DEFINITION DEFYING
In his recently published book, Look What The Lord Has Done, Mark Sturge the former Director of the African Caribbean Evangelical Alliance begs the question, “What on Earth is a Black Majority Church?” He classifies these new worship forms into five broad groups.
- Churches from the African Caribbean Diaspora
- Churches from the African Diaspora
- Black Churches within historic denominations
- Black Churches within white (Pentecostal) denominations
- African and Caribbean spiritual Churches
“I just don’t like the terminology Black Majority Church!” vented Bishop Joe Aldred, Secretary of Minority Ethnic Affairs, Birmingham. “And... and I would like to go on record stating that certain myths need to be laid to rest! Many if not most of these ethnic Churches were not birthed out of segregation, marginalisation or discrimination. Yes, we will not discount totally some of these factors but the major Caribbean denominations evolved out of Denominational expansion and missionary zeal. A lot of these Churches like the Church of God in Christ emerged out of house fellowships around 1951. They blossomed as out growths of established Churches in the Caribbean and merely continued their faith, liturgy and worship as practised back home”.
Broadly speaking, a Black Church would either be predominantly Caribbean or African or perhaps an intricate combination of both, sprinkled with other nationalities. Definitions can be tricky though, because my good friend Canon John Williams, the English vicar of St. Saviours in East London, has an interesting mix of Caribbean, African and indigenous white Anglicans. Many of his members are black, but he does not consider his congregation to be a Black Majority Church. Meanwhile Rev. Tade Agbesanwa, an ordained Baptist minister is the Black leader of the Custom House Baptist Church. When he joined 14years ago, the church was white majority now it is black majority. Rev Roger Grassham is an ordained English minister with the Elim Pentecostal denomination. His congregation has about 45% black members. He attributes his multicultural Christian community to the values, ethos and style of the River Church, which was birthed out of a merge between two white charismatic congregations. These include a focus on prayer, having a vibrant contemporary worship style, variety of services, strong pastoral ministry and a welcoming attitude.
You therefore cannot place a fixed tag on what Black Church stands for. Sometimes it all boils down to what the particular church calls itself.
MORE THAN NUMBERS
Many of the African-Caribbean Churches like the Church of God of Prophecy, New Testament Church of God, New Testament Assembly, and the Wesleyan Holiness Church began to emerge in the UK in the early 1950s. The African Churches however started in the 1970s with the main surge coming in the ‘90’s. Early fellowships were the New Covenant Church, and the Four Square Church denominations. The more recent ones include the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Calvary Charismatic Baptist, Glory House, and Kingsway International Christian Centre among many others.
Many urban Black Churches have over 1,000 members, while KICC, Jesus House, Ruach Ministries, Glory House, New Wine, Calvary Baptist and others have more - from 2,000 and 10,000 members. Even though my emphasis is not on numbers these figures are an indication of the impact and reach of these inner-city Churches.
