which the moral government of the universe is based, enlightening their understandings and warming their hearts with the sunbeams of eternal truth. This is preaching—preaching of the highest kind. We will do well to imitate it.... ("Who Is Sufficient for These Things?", 1852).

Payne's assessment of African-American preaching prior to Emancipation was that it was largely a product of education (read, miseducation) and full of "loud declamation and vociferous talking." He is, in effect, calling for preaching that takes Jesus as the model, that is preaching that is expositional, doctrinal and application oriented.

Dr. Frances J. Grimke, for 55 years the pastor of the prominent 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. and long-time activist in the cause of racial equality, assessed the African-American pulpit of his day in these words: "If we turn now and examine carefully the character of the pulpit ministrations of the Afro-American pulpit, its three leading characteristics will be found to be emotionalism, levity or frivolity, and a greed for money." Does that ring a bell for us?

Grimke went on at length to describe the emotionalism, frivolity and greed he saw. Consider this long description of emotionalism and its effects (I'd highly commend the entire sermon, "The Afro-American Pulpit in Relation to Race Elevation," 1892):

First, it is emotion. The aim seems to be to get up an excitement, to arouse the feelings, to create an audible outburst or emotion, or, in the popular phraseology, to get up a shout to make people “happy.” In many churches where this result is not realized, where the minister is unable by sheer force of lung power, and strength of imagination, to produce this state of commotion, he is looked upon as a failure. Even where there is an attempt to instruct, in the great majority of cases this idea is almost sure to assert itself, and become the dominant one.Now, where emotionalism prevails, three things will be found to be true: First, there will be little of no instruction from the pulpit. The minister whose sole or chief aim is to get up a shout, to excite animal spirits, will not give much time to the study of God’s word, or to the instruction of the people in the practical duties of
religion....

Second: Where emotionalism prevails there will be a low state of spirituality among the people, and necessarily so. Christian character is not built up in that way. It is a growth, and comes from the knowledge and practice of Christian principles. If the body is to grow, it must be fed, and fed on wholesome and nutritious food. And the same is true of the soul; and that food is God’s Word, line upon line, and precept upon precept. There is no other way of getting up out of the bogs and malarious atmosphere of selfishness and pride, and ill-will and hatred, and the many things which degrade and brutalize into the higher regions of love and purity and obedience and felicity, except by the assimilation of Christian principles, except by holy and loving obedience to the will of God. We cannot get up there on the wings of emotion; we cannot shout ourselves up to a high Christian manhood and womanhood any more than we can shout ourselves into Heaven. We must grow up to it. And until this fact is distinctly understood, and fully appreciated, and allowed to have its weight in out pulpit ministrations, the plane of spirituality upon which the masses of our people move will continue low. Shouting is not religion. The ability to make a noise is no test of Christian character. The noisiest Christians are not the most saintly; those who shout the most vigorously are not always the most exemplary in character and conduct.

Third: Where emotionalism prevails the underlying conception of religion will be found to be false, pernicious, and degrading. The conception which James gives us of religion is this: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this—To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” The conception which Paul gives is,—“Covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I you a more excellent way.” “Charity suffereth long and is kind,” etc. The conception which Micah gives is: “What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah 6:8). The conception which the blessed Lord himself gives is: “When I was an hungered, ye gave me meat; thirsty, ye gave me drink; sick and in prison, and ye visited me” (Matt. 25:35), etc. Running through all these statements of principles, the dominant, controlling idea is character. In emotionalism, however, this element is entirely overlooked, or sinks almost entirely out of sight. The measure of one’s piety is made to depend upon the strength and the amount of his emotions. Thus the true ideal is shut out from view, the standard set up is a false one, and the result is not only stagnation but degradation. The ideal of religion which is held up in our pulpits, and which is cherished by the people, must be in harmony with the facts as revealed in the Word of God, if it is to have an elevating and ennobling effect upon their everyday life.

Ouch. Just scanning the popular preaching of our day, the preaching that most regard as "good Black preaching," I'd have to say we've not made much progress since Payne or Grimke. I'd have to conclude that emotionalism, frivolity, and greed are still ravaging too many pulpits.

If reform is to happen, we need men in the pulpits of our churches who are:

• Committed to bring the Word of God to the people of God as the only manna by which they must be nourished. Teaching is needed, not entertainment. God's Word is needed, not pop psychology and the latest business fads. Now this will mean distinguishing between style and substance (and casting off "style"); faith that God works in the world by His Word; a life of serious study; reverence before God knowing that those who teach receive a stricter judgment; and great love for the people of God such that we want to see them grow up into Christ in all things. What an abuse it is to take the Word of God out of the mouths of God's people. What an unloving and hateful practice.
• Committed to exposition. Exposition of the Scriptures should be the primary form of that teaching. Personally, I tend to think we need men to teach through entire books of the Bible. Having said that, though, even topical series should be comprised of solid expositions. We need men to open the meaning of God's Word and convey that meaning as the main point of their sermons week after week.
• Doctrinally sound. Most revivals in church history have accompanied doctrinally rich preaching. Moreover, emotions rise and fall, so preaching to emotions or felt needs inevitably leave people "tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine." We need preachers rooted in solid systematic and biblical theologies, and who bring those categories to their preaching and to their people.
• Evangelistic preaching. In every sermon, we need men to preach the gospel. We may preach more than the gospel, but we should never preach less than the gospel. The Good News of Jesus Christ must be prominent, clear, penetratingly applied, and driven from the text. If, as Jesus taught, all of Scripture points to Him, then all of our preaching should point to Him whether in the OT or the NT, and specifically point to Him as the only fulfillment of God's promises and man's need for a Savior.

Apart from the recovery of expositional, doctrinally-rich and sound, evangelistic preaching, reform and revival are impossible in the predominantly African-American church--in any church.