What is Black Church Weekly?
The Black Church Weekly is a publication by the team at Values Partnerships, a social impact firm focused on communities of faith and communities of color. We're delighted to bring you news and views related to the Black church and opportunities to engage on policy, entertainment, and culture each week! The Black Church Weekly is edited by Rev. Kip Banks, senior consultant with Values Partnerships, former General Secretary of the Progressive National Convention and pastor of East Washington Heights Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Its publisher is Joshua DuBois, former faith-based advisor to President Barack Obama. | “Black Church Lamentations 2022” by Rev. Dr. Kip Banks, Sr. | Just like the prophet Jeremiah in the biblical book of Lamentations, as the Black Church in 2022, we have so much to mourn. Just this past week, we mourn the passing of the Dean of Black Church History and Black preaching homiletics, Dr. Henry Mitchell. We mourn the passing of the “Happy Preacher” Elder Carl Murrell -- a preacher with an infectious spirit and a fixture at Black Church events in Atlanta and across the nation. We mourn the passing of Andre’ Leon Talley, the former editor of Vogue Magazine and fashion trendsetter who learned his sense of fashion from his grandmother’s Black Church in Raleigh, NC. We also mourn the passing of too many of our ministerial colleagues. I mourn the passing of my colleagues the Rev. Dr. Boyer Freeman, Pastor of the New St. Mark Baptist Church in Baltimore, and the Rev. Robert Shine, Pastor of the Berachah Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA. We also mourn the passing of an unprecedented number of saints in our congregations. The fact is that more than 850,000 thousand people in our nation have died due to COVID-19 and these deaths have been disproportionality people in our community. Indeed, life expectancy for Black Americans has decreased by two years during the pandemic. Furthermore, we mourn the fact the suicide rates for African American youth have skyrocketed during the pandemic and we also mourn the overall loss of well-being that our children and youth are experiencing at this time. Moreover, we mourn the incessant attacks upon Black Americans' civil rights. We mourn the Senate’s failure to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill and the Freedom to Vote Bill and the continued rise of measures to suppress Black voting throughout our country. These measures include a recent proposal by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to establish his own police force to oversee Florida elections – a throwback to the days of Jim Crow. To add insult to injury, we mourn the lack of prophetic preaching from our pulpits across the nation. Regrettably, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2022, the biggest discussion in the Black Church community was not about Dr. King and the urgent need to keep his battle against racism, militarism, and poverty alive, but instead about a preacher who spat upon a church member in a sermon illustration. I tell you, just like the prophet Jeremiah, we have so much to mourn. But the good news is that Jeremiah knew where to go in his time of mourning after he poured out his heart to God. Jeremiah said, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:21-23). Indeed, God is faithful, and as the Black Church, we know and must hang our hats on this. Just as God has kept us in the past, so God will keep us in the future. However, we too must be faithful. Faithful to that call to stay on the battlefield for the Lord, and faithful to work until that day when justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream -- and we prayerfully hear the Lord say, “Well done thy good and faithful servant, well done.” | A Tribute to Dr. Henry Mitchell the Dean of Black Church Homiletics by Dr. Antoni Sinkfield Dean Wesley Seminary and former pastor Payne Chapel AME, Nashville, TN I want to join the wide pantheon of proclaimers whose lives and ministries were irrefutably and irreversibly transformed by the homiletical genius of the Rev. Dr. Henry Mitchell! I was walking the hallowed halls of the Vanderbilt Divinity School in 1993, having just completed my homiletics course taught by the inimitable Dr. David Buttrick, when it was rumored that we would also be able to take a course on “Black Preaching” presented by guest professor, Dr. Henry Mitchell. To have the blessed privilege of sitting at the preaching feet of both David Buttrick AND Henry Mitchell was FOR ME an educational and homiletical epiphany! Dr. Mitchell brought a sense of history, heritage, relevancy, value, and spirit to who I am as a preacher, my sense of a calling to preach, my pursuit of the preaching vocation, and my insatiable hunger and thirst to ALWAYS get better and be better! Dr. Mitchell, I’m one of the ones you touch as you passed this way; and I salute you as you join the ancestor to take your seat with and among “all the saints of the ages” “sitting at God’s feet and being blessed!” Thank you sir! | Seminarian’s Corner: An Interview with Minister Deirdre Austin by Chadwick Smith | Minister Deirdre “Jonese” Austin is a writer, minister, and public theologian, and her current research interest and future ministry focus center on how Black women come to understand their