When I first got saved, I was going to an all white church congregation...and I was the only black person in the church. This did not bother me, because I was the only black person in a lot of things coming up...in school, in particular.
I was a nerd, so I didn't study with many black kids...because most black kids from New Orleans didn't want to be 'nerds,' per se, so they didn't let on they were smart. Instead they tried to push that thug/gangster/I'm hood persona for their classmates...even the GIRLS!
I was always a loner, so being different didn't bother me. I never got into cliques and clubs and the such. Just school, church and home.
Church was all black, by default, since my it was my dad's uncles' church....
But I became culturally sensitive, if you will, in school.
So it didn't bother me when I started going to church and I was the only black person, when David Duke was running for governor of Louisiana in the 1980s and 1990s. I was admittedly a little scared...but I pressed on anyhow!
Because I just KNEW I was in the will of God!
So because I was wet behind the ears, and was searching for a real encounter with God and the black church had failed me in that area...so I went on my search to the other side ...to .....
THE WHITE CHURCH!
I think if every black believer is honest with themselves, we have all gotten a little tired of the shenanigans that we saw go on in the black church...so we went on our search for 'the perfect church.'
We know that the white church has their 'strong ' points...those of us who went on our search for 'the' church.
White people seemed so genuine with their worship. It wasn't all for show or a talent show or a competition of who can outpreach or outsing who.
That got real old in 'our' churches...
So we thought, 'The grass will definitely be greener on the other side...'
NOT!
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I used to go to an all white congregation...
And I found that white churches had their 'issues,' too.
True, they don't have the same issues that black churches do...but TRUST...they gots their issues, too!
Its gonna sound racist what I'm about to post, but I have to tell the truth.
White congregants are looking for black folks to entertain them....preach them happy, sing them happy, show me how to shout happy, to relieve them from all the very real pressures they got going on right now...
I used to go to a church where leadership was predominantly white...and they held a conference...it was called the 'Black Evangelism Conference.'
It sounded innocent enough, right?
I mean, after all, here was this holier than thou church/denomination who was realizing that there was actually black folks on the outskirts of their perimeters...and was making attempts to reach out to them....
But the only problem I began to see with that is the very fact they had to 'make attempts' to begin with....
You see, the problem with what passes for evangelism is that people who do evangelism have the wrong focus.
They focus on what THEY believe will appeal to the 'market' they are trying to evangelize, instead of trusting that the Holy Ghost can reach beyond ALL racial and economic barriers and SAVE the Lost.
Not our clever, manipulative efforts at getting folks to 'come to church.'
The worse thing you can do is make folks come to your church!
And what I found is that most (white) congregants seek out black preachers and singers to their churches in efforts to draw more black people to their churches, all in efforts to prove to the world that they are culturally diverse, an example of the church in the Book of Acts....of all different races and ethnicities.
I want to divert your attention back to church history...the fact of the matter is that racism began in the institutional church. Separatism in the church has always been a reality ... and the whole division that took place after Azusa Street was all racially motivated.
Plainly put...white folks could not (or would not) have church with black folks - we all know about Jim Crow laws...and we all know the story of William Seymour - the alleged 'Father of Pentecostalism' - how he was locked out of the class/bible study when mentor Charles Parham was trying to learn about the coveted 'Baptism of the Holy Ghost.'
(I write about that and a WHOLE lot more in my eBook, The Fruits of Azusa),
The whole problem with this is the problem with the organized church system as a whole: the very fact that it is INSTITUTIONALIZED.
ANYTHING that is INSTITUTIONALIZED can be MANIPULATED and CONTROLLED.
And when you got that ol' plantational structure going in the church - white man in charge, black man doing all the work - there are BOUND to be some racial discrimination going on.
It is often said that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week...that is not something of OUR doing. That was started with Jim Crow laws. With slavery. With the institutionalization of religion.
With Charles Parham locking William Seymour out the prayer meeting...
The entire Azusa movement began, was birthed in division...is it any wonder to THIS DAY, the tens of 1000s of churches birthed out of Azusa are seeped in it?
Oh no, my writing about it, bringing attention to it, is NOT racist. It is factual. I did my research. I studied church history. And my history.
I'm just bold enough to write on it....you know, the stuff y'all shout and preach over every week in church!
Yes, there is trouble on the horizon in the so-called 'white church' as well.
And they will hire any black person who is willing to entertain them, to make them feel like they are 'having church.'
They will allow a black man to preach or a black woman to sing them happy, to sing them out of the misery that has been handed down to them from their forefathers....
All because they won't repent.
Yes, even though YOU didn't own slaves, YOU didn't kill our men and rape our women, YOU didn't lock folks out your churches, YOU didn't discriminate against blacks in leadership on ANY level, YOU didn't oppress generations of black people for your own economic and political empowerment...
Your forefathers did!
And God is calling for repentance for the sins of the fathers....
And repentance is NOT just holding Black Evangelism conferences, or allowing black folks to come to your churches to entertain you.
Repentance is not just you electing a black man into office or placating millions of people with substandard social service programs that strangle more than they empower....
NO.
Repentance is being sorry for what was done, AND vowing to change mindsets, behaviors, prejudices, secret thoughts, fears, etc. that you STILL hold on to...
And the reason why I know you do is because of what you ALLOW to happen...
In your churches. In Washington, D.C. In your courtrooms. On the police force. In City Hall.
The day of the Ni_ _ _ _ singing and dancing you happy are LONG over.
It's REPENTANCE TIME!
FOR REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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