"The Black Church," a brief history
November 1
"The Black Church," a brief history.
*This dates Registry from 1758, briefly writes about the history of the Black Church in America. This institution which was the first source of land ownership for slaves in America (with the human character of black people) is viewed as the reason and savior of oppressed African people in the United States.
During the decades of slavery in America, slave associations were a constant source of concern to slave owners. For many members of white society, Black religious meetings symbolized the ultimate threat to white existence. Nevertheless, African slaves established and relied heavily on their churches. Religion offered a means of catharsis... Africans retained their faith in God and found refuge in their churches. However, white society was not always willing to accept the involvement of slaves in Christianity. As one slave recounted "the white folks would come in when the colored people would have prayer meeting, and whip every one of them. Most of them thought that when colored people were praying it was against them”...
In essence, the term "the Black Church" is a misnomer. It implies that all Black churches share or have shared the same aspirations and strategies for creating cohesive African-American communities. This is not true, and there were numerous differences found among Black communities which were reflected within their community churches. Black communities differed from region to region. They were divided along social lines, composed of persons from different economic levels, and maintained varying political philosophies. Black communities in the inner cities of the United States have traditionally differed from those in rural areas, etc. In The Negro Church in America, the sociologist E. Franklin Frazier noted, "Methodist and Baptist denominations were separate church organizations based upon distinctions of color and what were considered standards of civilized behavior...
Services:
With the division of congregations came the development of a distinct religious observance combining elements of African ritual, slave emotionalism, southern suffering, and individual eloquence. Working-class Baptist and Methodist church services fused African and European forms of religious expression to produce a unique version of worship that reflected the anguish, pain, and occasional elation of nineteenth-century black life in the United States. Such services usually involved a devotional prayer provided by a leading member of the church, singing by the congregation and choir, and the minister's sermon. The prayer would request a powerful God to ease the earthly burden of the congregation and would be enhanced by the congregation's response, an expression of agreement with the words "Yes, Lord," "Have mercy, Lord," and "Amen."
After the prayer the congregation typically showed their devotion through song. Even if a formal choir existed, all the members of the congregation would be expected to participate. Occasionally an individual member outside the choir would stand up and lead the house in song. By the turn of the century, most southern black church choirs had assumed the responsibility for presenting the hymns, but the "call and response" tradition continues today.
The third element in a classic black service was the minister's sermon. Building on the long tradition of slave preachers and "exhorters," many ministers employed all the drama and poetry at their command, injecting vivid imagery and analogy into their biblical accounts conveying understanding of the rewards of righteousness and the wages of sin. Not every minister was capable of eliciting such a response. But those ministers who did avoid "emotion without substance" and stirred their congregations to strive for a more profound faith and more righteous way of living in a world of adversity provided spiritual guidance for a people whose faith and capacity for forgiveness was tested daily. For these people the black church was indeed "a rock in a weary land.
Nineteenth-century black churches ministered to the needs of the soul and served a host of secular functions, which placed them squarely in the center of black social life...
http://www.aaregistry.com/detail.php?id=29...
"The Black Church," a brief history.
*This dates Registry from 1758, briefly writes about the history of the Black Church in America. This institution which was the first source of land ownership for slaves in America (with the human character of black people) is viewed as the reason and savior of oppressed African people in the United States.
During the decades of slavery in America, slave associations were a constant source of concern to slave owners. For many members of white society, Black religious meetings symbolized the ultimate threat to white existence. Nevertheless, African slaves established and relied heavily on their churches. Religion offered a means of catharsis... Africans retained their faith in God and found refuge in their churches. However, white society was not always willing to accept the involvement of slaves in Christianity. As one slave recounted "the white folks would come in when the colored people would have prayer meeting, and whip every one of them. Most of them thought that when colored people were praying it was against them”...
In essence, the term "the Black Church" is a misnomer. It implies that all Black churches share or have shared the same aspirations and strategies for creating cohesive African-American communities. This is not true, and there were numerous differences found among Black communities which were reflected within their community churches. Black communities differed from region to region. They were divided along social lines, composed of persons from different economic levels, and maintained varying political philosophies. Black communities in the inner cities of the United States have traditionally differed from those in rural areas, etc. In The Negro Church in America, the sociologist E. Franklin Frazier noted, "Methodist and Baptist denominations were separate church organizations based upon distinctions of color and what were considered standards of civilized behavior...
Services:
With the division of congregations came the development of a distinct religious observance combining elements of African ritual, slave emotionalism, southern suffering, and individual eloquence. Working-class Baptist and Methodist church services fused African and European forms of religious expression to produce a unique version of worship that reflected the anguish, pain, and occasional elation of nineteenth-century black life in the United States. Such services usually involved a devotional prayer provided by a leading member of the church, singing by the congregation and choir, and the minister's sermon. The prayer would request a powerful God to ease the earthly burden of the congregation and would be enhanced by the congregation's response, an expression of agreement with the words "Yes, Lord," "Have mercy, Lord," and "Amen."
After the prayer the congregation typically showed their devotion through song. Even if a formal choir existed, all the members of the congregation would be expected to participate. Occasionally an individual member outside the choir would stand up and lead the house in song. By the turn of the century, most southern black church choirs had assumed the responsibility for presenting the hymns, but the "call and response" tradition continues today.
The third element in a classic black service was the minister's sermon. Building on the long tradition of slave preachers and "exhorters," many ministers employed all the drama and poetry at their command, injecting vivid imagery and analogy into their biblical accounts conveying understanding of the rewards of righteousness and the wages of sin. Not every minister was capable of eliciting such a response. But those ministers who did avoid "emotion without substance" and stirred their congregations to strive for a more profound faith and more righteous way of living in a world of adversity provided spiritual guidance for a people whose faith and capacity for forgiveness was tested daily. For these people the black church was indeed "a rock in a weary land.
Nineteenth-century black churches ministered to the needs of the soul and served a host of secular functions, which placed them squarely in the center of black social life...
http://www.aaregistry.com/detail.php?id=29...
Yes, thank you sister Jen. Interesting to me especially was where the National Baptist Convention, USA fits in as that is the affiliation of my church.