Race & relevancy among challenges facing black Baptist leaders

Newly elected presidents of four of the nation’s largest African-American Baptist denominations will have their hands full confronting daunting institutional challenges, a black Baptist missions leader noted.

David GoatleyThey will face many of the same challenges that seem to be dogging all denominations—proving their relevance to congregations across the nation, said David Goatley, executive secretary-treasurer of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention.

They also will be shouldering responsibility unique to leaders of black churches— combating growing experiences of institutional and societal racism as evidenced in recent cases like the police shooting of an unarmed African-American in Ferguson, Mo., he said.

The newly elected presidents of the National Baptist Convention of America International, Inc., the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the National Baptist Convention USA and the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America will have to start out by convincing member congregations their denominations are the best resources for local ministries and global missions, said Goatley, a past North American Baptist Fellowship president.

Jerry Young, newly elected president of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.And that may be a tough sell. James Perkins, newly elected president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention.Today, congregations have many other options for partnerships for conducting neighborhood, national and state work. Many are distancing themselves from denominations, he said.

“A generation or more ago (denominations) were not competing—they did not have as many competing interests,” Goatley said. “It used to be that … national denominations and their international mission entities, that was the way people participated in missions around the world.”

That changed, thanks to developments in communications and travel that enable churches to plan partnerships with other groups. It leaves major African-American denominations with the challenge of demonstrating why they’re the best option. That will also require some transformation, Goatley added.

“They have to reinvent themselves and demonstrate they add value to a church’s efforts to be engaged in missions around the world.”

And then there’s race.

In a story about the annual gathering of the National Baptist Convention-USA in New Orleans, the city’s Times-Picayune reported a major issue facing the denomination is racism.

“It seems we’re slipping back to the ’60s civil rights era in terms of some of our behaviors as a nation,” convention spokesman Morris Tipton told the newspaper. “With President Obama’s administration, race relations have really reared their ugly heads. I’ve never seen it be this blatant in recent history.”

Samuel Tolbert, elected president of the National Baptist Convention of America International, Inc., in June.How blatant has become clear in Nehemiah Davis, re-elected president of the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America.recent years and reached a boiling point Aug. 9 when a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo. That incident led to rioting and—along with incidents like the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida—continues to expose the festering wounds of race in America.

“You can’t be a body of believers and say we came to work and not address ills such as what’s going on in Ferguson, Mo. There is no way you can be an effective leader and ignore that issue,” Tipton said.

That’s a challenge that all the denominational leaders will have to take up, Goatley noted.

“All of them need to address how they can help resource their churches to address national issues that are demoralizing African-American life,” Goatley said.

In addition to cases such as Ferguson and Trayvon Martin, he added, the four black Baptist groups must lead the way in taking action against the mass incarceration of people of color.

“That is one of the critical issues,” Goatley said. “If they are going to be relevant, they are going to have to take on issues like that.”