Yesterday’s reporting of the Gospel of Judas sparked some debate amongst me and my friends. One of the topics we touched on was what message many of these successful, as of late, televangelists convey to their congregations. There seems to be a noticeable trend to preach about wealth and prosperity as opposed to social action and civil rights. I’m sure you can name a few of these ministers yourself.
Now I must state here that I had an aversion to televangelists. Then I thought about it and realized that I grew up with my mom in the kitchen listening to a minister on the radio as she was making Sunday breakfast while another was on TV. So I was not unfamiliar with them. What I figured out was that it was the message these new ministers have that wasn’t ringing familiar to my ear. I recalled that the sermons heard over the airwaves growing up where basically on the teachings of the bible, the “beatitudes,” and such, and not so much on investing and financial well being. I’m not saying this message is all together bad. I want to point out a paradigm shift in the Black Church.
Lately, I’ve heard stories of people not being comfortable going to churches where the minister talks about politics or the war. They want to hear the Gospel and something to make themselves feel good. This is understandable. It’s hard out there for many of us and we need something to lift us up on Sunday. So we look to the Church for that. And if the Minister is also talking about the benefits of wise investment, then that’s icing on the cake.
However, how ironic is it that just a generation ago, African-Americans went to church to hear about politics and to organize their political views and political action? At the least, the vast majority were not averse to hearing about it. In fact, the Black Church talked about the social evils in America going back to before the Civil War. But presently, it’s hard to find a minister who has a televised audience speaking out against inhumane treatment, the war, immigration reform (except for the Catholic Church in this instance), or the failing morals of some of our national leaders. This was touched on in Justin’s post a few days ago about the silence of old Civil Rights leaders. Their style of message giving is not en vogue. Ministers during the Civil Rights era taught that living a proper Christian life lead away from such social evils and used the Bible as a way of teaching that lesson.
So why does it seem that these churches with large congregations, local and televised, seem to dodge social injustice? Is it only the small churches that are not afraid to address it because they have less to lose? Does the message shift of the large churches mean we don’t have to worry about the social evils in America, or the world, anymore? It has always been the church who has cared most about the oppressed, the discriminated against, and “the least of these.” And it has been the congregation that has gone on to be tools of the church in rectifying these problems. But what happens to The State Of . . . The Black Church when it no longer does that? What happens toe The State Of . . . Us?
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