The pastor will say God is good
and the congregation will say all the time,
and then they say all the time God is good.
Well, that is the type of
interaction you hear in a church
between a pastor and congregation
that is predominantly black.
It happens in churches
across the country today. But
understanding how this and other
traditions began takes us back to
slavery and African traditions in the
US so a University of Toledo Professor
says you can't understand the black
community without understanding.
The black church.
Historically, the institution
provided a place to gather and
feel safe from discrimination
and other injustices.
But as times change,
we take a look at the relevance
of the Black Church today.
Put your hands together
in churches across the country
and right here in Toledo, a joyful
noise can be heard on Sundays.
Worshipping and song and coming
together to give thanks,
Warren African Methodist Episcopal
Church in Toledo is no exception.
Currently located on Collingwood Blvd.
near Indiana Ave. Reverend Dr.
Otis Gordon Junior is the senior
pastor to the God Jehovah.
They just one leader among
generations of pastors sharing
the gospel to this congregation
back in 1847. What they literally
did was they wanted. A school.
And so this began as a school and then,
gradually, a place of worship
and the 1st place of worship.
This historical marker sits on Summit
Street near Adams in downtown Toledo.
It outlines the humble but
mighty beginnings of Warren AME.
Not only Toledo's first black church,
but the city's first black institution.
African Americans on the
when they worked in society.
There were no one.
They were second class citizens.
But when they came into the church,
they could be the preacher,
they could be officers.
They were respected and revered.
This was a fairly large
church, Reverend Gordon says.
The history of Warren AME
is very long and storied.
So is the institution of the
Black Church as a whole, he
says to them. Have you not known
the majority of African Americans even
today in 2023 practice Christianity?
Angela M Steiner is the director of Africana
Studies at the University of Toledo.
She explains how the origins of today's
Black Church date back to slavery in the US.
They saw Jesus as an activist.
Jesus was on the side of the oppressed
and not on the side of the oppressor,
late at night, deep in the woods
during the period of enslavement.
They would hold these meetings called
Hush Harbor or Brush Harbor meetings,
and in which they made
Christianity speak to their needs.
And they created what I call a black
theology, that God was a personal God.
You know, if God could save mishak,
Shadrack and a bad ***** I mean a Bendigo,
why couldn't he save me? Right?
The fight for Freedom and Justice
started from the very beginning
and lives on to this day.
On Sunday mornings, it's not uncommon
for African Americans to sit in
church and hear about issues that
are confronting the black community.
That has the last word.
According to a Pew Research study
released in twenty 2166% of
black Americans are Protestant,
6% are Catholic, 3% identify
with other Christian faiths,
and another 3% belong to
non Christian faiths.
But one in five black Americans,
about 21%,
are not affiliated with any religion.
Think about in the 21st century,
what the church has meant to the
community in the 19th century,
beginning during period of enslavement.
Into the 19th and the 20th
century and we come to
the 21st century, we have 21%
that say they are unaffiliated.
That that's that's startling
for the black community.
Despite the fact that we
might think that the black
churches is irrelevant today,
it is still relevant because
individuals still attend.
We we African Americans have the
highest attendance rate by bar
none for attending church, and
so the church is still speaking
to the needs of the people.
31 the truth of the matter is
that the church will never die.
It will. Throughout the
larger history of the church,
it has been, it has ebbed and wept.
So we are in one of those times.
The church is in the process of changing.
I think that once the church becomes
more relevant to people in terms
of meeting them where they are,
with the message of Christ,
then we'll be more successful.