Is the Black Church an Outdated Relic from the Past?

Dr. King and Christian Churches in the South Helped Fight Jim Crow Segregation

A lot of people have never studied the history of the Black Church. They listen to a few Afrocentric scholars who castigate the Church and the image of a white Jesus, and think they know all about it.

They never study how our early churches reinterpreted the Bible to be a book inspiring their struggle for equality, liberation, and freedom. In fact I had to do years of my own study and go to seminary and study with progressive Black theologians to learn about the progressive wing of Black Christianity.

Churches and Black preachers were in insurrections, revolts, advocated leaving mainstream churches, were involved in escapes from slavery and the Underground Railroad, compelled Blacks to fight in the Union Army, started our 1st independent schools, insurance companies, businesses, colleges etc.

Harriet Tubman a Devote Christian Helped Free Slaves in the Underground Railroad

This is sad because the Church is one of the few organizations we run that has a cash flow model that works well. Unfortunately too many of our people see the materialistic focused TV ministry of today and think this is the totality of our churches civic practice. But this isn't true for all churches.

Or they see the social escapism or apathy from politics by some of our more recent denominations like the Pentecostal/Holiness churches which wait for the 2nd coming of Jesus and think this sums up the Black church. It does not. There are still very progressive community focused churches today.

For example a number of Black churches in NYC own commercial real estate. Actually some Black churches in NYC own hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial real estate. There's one that owns 1 billion dollars worth of real estate in Harlem and a lot of mainstream corps pay them rent. They also started 1st home buyers housing developments so Blacks could own their 1st homes and not pay rent. They also started senior living houses, housing for battered women, anti-gang activities, homeless shelters, independent schools, and business startup support groups. While some Blacks feel Christianity is a "white man's religion," many of the black churches in the NYC area don't have imagines of white Jesus' either.
Also Remember the 1st Christian Churches or oldest denominations are in Northern Africa know as Coptic Christians. Also Black Jews known today as Falashas have the oldest versions of the Old Testament books. I don't know about other areas of the country but in NYC and NJ their are churches that do a lot of economic and business development. For instance Abyssinian Baptist Church has 1 billion dollars of commercial real estate. There are a lot of other churches like Allen Cathedral and Christ Church that do similar things with hundreds of millions of dollars.

Black Churches like Allen Cathedral in Queens Build Housing for Seniors

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