Traditional Black Church

1715 Words7 Pages
Today's main concerns in lower class black communities are not being addressed, and in result growing numbers of African Americans are pursuing for theological answers toward their circumstances. The black church is strategically placed to meet this challenge. While the traditional church has played a significant part in the black experience, it is not equipped for the change within these communities in the present day like. Traditional churches are unable to connect with those minorities who are seeking answers to their questions because they feel as if the church won’t understand their perspective. Dealing with these concerns required a type of the church that is equipped with theology that is biblical, intellectual and applied to addressing…show more content…
It has proven itself as the greatest source for African American religious enhancement and nonspiritual development. This development is personified in Christianity, and the term, "the Black Church” offers many specifics of racial and religious standards of living that are distinctive to Black history. The term "the Black Church" is a loose term. Most seem to make it imply that all Black churches share or have shared similar goals and strategies for constructing unified African-American communities. There are an abundant of differences found among Black communities which are mirrored within their community churches. Black communities differ from regions across the country, they are divided along social lines within their areas, consist of people from various economic levels, and uphold varying political philosophies. Organized politically and spiritually, black churches were supposed present the teachings of Christianity while simultaneously address the particular issues that occurred outside of the church which affected their members. For a lot of African-American Christians despite their differences, Black Churches have always took self-importance in representing their religion, communities, and homes. Scholars have frequently emphasized that Black history and Black church history correspond enough to be practically identical. One of the earliest known Black churches in…show more content…
1808 celebrated the creation of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City. Black Americans, along with a group of Ethiopian merchants, were disinclined to accept racially separated seating for the First Baptist Church of New York City. They established themselves in a building calling it the Abyssinian Baptist Church. The name was inspired by a nation from which the merchants of Ethiopia had come from, Abyssinia. Other new churches would also emerge because of the strong missionary activities of black ministers. Reverend Alexander Bettis, a former South Carolina slave, started over forty Baptist churches alone between 1865 and his death in 1895. In 1886, blacks organized the National Baptist Convention in an attempt to diminish the impact of white national figures among black communities. As Baptist churches grew, they met often in regional conventions that would eventually evolve into national organizations. The African Methodist Episcopal Church arose as the second largest, post-Civil War black denomination. Similar growth in other states in the south gave the AME Church a national membership by 1880. Other denominations also completed the variety of black church institutions in the South and it included The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion
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