The African American Church

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I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God. —Romans 12:1-2

The Essential PraiseNet

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A collection of columns and essays spanning the decade of this online ministry covering a wide range of issues and topics. If you're new to this site, browse this archive of some of our most significant posts about issues of concern confronting the African American church and the community beyond.

What IS “The Black Church”?

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I’ve been asked this, usually in anger, many times. “When you say, ‘The Black Church,’ what does that mean? What statistics are you using? What guidelines compiled this data? I read what you write and say to myself, ‘That’s not our church, that’s not what we do.’ The so-called ‘Black Church’ is as diverse as any other. How can you paint them all with the same brush?” This is valid point and one worthy of discussion. It never occurred to me that churches who do conduct themselves prayerfully and earnestly along biblical guidelines would assume I am talking to or about them. If we had a half million dollars to spend on it, we could conduct an in-depth historical and contemporary demographic study of the black church and, half a million dollars later, arrive at conclusions most of us already intrinsically understand. There are, of course, exceptions, and I agree it is inaccurate (if not specifically wrong) to use the blanket term, “The Black Church” as a catchall phrase, but I think grinding away at the term is mostly about splitting hairs.

At the end of the day, I believe when I say, “The Black Church,” there are images and sounds that come to mind. It is a known and shared experience, and it is my personal experience to which I am referring. READ MORE

Making The Connection

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What the Black Church does well is pageantry. They put on a good show. What they do worst is connect people to Jesus. In 50 years in the Black Church, no one has ever asked me if I knew Jesus. They ask me what church I go to. The church connects people to each other and to itself. But, sooner or later, many move on because there’s no anchor to God. God is often a guest in His own House while we celebrate endlessly and work tirelessly for the next big show: Usher’s Annual Day, Pastor’s Anniversary. There is a rich social contract within these organizations. Leaving feels like a divorce: it’s painful and destroys trust. But, sooner or later, amid all the noise and warm embraces, we find unanswered questions forming the water’s edge between religion and relationship. We begin to mistake our relationship with the church or pastor with a relationship with God. Most of us, myself included, have simply not been taught very well. The dreary task of educating people about the basics of doctrine and the nature of God is often colorless, thankless work performed perfunctorily by willing works who are nonetheless reading from a pamphlet rather than illustrating from experience. We slog through it over six miserable weeks, and now back to our show.

Much of what is posted on this site angers and offends African American churchgoers, who nevertheless come back here, week after week, to get even further incensed at my irreverence and lack of deference to their particular franchise or whatever pastor they think is holy. Just like the last pastor they thought was holy, and the pastor before that. We are living in times where a show is simply not good enough. The drift away from the church is because the church is designed to support a relationship that has not developed—the connection between you and God.


This is why this site exists. Not to demagogue or tear down the African American Church, which we love as much as anyone else, but to help make that connection. To get out of the way. To provide resources, within that space, that quiet time when you’re not running yourself ragged for this auxiliary or the next, to provide context and perspective on important questions and to make a rational case for faith in Jesus Christ.

Thank you—even those of you who are offended or enraged—for visiting with us.   READ MORE

Special Editions

PraiseNet Essentials

The Best of PraiseNet.Org

PraiseNet 101: Getting Started With Jesus

The Basics on Spirituality, The Bible, and Building Your Relationship With God

PraiseNet Essentials: The Black Church

An Outsider's Guide To The African American Legacy

PraiseNet Essentials 2011

PraiseNet Essentials 2010

PraiseNet Essentials 2009

PraiseNet Essentials 2008

PraiseNet Essentials 2007

PraiseNet Essentials 2006

PraiseNet At 200: Our First Five Years

PraiseNet Essentials For Sisters

PraiseNet Resurrection Essentials

PraiseNet Music Essentials

PraiseNet LGBT Essentials: Gays & God

PraiseNet Political Essentials

Hope: The 2008 Election

The Bush Legacy

Sex & The Single Christian

The Glass House:
10 Reasons The Church Isn't Growing