Black Men and Church (long article)
This article was emailed to me by a friend and it was so interesting that I had to share. I really want to know what everyone thinks about this one. I don't know the original source to give credit but this needs to be read....
WHY ARE MANY BLACK MEN STAYING AWAY FROM THE CHURCH, AND WHAT WOULD BRING THEM BACK INTO THE FOLD?
Come Sunday, Marcus Austin will rise and, dressed in his Sunday best, head to the Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral near his home in Douglasville, GA. This has been his routine since moving here from Vacaville, Calif., a month ago. Not so long ago, though, the 23-year-old would've been curled up under the covers like so many other men. Or like the scene in the 1959 Norman Rockwell print, "Sunday Morning," slunk down in an easy chair reading the newspaper as the wife leads their children out the door.
"As long as I believed in God," he said, "I felt I didn't need to be there."
If you've ever wondered why so many men, and black men in particular, share that view, you're not alone. The question has been raised in countless studies and dissertations, newspaper columns, books and, yes, even art. Lucius Felder of Decatur, GA thinks he knows the answer.
"The church today, in my opinion, is not about helping black men," he said. "It's a moneymaking business."
Those who agree with him also argue that the "black church" is no longer relevant, that it offers "no discernible message for what ails the 21st-century black male soul." That perception, said the Rev. Fredrick Robinson, pastor of Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, is perhaps the biggest problem the church faces.
"You've heard the saying that the black man is in jail waiting for justice and the black woman is in church waiting for Jesus," he said. "Well, until the church projects the image of speaking truth to power, of being serious and aggressive about community uplift and economic empowerment, a lot of black men will remain uninterested."
But some who've studied the issue, who acknowledge that to a certain extent the men may have a point, say the problem isn't so much the church as it is man himself, which begs that age-old question God asked in the Garden of Eden:
"Adam, where are you?"
According to the Barna Research Group, a Christian research firm based in Ventura, Calif., more than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christian. But only two out of six attend church on any given Sunday.
"I've preached at megachurches that seat 8,000," said Jawanza Kunjufu, author of "Adam! Where Are You? Why Most Black Men Don't Go to Church" and the more recent "Developing Strong Black Male Ministries." "I'll ask the men to stand and 2,300 to 3,000 brothers stand up," Kunjufu said. "But if you ask the sisters to stand, now you're talking 4,500 and you can't even see the brothers anymore."
Robert Franklin, a professor of social ethics at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, said the relationship between men and the church "has been historically and is now a lovers' quarrel." But he said, "The problem isn't the church. The problem is with [man's] own spiritual journey and identity."
Institutional and personal
It's not exactly clear when the schism began. In that ancient garden? The migration to the inner city? Or in more recent years? What seems certain, however, is the impact of the mass migration of African-Americans to urban areas.
"In a more rural environment there was a closer percentage of men and women in church and more youth," Kunjufu said. "As more of us became urbanized, fewer men attended and mothers didn't require their sons to attend."
Five groups, Kunjufu said, generally have the greatest problem believing in Christianity and Jesus: those who are male, those who are educated, those who are young --- and Afrocentric, and those who are wealthy. "And don't let a brother have all five," he said.
More than two decades before Kunjufu posed the question, Franklin had written his senior thesis at Harvard University on why black men leave the church. The answers were both institutional and personal.
For instance, Franklin said, many men were turned off by the promotion of virtues like humility, sermons that advocated turning the other cheek rather than resistance, including, if necessary, violence. "Malcolm challenged Martin on this very issue," he said.
In addition, the men said the services were too long, that there was too much emphasis on money, and moral hypocrisy by church leaders. Many men, he said, also focused on their own moral failure.
"They didn't feel worthy to return to the church," he said. "But they still believed in God and were willing to return to a different kind of church."
Men at MegaFest
If men are absent from church, there was no shortage of them recently at T.D. Jakes' MegaFest conference held here last month.
