Trends in Black-White Church Integration

Historically, the separation of blacks and whites in churches was well known (Gilbreath 1995; Schaefer 2005). Even in 1968, about four years after the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. still said that eleven o\u27clock on Sunday is the most segregated hour of the week (Gilbreath 1995:1). His reference was to the entrenched practice of black and white Americans who worshiped separately in segregated congregations even though as Christians, their faith was supposed to bring them together to love each other as brothers and sisters. King\u27s statement was not just a casual observation. One of the few places that civil rights workers failed to integrate was churches. Black ministers and their allies were at the forefront of the church integration movement, but their stiffest opposition often came from white ministers. The irony is that belonging to the same denomination could not prevent the racial separation of their congregations. In 1964, when a group of black women civil rights activists went to a white church in St. Augustine, Florida to attend a Sunday service, the women were met by a phalanx of white people with their arms linked to keep the activists out (Bryce 2004). King\u27s classic Letter from a Birmingham Jail was a response to white ministers who criticized him and the civil rights movement after a major civil rights demonstration (King [2002])

The 1930s origins of California's Farmworker-Church alliance

In the 1930s, Social Gospel ministers in the Los Angeles area organized to help farmworkers in Southern California. The reformist pastors worked across class, denominational, and racial lines and transcended language barriers as they built urban, coastal support for immigrant farmworkers in interior valleys. In the end, they failed, largely because employers were able to use the Communist affiliations of the farmworker union leaders to Red-bait and intimidate the ministers. Only when a later generation of labor leaders distanced their movement from Communism and grounded it in Christian rhetoric and imagery would this religious-labor alliance achieve victory

Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 1, no. 5

A publication of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography with U.S. offices located at the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University. This issue focuses on: 1. William Wadé Harris, Prophet-Evangelist of West Africa: His Life, Message, Praxis, Heritage, and Legacy. 2. William Wadé Harris. 3. Recent Print and Digital Resources Related to Christianity in Africa

But we had hoped ... : The Road We\u27ve Traveled; the Road that Lies Ahead

(Excerpt) It is a privilege to be here with you at this annual gathering to explore matters of consequence affecting our churches at the beginning of this new millennium. I feel honored to be invited into the ongoing conversation of the Institute of Liturgical Studies. I\u27ve had opportunities to cross paths with many in this Lutheran family through associations at the Liturgical Conference, the North American Academy of Liturgy, and Notre Dame, and all have been positive and enriching experiences. My contacts have served to deepen my appreciation of the strong commitment of the Lutheran churches to promoting life-giving worship within congregations. I am inspired by the desire for unity that runs deep in the Lutheran soul

Organizational readiness for wellness promotion - a survey of 100 African American church leaders in South Los Angeles.

BackgroundChurches are an important asset and a trusted resource in the African American community. We needed a better understanding of their readiness to engage in health promotion before launching a large-scale health promotion effort in partnership with South Los Angeles churches.MethodsIn 2017, we conducted surveys with leaders of 100 churches. Surveys were conducted face-to-face (32%) or by telephone (68%) with senior pastors (one per church) and lasted on average 48 min. We compared small (less than 50 active members), medium (50-99 active members) and large churches (at least 100 active members), and assessed which church characteristics were associated with the implementation of wellness activities.ResultsMedium and large churches conducted significantly more wellness activities than small churches and were more likely to have wellness champions and health policies. Regardless of church size, insufficient budget was the most commonly cited barrier to implement wellness activities (85%). A substantial proportion of churches was not sure how to implement wellness activities (61%) and lacked volunteers (58%). Forty-five percent of the variation in the number of wellness activities in the last 12 months was explained by church characteristics, such as size of congregation, number of paid staff, leadership engagement, having a wellness ministry and barriers.ConclusionsMany churches in South Los Angeles are actively engaged in health promotion activities, despite a general lack of resources. We recommend a comprehensive assessment of church characteristics in intervention studies to enable the use of strategies (e.g., stratification by size) that reduce imbalances that could mask or magnify study outcomes. Our data provide empirical support for the inner settings construct of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research in the context of health promotion in African American churches

Lilly Endowment, Inc. - 2008 Annual Report

Contains board chair and president's message; program information; education and religion grantee profiles; grants list; grant guidelines; financial statements; and lists of board members and officers

The Shifting Ecumenical Landscape at the 2017 Reformation Centenary

The 2017 Reformation Centenary is the first commemoration to take place during the ecumenical age and marks fifty years of Lutheran–Roman Catholic dialogue. The current ecumenical landscape is a tale of two cities, one of ecclesial fragmentation that exists simultaneously with new relationships of communion and ecumenical progress. The way forward requires the discernment of deeper commonalities among ecclesial tradition, a correlation of doctrines, a “pastoral ecumenism,” and a hierarchy of virtues in addition to a hierarchy of truths

Church Buildings Enter the Urban Age: a Louisiana Example of the Church in Settlement Geography (1885-1930).

The type of church building being erected today is quite different from the traditional white steepled church on the village green. Church buildings and their location in the community have gradually changed as American religion has become more complex. the changes in religion reflect the dramatic transformation of American society from a rural to an urban culture. This process began after the Civil War, but it was not widely acknowledged until the last decades of the nineteenth century. The transformation was not limited to the large urban centers, but can be seen in towns and villages across the nation. Various characteristics of urban places influence church development and location. Community size, type, vitality, and in Louisiana, dominant creed, play a role in the location and size of church buildings. Community size and vitality also influence the acceptance of new ideas and styles by the congregations. Besides community influences, a variety of other factors affect the type of church building that a congregation erects, these include the following: economic means, current theological or denominational trends, available materials, current technology, cultural and physical environments, access routes, lot size and location, and period of construction. Because each church is a group effort, it is a good indicator of the group\u27s ideal image. This image changes as new ideas are added to the ideal model of what a church building should look like and the functions it is to serve. During the early years of the study period, rectangular buildings with entranceways and projecting chancels were the most popular type of church. Towards the end of the study period, the ideal image began to change as the function of the church changed to include organizations for every age group and interest. The buildings reflected this with the addition of educational and recreational facilities. Denomination and race also influenced the erection of church structures, but these factors were often found not to be as great as has been traditionally supposed. Throughout Louisiana, and across the country, the church was entering the urban age

Bostonia: The Boston University Alumni Magazine. Volume 9

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs