THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 10, 1994 TAG: 9406100729
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLISE LYLES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940610 LENGTH: HAMPTON
``We must go back to authentic worship to reach the souls and spirits of our people,'' said Evelyn Clarke of Beulah Baptist Church in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., as she stood outside the Hampton University Convocation Center where hundreds of ministers gathered this week. ``We've got to have the spirit base first.''
{REST} Her husband, the Rev. G. Modele Clarke, shook his head in vehement disagreement. ``The role of the black church has always been social, political and spiritual,'' he said emphatically.
Under a blazing Thursday afternoon sun, the Clarkes and two fellow church members huddled in passionate debate over the main mission of the African-American church at a time when blacks face an avalanche of social ills from teen pregnancy to substance abuse and epidemic homicide rates.
At the university's 80th Black Ministers' Conference, prayers were offered, gospel choirs sang. Officials spoke, including Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry G. Cisneros, who said only the black church can heal the spirit of the inner city.
And fiery sermons were preached, including one by the Rev. J. Wendell Mapson on directly touching the soul; and one by the Rev. Jessie Jackson on community activism.
Such homilies left the Clarkes and others contemplating whether the black church should focus more on saving souls or on sociology.
Fellow Poughkeepsie parishioner Regina Stroman, sporting a bright ``God is Good'' T-shirt, put saving souls first.
``You can have all the soup kitchens and rehabilitation programs you want, but people will still go back out there and sell dope because we have not reached their hearts, the soul,'' she said. ``When we reach the heart, change will come.''
``But we have not really taught people the true spirit and nature of God,'' said Evelyn Clarke, standing on a step as if she were about to give a sermon. ``We've used the church to socialize, to get emotional, to create euphoria, not to teach worship.''
But Jesus was a street preacher, said other ministers.
``A church is not just four walls,'' said the Rev. Nanette E. Baines of
Mount Mariah Baptist Church in Brockton, Mass., as a 1,500-member choir thundered in rehearsal inside the university Convocation Center.
``We've got to come out into the streets, literally. That's where the young people are. And we've got to reach those sick in body and sick in mind, those of low esteem and no esteem. If we are going to call ourselves Christians we've got to go out.''
At the conference, Baines picked up ideas for activism such as: ministers allying with judges and police to mentor troubled youths; churches networking to share resources and expertise that can help youths; listening to youths before preaching to them.
Even the problem of teen pregnancy is the church's business, said Baines. ``I think the church has to take a biblical stand and cannot waver. That is abstinence until one is able to find a good mate for life.''
Said the Rev. Rodney Jackson of Atlanta's Gospel Tabernacle: ``Yes we do have to address premarital sex. But we are not backing down from abstinence. It is not unrealistic. We teach youth in our church to know who they are. And what it means to be female or male. And that it doesn't mean going out having a baby.''
Many ministers rejected criticism earlier this year from New York City's the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said that the black church has grown complacent and greedy, unwilling to reach out to its less-fortunate brethern.
There's truth to that, said the Rev. Isaac Brantley of Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Gainesville, Fla., nearly lapsing into a sermon as he spoke. ``We are not complacent inside the church. My church is full on Sunday. But I can't get anybody to go to prisons, door-knocking or to food pantries. Some have other priorities and others are just not willing to change.''
Out of a congregation of 1,500 members, only four or five came forward to volunteer as Big Brothers to area youths, said Brantley, as he stood in a parking lot packed with Lincoln Continentals, Mercedes-Benzes and Jaguars.
But Pastor Terry Streeter who leads the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in the heart of crime and crack-addled Washington, D.C., has no trouble recruiting volunteers.
``This is our bottom line,'' he said, pounding a fist on the Bible in his hand. ``Everything we do is God-based. We have a very enthusiastic church response to our mentoring programs, drug rehabilitation, employment. If you're teaching the spirit, nothing is beyond God.''
by CNB