Marcus Austin attended with a friend, Louida Martin. Darryl Groves of Orlando was there with his wife and youngest son. Fifty-four-year-old John Sheppard traveled there with a group from Baltimore, as did 64-year-old Francisco Raphael of San Antonio.
All of them said they attend church regularly. All of them had an answer when asked why women outnumber them on Sunday mornings. "They don't see the need for spirituality," said Groves, who has a Ph.D. in education. "They think if they get enough women, a little bit more money, if they play a little harder, it'll fill that empty place in their lives that only God can fill."
Groves said that many of those who attend the conference year after year are members of a church.
"Some come because their wives say, 'You're coming,' and when this is over," Groves said, "they go back to their community and don't do anything until the next conference."
But Groves, Sheppard and Raphael, who is a member of Cornerstone Church, a megachurch headed by John Hagee, all agreed the absence of men at church is hardly unique to the African-American community. "It's a universal issue," they said.
'A deep suspicion'
Submitting to a strong male moral authority figure was absolutely a deal breaker for Lucius Felder.
"The pastor asked me to submit to him," Felder said. "That means I give up who I am." Felder, 58, grew up in the church and has many family members still active in the church. "My oldest brother pastors a church in Kansas City," he said. "My stepfather was a pastor." And he himself played an active role, holding several leadership positions at his church, including chairman of the board of directors and as a member of the deacon board.
But by 1995, he'd grown discontented with how his church operated and perpetuated misconceptions about who Jesus Christ is, he said. He also found it difficult to reconcile Christianity with slavery and lynchings.
"Look at how many people we've killed in the name of Christianity but we call other people terrorists," he said. "What are we?"
Still Felder said God "is first and foremost in my life and I always give reverence to him."
Franklin said African-American men like Felder are keenly aware of the long history of neglect of certain issues, principally dealing with slavery, as well as outright manipulation and falsehoods propagated by churches.
"There is a deep suspicion implanted early on," Franklin said.
Said Robinson: "Black men detest phoniness. And nothing is more phony than the notion that race no longer matters in America. Too many Word preachers and nonpolitically inclined traditionalists believe because we are all saved we no longer see race."
Prison ministry essential
Reversing the exodus of men --- especially young men --- from Christianity will take a cultural shift on the part of church pastors, who can not only preach but put the Gospel to work solving the social problems plaguing their communities.
At Mount Gilead, Robinson said, men can participate in a variety of ministries that allow them the chance to discuss issues of importance to them, including drug outreach and mentoring youth. And plans are under way to begin a "speaker series" that will focus on such issues as joblessness, drugs and crime.
"You have to meet people where they are, on the street, in the public schools and the prisons," said R. Drew Smith, a scholar in residence at Morehouse College. "You can't carry on business as usual when we're dealing with unusual circumstances."
They might begin, Kunjufu suggested, with Monday night football.
"If you know that men are logical and visual, and we live in a country that is capitalistic," he said, "hold Bible study on Monday night."
But in addition to Bible study, provide a room just for watching the game and sharing a meal, a room for those who want to learn about the stock market, another for those interested in physical development, and still another for former inmates having problems getting their record expunged and are in need of jobs.
Because one of every three African-American males is in the penal system, either in jail, state or federal pen or on probation, it's imperative for churches to have a prison ministry.
"Seventy percent of those are there because of drug possession," he said, "so what are you doing about drug addiction, which is wiping out black families."
To attract and keep youth, he suggested a "holy hip-hop" Saturday night lock-in to keep kids off the street and on the premises for church on Sunday morning.
Kunjufu said studies show that if a child gets saved, 4 percent of the family will follow. If a mother gets saved, 17 percent of the family will follow, but if a man gets saved, 93 percent of the family will follow.
"When you save a man, you save a family," Kunjufu said.
Smith said churches that emphasize self-help and personal economic development tend to draw and retain black men in greater numbers.