faith, bodies, and sexuality through the church and the arts. She is a third year Master of Divinity student at Candler School of Theology, pursuing certificates in Black Church Studies and Baptist Studies. I have really enjoyed sharing so many classes together during our time at Candler. I have loved seeing your mind blossom and have learned from your insight. For those who haven’t had the honor to share space with you, share with readers how you have grown spiritually and theologically in seminary. One of my professors recently called herself a recovering conservative evangelical, and I related to that phrase so much. I grew up in spaces that taught that all one has to do is be saved, whatever one asks of God, including the house and the car, God would give it, that homosexuality is a sin, and other messages that you’d hear in conservative, evangelical Black spaces. My theology changed and evolved in many ways when I arrived at Candler. While I was exposed to more justice-oriented theology in undergrad by my amazing Protestant chaplains, Candler continued that process and made it personal. It was in my Bible courses that I was able to learn what the Bible really says and realize that some of what I was taught wasn’t Biblical but was based on religious tradition and White evangelical politics. It was in systematic theology that I was able to define God for myself and the community I desire to serve. I see God as “El Roi” who is the God of Hagar and the God who sees. It was through my Black Church Studies courses that I was able to wrestle with the ways in which the Black Church institution has been complicit in the oppression of people, yet, it was also in these courses where I could imagine what the Black Church can be: A space rooted in communal salvation that calls us to care for our neighbors and the least of these, that allows us to love and honor our bodies as well as our spirits, that is open and affirming in word and deed, that recognizes that God is beyond the gender binary, and that believes in a God who desires us to be free and whole. Back in August, you wrote an Op-Ed for The Black Church Weekly where you talked about womanism and the need to center the voices of more black women preachers. As a young black woman preacher yourself, who are some of the older voices you look up to, and who are some of your peers that readers should be listening to and following? There are many Black women preachers and ministers that I look up to. I look up to Rev. Dr. Renita Weems. Her book Listening for God: A Minister’s Journey Through Silence and Doubt was formative for me. I look up to women like Rev. Khristi Adams and Rev. Dr. Neichelle Guidry for the work that they do with young Black girls and women. I look up to preachers like Dr. Melva Sampson and Lyvonne Briggs for the spaces they’ve been able to cultivate and create to bring their gifts to the community. I could mention many more, but I’ll end with Rev. Kamilah Hall Sharp and Rev. Irie Lynne Session as it relates to the space that has been able to create with their womanist church and the work that they do. As it relates to my peers, people should be following the Young Worship Leaders’ Forum, a platform created by my friend Siera Grace. People should be listening to “She Will Not Fall,” a podcast created by my Twitter friend Marielle to highlight the stories of women of color in ministry. Lastly, I’ll mention that people can listen to KiKi’s Korner Podcast, a podcast started by one of my Candler classmates to explore the intersections of the Bible and culture. You graduate in just a few short months. What are your plans after graduation and how can readers continue to support you? As of now, I am planning to pursue a PhD in religion or anthropology, depending on where I am accepted, while continuing to serve at a local church. I intend to continue to explore the intersections of faith and sexuality in Black Christian women through a womanist lens and approaching it through dance in my research. People can continue to support me and follow my work on Instagram and Twitter @DeirdreJonese for both, and on my website and blog, DeirdreJoneseAustin.com. | Music can make it easier for caregivers to connect with their middle schoolers about their emotions and experiences, including navigating friendships, loss, anger, stress, and racism. Ad Council and Values Partnerships developed the #SoundItOutChallenge in partnership with leading organizations to bring awareness to mental health. We’re inviting middle schoolers in the U.S. to write their best rap, song or poem that relates to mental health for a chance to win an iPad Pro, 1-year Calm App subscription, and a personalized journal. How the Challenge Works: Participants must submit a rap, song, or poem that relates to mental health; how they process their own feelings, the importance of talking about mental health with peers, and how they want to be supported by their parents and community. Participants must email their submissions to sounditout@valuespartnerships.com to gain a chance of winning one of the following categories; best rap, best song, best poem, and viewer’s choice. For a chance to win the viewer’s choice award, participants must still email their submission and post to their Instagram account (account must be public), tagging @sounditouttogether and use the hashtag #SoundItOut. Must be 13 years of age or older to win the viewer's choice award. Submissions are due January 31, 2022, at 11:59 pm EST. Terms and conditions apply, go to www.SoundItOutTogether.org for more information. | | Black Church Weekly Photos | Submit your photos - #MyBlackChurch The Black Church Weekly wants to feature photos of black church gatherings taking place across the country. You can submit photos of your in-person socially distanced services, bible studies, zoom worship services, and even your various ministries serving in your local community. Please email all photos to: kip@valuespartnerships.com. When submitting them please include the name of your ministry, location, and name(s) of the senior pastor(s). All submissions will be featured in our next newsletter! | #BlackChurches4Broadband Encourages Families to Sign up for Emergency Broadband (Internet) Benefit Our hero, the late Congressman John Lewis, said that internet access is “the civil rights issue of the 21st Century.” A high-speed home broadband (internet) connection is vital for full enfranchisement in today’s world. It opens the door to educational and economic opportunities, connects family and church communities, allows access to remote health care services, and empowers greater civic engagement and activism. Congress recently created an Emergency Broadband Benefit giving eligible families up to $50 per
month to pay for home broadband service. You may be eligible for the Emergency Broadband Benefit if your household has experienced a sudden loss of income during the pandemic, or is currently receiving federal benefits such as SNAP, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Federal Public Housing Assistance, Veterans and Survivors Pension Benefit, Lifeline, Pell Grants, or free and reduced-price school lunches, Visit blackchurches4broadband.org to learn more about eligibility and how to sign up. | Candice Marie Benbow’s Red Lip Theology explores what it means to be a black woman of faith today (Glamour, 1/19/22) You’re likely quite familiar with the voice of Candice Marie Benbow. America’s conscience: Moral bankruptcy and communal decay (Baptist News Global, 01/19/22) The poignant and timeless words of Howard Thurman seamlessly speak to the present dilemma of the disinherited within America who sit in the tension, terror and tragedy of a nation that consistently fails the “folk.” ‘Red Lip Theology’ lets black Christian women be ourselves (Sojourners, 01/19/22) In her new book, theologian Candice Marie Benbow takes readers on a journey through some pivotal and transformational moments in her life, highlighting the conversations she had with her mother, the theology informing her, and the sources — such as literature and hip-hop — that have shaped who she is. Monmouth College professor provided boost to Black church (Review Atlas, (01/19/22) As we observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day this week, today’s column looks back at a positive episode in Monmouth history during the early days of the civil rights movement. As Congress debates, Black Baptist leader calls denial of voting rights ‘evil’ (Religion News Service, 01/18/22) On the day of a major voting rights debate on Capitol Hill, a social justice coordinator for the Progressive National Baptist Convention said fighting for voting rights is an effort to conquer evil. On MLK Day, Yellen says US economy is unfair to Black people (WABE, 01/17/22) The U.S. economy “has never worked fairly for Black Americans — or, really, for any American of color,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a speech delivered Monday, one of many by national leaders acknowledging unmet needs for racial equality on Martin Luther King Day. Fund to preserve, assist Black churches gets $20M donation (Religion News Service, 01/17/22) A new effort to preserve historic Black churches in the United States has received a $20 million donation that will go to help congregations including one that was slammed during the tornado that killed more than 20 people in Mayfield, Kentucky, last month. What we won’t hear on Martin Luther King Day, and what we need to hear (Religion News Service. 01/17/22) Celebrating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in any year reminds all justice-loving and justice-seeking people of the challenges we face and of the unfinished business of economic inequality, political exclusion, and cultural humiliation — the tripod of institutional racism in our racialized society and world. Hundreds attend MLK Day march and festival at historically Black Phoenix church (Arizona Republic, 01/17/22) In the cool early air of Monday morning, hundreds from Phoenix and the surrounding communities gathered at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church to celebrate the life and legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sen. Raphael Warnock says he won't rest until voting rights are secured (ABC, 01/17/22) "Our colleagues on the other side have chosen power and politics over a commitment to democracy," the Georgia senator and reverend tells "The View" on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. [video] How the Black Church Fueled a Movement (Tablet, 01/14/22) When asked how long she’s been a member of First Baptist Church of Selma, Alabama, Louretta Wimberly said, “All my life.” | |
