wfn.org | Black Presbyterians Urged to Reclaim Their Heritage

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

25-March-1998 
98098 
 
    Black Presbyterians Urged to Reclaim 
    Their Heritage at NBPC Event 
 
    by Julian Shipp 
 
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-During a uniquely Presbyterian but distinctively black 
gathering here March 17-22, members of the National Black Presbyterian 
Caucus (NBPC) were urged to reclaim their heritage and work cooperatively 
to overcome the individual, social and religious challenges facing the 
African-American community. 
 
    Approximately 500 of the NBPC's 675 members attended the organization's 
31st annual conference under the theme "Do You Want to Be Healed?" The 
six-day event featured worship, keynote speakers and workshops on topics 
such as evangelism, missionary work, AIDS, church growth, new church 
development and economic empowerment. 
 
    Commenting on the African-American diaspora, which is built on a 
history of struggle and a foundation of hope, the Rev. Gayraud S. Wilmore 
urged black Presbyterians to make a comprehensive self-examination. 
 
    "Many of our congregations are in a sorry state, in deep trouble," 
Wilmore said during the opening plenary. "We do not know how long black 
Presbyterianism will last, do we? We cannot be sure that our children and 
grandchildren will remain Presbyterian. We only know that our heritage is 
perishable." 
 
    But there's high cause for optimism, Wilmore said, as he and other 
black leaders shared numerous ideas for renewal - some popular, others 
decidedly controversial. 
 
    Only about 2 percent of the PC(USA)'s approximately 2.6 million members 
are black. Membership, both black and white, has been gradually declining, 
despite the efforts of the denomination to reach out to blacks and other 
racial/ethnic persons. 
 
    Even so, Wilmore, author of the recently revised book "Black and 
Presbyterian: The Heritage and the Hope," said blacks must maintain their 
place in a denomination that he said has been aristocratic and 
conservative. 
 
    "Most of our white brothers and sisters, despite all good intentions, 
are convinced, many of them, that we blacks never had it so good - that we 
need to stop thinking of them as racist," he said. Black Presbyterians need 
to stop adhering to white ideas of what church integration should be, he 
said. Simultaneously, he said, they should stop fretting over blacks 
leaving their denomination for Baptist and Pentecostal churches. Instead, 
he said, they should be cautious in their recruiting of new members. 
 
    "What our pastors ought to be wary of is flooding our churches with 
`Sunday-morning saints' who don't want to think," Wilmore said. "We've got 
to be careful about taking folks and not teaching them how to be 
disciples." 
 
    The Rev. Rosalie Potter, associate director for evangelism and church 
development in the National Ministries Division, said 147 of the 
denomination's 390 black churches do not have ministers. At the same time, 
she said, many black Presbyterian women have been ordained but can't find a 
pastoral call. 
 
    "There are many African-American women looking for calls, and they're 
not accepted in the church," Potter said. "That's an issue of justice - one 
you need to challenge the Caucasian church on. This is mighty, mighty work, 
and we need all of you to be a part of it." 
 
    Pat Brown, moderator of the 209th General Assembly (1997), said that 
while most black Presbyterians are proud of their African heritage, it does 
nothing for the church's witnessing power if they still have to apologize 
to the secular society for being Presbyterian. To counter this, she 
encouraged the NBPC to fill up existing churches and work hard to educate 
the church's young people on Presbyterianism. 
 
    "As long as we continue to go around and ... apologize for being 
Presbyterian, we're not going to attract people," Brown said. "Nobody's 
going to want to come and worship with us. I want you to think about why 
you have come to witness for Jesus Christ as Presbyterians. I want you to 
think about the gifts - and we certainly have them - that we bring to the 
Presbyterian Church." 
 
    Commenting on the defeat of Amendment A, Brown said she does not 
believe the amendment is a priority issue for blacks and other 
racial/ethnic members, who are more concerned with their own affirmation 
and survival in the denomination. However, since black Presbyterians are 
associated with the denomination's liberal element by the majority of 
whites, Brown said, they must prepare to assume greater leadership in the 
church if a significant liberal withdrawal occurs. 
 
      Noted poet, educator and lecturer Nikki Giovanni, keynote speaker 
during the NBPC's Lucy Craft Laney Luncheon, blasted right-wing religious 
leaders for using the Old Testament to condemn homosexuality and 
interracial marriage while extolling racism and oppression. She said 
Christian conservatives must also read the New Testament, particularly the 
life and teachings of Jesus, and realize that all humanity is sinful, yet 
needful of God's grace. 
 
    "What kind of craziness makes us think that we can judge what someone 
does?" Giovanni said. "We've got to find a way to get over that which makes 
us uncomfortable. We did not come this far to become that which we have 
fought against." 
 
    Giovanni also criticized opponents of affirmation action, including 
conservative African Americans such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence 
Thomas, saying that they "sucked up the juices of affirmative action and 
made themselves strong and healthy." 
 
    While the black community continues to be ravaged by inadequate housing 
and education, substance abuse, violence, institutional and systemic 
racism, NBPC hopes to strengthen the denomination's ability to unite in 
common cause and purpose-driven ministry, said the Rev. Curtis A. Jones, 
NBPC president. 
 
    "The opportunity to initiate effective partnerships within our 
communities and the denomination has never been greater," Jones said. "With 
a vision, we can build bridges of hope from the bloody sidewalk of despair 
to the mountaintop of joy, across the chasm of poverty to the fertile 
ground of promise." 
 
    The Rev. Howard A. Bryant Sr., NBPC executive director, said this 
year's event drew more participants than any other NBPC annual meeting held 
over the last 20 years. 
 
    In addition to Wilmore, other NBPC guest speakers and preachers 
included Winston-Salem mayor Jack Cavanagh; the Rev. Diane Givens-Moffett, 
associate pastor of Elmwood United Presbyterian Church in East Orange, 
N.J.; the Rev. Robert N. Burkins Sr., pastor of Elmwood United Presbyterian 
Church in East Orange, N.J.; the Rev. Vashti McKenzie, pastor of Payne 
Memorial A.M.E. Church in Baltimore, Md.; the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., 
pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church of Christ in Chicago, Ill.; U.S. 
Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C.; and U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton, D-N.C. 

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