He said, however, middle-class messages about prosperity and working your way up the social ladder don't speak to young black males who've been socialized on street violence, on broken homes, drug culture and underground economies.
"What we have in the African-American community is at least two societies growing up side by side," said Smith.
One half is developing well, taking advantage of professional growth opportunities in faith organizations and half are growing up outside the influences of our church and community institutions.
When churches commit to reaching people where they are, Smith said, they will see progress.
He cautioned, however, that "progress should not be measured in Sunday attendance, but in relationships fostered and lives changed."
WHY ARE MANY BLACK MEN STAYING AWAY FROM THE CHURCH, AND WHAT WOULD BRING THEM BACK INTO THE FOLD?
Come Sunday, Marcus Austin will rise and, dressed in his Sunday best, head to the Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral near his home in Douglasville, GA. This has been his routine since moving here from Vacaville, Calif., a month ago. Not so long ago, though, the 23-year-old would've been curled up under the covers like so many other men. Or like the scene in the 1959 Norman Rockwell print, "Sunday Morning," slunk down in an easy chair reading the newspaper as the wife leads their children out the door.
"As long as I believed in God," he said, "I felt I didn't need to be there."
If you've ever wondered why so many men, and black men in particular, share that view, you're not alone. The question has been raised in countless studies and dissertations, newspaper columns, books and, yes, even art. Lucius Felder of Decatur, GA thinks he knows the answer.
"The church today, in my opinion, is not about helping black men," he said. "It's a moneymaking business."
Those who agree with him also argue that the "black church" is no longer relevant, that it offers "no discernible message for what ails the 21st-century black male soul." That perception, said the Rev. Fredrick Robinson, pastor of Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, is perhaps the biggest problem the church faces.
"You've heard the saying that the black man is in jail waiting for justice and the black woman is in church waiting for Jesus," he said. "Well, until the church projects the image of speaking truth to power, of being serious and aggressive about community uplift and economic empowerment, a lot of black men will remain uninterested."
But some who've studied the issue, who acknowledge that to a certain extent the men may have a point, say the problem isn't so much the church as it is man himself, which begs that age-old question God asked in the Garden of Eden:
"Adam, where are you?"
According to the Barna Research Group, a Christian research firm based in Ventura, Calif., more than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christian. But only two out of six attend church on any given Sunday.
"I've preached at megachurches that seat 8,000," said Jawanza Kunjufu, author of "Adam! Where Are You? Why Most Black Men Don't Go to Church" and the more recent "Developing Strong Black Male Ministries." "I'll ask the men to stand and 2,300 to 3,000 brothers stand up," Kunjufu said. "But if you ask the sisters to stand, now you're talking 4,500 and you can't even see the brothers anymore."
Robert Franklin, a professor of social ethics at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, said the relationship between men and the church "has been historically and is now a lovers' quarrel." But he said, "The problem isn't the church. The problem is with [man's] own spiritual journey and identity."
Institutional and personal
It's not exactly clear when the schism began. In that ancient garden? The migration to the inner city? Or in more recent years? What seems certain, however, is the impact of the mass migration of African-Americans to urban areas.
"In a more rural environment there was a closer percentage of men and women in church and more youth," Kunjufu said. "As more of us became urbanized, fewer men attended and mothers didn't require their sons to attend."
Five groups, Kunjufu said, generally have the greatest problem believing in Christianity and Jesus: those who are male, those who are educated, those who are young --- and Afrocentric, and those who are wealthy. "And don't let a brother have all five," he said.
More than two decades before Kunjufu posed the question, Franklin had written his senior thesis at Harvard University on why black men leave the church. The answers were both institutional and personal.
For instance, Franklin said, many men were turned off by the promotion of virtues like humility, sermons that advocated turning the other cheek rather than resistance, including, if necessary, violence. "Malcolm challenged Martin on this very issue," he said.
In addition, the men said the services were too long, that there was too much emphasis on money, and moral hypocrisy by church leaders. Many men, he said, also focused on their own moral failure.
