“Giving honor to GOD who is the head of my life….”, now if you can finish this statement that means you were raised in a black church. This stanza is the initiation statement into the rest of our religious life. I think that many blacks can attest to the fact that the church was the pillar of the black community, the mainstay of the black family. But lately the church has dwindled both in attendance number and on principles.
“There is no connection between the church and the home”, says Rev. Joe L. Spencer, “the church has begun to compromise [beliefs] to attract members.” Reverend Joe L. Spencer is the pastor of Union Valley Missionary Baptist Church and New Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Bastrop
This is a growing problem but also, in my opinion, expected. Many “liberal” Christians believe that the old time religion beliefs are outdated and therefore can not apply to our day and time as they once did. The beliefs that were once held as “gospel” are now being tested everyday.
An issue that is a hot bed in our community is homosexuality. In our day and age, homosexuality is not as taboo as it once was, and because of this, there are many blacks that are beginning to “come out”, and the church is having to switch around its whole theology to accommodate these members so as not to lose them. “[We are] at a point where you can’t tell the difference between church and the real world.” says Rev. Spencer.
There are some who believe that many of the problems in the black community such as drugs and prison time is because of the church not being the center of the home anymore.
It is made apparent when you look in to any church congregations. There seems to be a shortage of families that are worshipping together. “A family that prays together, stays together,” I think does not carry the weight that it used.
Church goers say that the black church at this point is about as low as it can go, so there is no other way to go but up. In some respects, I agree with some of the views of many Black Baptist teenagers. On the other hand I understand that times have changed and we as people must change with them.