"They didn't feel worthy to return to the church," he said. "But they still believed in God and were willing to return to a different kind of church."
Men at MegaFest
If men are absent from church, there was no shortage of them recently at T.D. Jakes' MegaFest conference held here last month.
Marcus Austin attended with a friend, Louida Martin. Darryl Groves of Orlando was there with his wife and youngest son. Fifty-four-year-old John Sheppard traveled there with a group from Baltimore, as did 64-year-old Francisco Raphael of San Antonio.
All of them said they attend church regularly. All of them had an answer when asked why women outnumber them on Sunday mornings. "They don't see the need for spirituality," said Groves, who has a Ph.D. in education. "They think if they get enough women, a little bit more money, if they play a little harder, it'll fill that empty place in their lives that only God can fill."
Groves said that many of those who attend the conference year after year are members of a church.
"Some come because their wives say, 'You're coming,' and when this is over," Groves said, "they go back to their community and don't do anything until the next conference."
But Groves, Sheppard and Raphael, who is a member of Cornerstone Church, a megachurch headed by John Hagee, all agreed the absence of men at church is hardly unique to the African-American community. "It's a universal issue," they said.
'A deep suspicion'
Submitting to a strong male moral authority figure was absolutely a deal breaker for Lucius Felder.
"The pastor asked me to submit to him," Felder said. "That means I give up who I am." Felder, 58, grew up in the church and has many family members still active in the church. "My oldest brother pastors a church in Kansas City," he said. "My stepfather was a pastor." And he himself played an active role, holding several leadership positions at his church, including chairman of the board of directors and as a member of the deacon board.
But by 1995, he'd grown discontented with how his church operated and perpetuated misconceptions about who Jesus Christ is, he said. He also found it difficult to reconcile Christianity with slavery and lynchings.
"Look at how many people we've killed in the name of Christianity but we call other people terrorists," he said. "What are we?"
Still Felder said God "is first and foremost in my life and I always give reverence to him."
Franklin said African-American men like Felder are keenly aware of the long history of neglect of certain issues, principally dealing with slavery, as well as outright manipulation and falsehoods propagated by churches.
"There is a deep suspicion implanted early on," Franklin said.
Said Robinson: "Black men detest phoniness. And nothing is more phony than the notion that race no longer matters in America. Too many Word preachers and nonpolitically inclined traditionalists believe because we are all saved we no longer see race."
Prison ministry essential
Reversing the exodus of men --- especially young men --- from Christianity will take a cultural shift on the part of church pastors, who can not only preach but put the Gospel to work solving the social problems plaguing their communities.
At Mount Gilead, Robinson said, men can participate in a variety of ministries that allow them the chance to discuss issues of importance to them, including drug outreach and mentoring youth. And plans are under way to begin a "speaker series" that will focus on such issues as joblessness, drugs and crime.
"You have to meet people where they are, on the street, in the public schools and the prisons," said R. Drew Smith, a scholar in residence at Morehouse College. "You can't carry on business as usual when we're dealing with unusual circumstances."
They might begin, Kunjufu suggested, with Monday night football.
"If you know that men are logical and visual, and we live in a country that is capitalistic," he said, "hold Bible study on Monday night."
But in addition to Bible study, provide a room just for watching the game and sharing a meal, a room for those who want to learn about the stock market, another for those interested in physical development, and still another for former inmates having problems getting their record expunged and are in need of jobs.
Because one of every three African-American males is in the penal system, either in jail, state or federal pen or on probation, it's imperative for churches to have a prison ministry.
"Seventy percent of those are there because of drug possession," he said, "so what are you doing about drug addiction, which is wiping out black families."
To attract and keep youth, he suggested a "holy hip-hop" Saturday night lock-in to keep kids off the street and on the premises for church on Sunday morning.
Kunjufu said studies show that if a child gets saved, 4 percent of the family will follow. If a mother gets saved, 17 percent of the family will follow, but if a man gets saved, 93 percent of the family will follow.
"When you save a man, you save a family," Kunjufu said.
Smith said churches that emphasize self-help and personal economic development tend to draw and retain black men in greater numbers.
He said, however, middle-class messages about prosperity and working your way up the social ladder don't speak to young black males who've been socialized on street violence, on broken homes, drug culture and underground economies.
"What we have in the African-American community is at least two societies growing up side by side," said Smith.
One half is developing well, taking advantage of professional growth opportunities in faith organizations and half are growing up outside the influences of our church and community institutions.
When churches commit to reaching people where they are, Smith said, they will see progress.
He cautioned, however, that "progress should not be measured in Sunday attendance, but in relationships fostered and lives changed."
posted by Daneger at 1:27 PM
5 Comments:
Wow! I'm shocked no one had anything to say about this one. Between the length and depth of the article surely someone walked away with an opinion.
Black men and church.....someone once told me women operate off emotion. Maybe that's why more women are in the church than men. Hearing the choir sing can stir an emoiton inside of you that is so overwhelming; the tactic a preacher uses to get his message across usually draws people in off of their own emotions and convictions. If a woman acts by her emotions than surely she will be more inclined to return to service every sunday for another "fix". Women were made to submit (yes this can be debated and I'm am fully prepared for it), so it's easy for them to walk into a church and fall right into the messages conveyed each week. Biblically yes, a woman should submit to her husband and her HUSBAND to the church but over time, the world designed the man to be dominant over all. Maybe because of this conditioned self-pride it is harder for a man (especially a black man) to walk into a building and have another man (and God forbid a woman sometimes) on stage telling you how you should be governing your life and you family.
I can probably continue a comment that could be just as long as this article but I need to do some work :-)
I just blogged about this myself. Truthfully, we fell into a pattern around our parents generation. Vietnam, drugs, and AIDS took away a lot of black men, so with so many single mothers, you had this entire generation of women and their children going to church by themselves. The young boys that came out of that home, never had a male going to church around them so then they too don't go. The church is to blame as well. Too many worldly things in the church. A lot of black men I know stopped going to church because they grew tired of the length, let's face it, a lot of church services are too long. They grew tired of the hypocrisy in the church. A lot of people claiming one thing and doing another. They also grew tired of all of the gay men in the church, which made them feel soft or less of a man as well. The church's significance has changed, it is a lot about money today and less about saving souls. Black women go to church because spirituality has always been the nucleus of who we are, a part of what makes us strong and dynamic. Great post!
I think one of the main reasons men aren't interested in the church is because the church has pandered to women. Even though the bible clearly states the male and female position in the home, most churches promote a co-headship where women are not encouraged to be "submissive" to their husbands. The male role is weakened to make the gospel more attractive to women who are more likely to financially support the church). This is why the church is seen as a place for women and weak males. Hence the abundance of women and gay men in the church. I know this is controversial but read the biblical roles for the family and then listen to any prominent preacher on the same subject.
Serving God has nothing to do with"emotionalism".serving God has to be a "Heart" condition,which means I will serve Him and do for others,regardless of my feelings.And in a Spirit-filled church,a gay person will not be comfortable,meaning that over time,they`ll see the truth that homosexuality is an abomination to God,just as lying,adultery,gossiping also,is an abomination.Its all SIN!!
While I am inclined to agree with most of you, I have to say that the this debate is about carnal issues (not that they are not relevant) but one thing we are forgetting is, the church is a place where imperfect people gather to worship a perfect God. Why is hypocrisy acceptable in the world but a reason not to go to church? The wheat and the tare will grow up together but in the end God will do the separating. Those that are looking for a perfect church, well it won't be perfect once they walk through the door. It just seem to me that a lot of excuses are being made and some are relevant and some is just plain lame. It would just be better to say, I am not interested in church or the Jesus that is preached in the church.
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