Introduction to Black Church Community

I’ve always had an interest in going to a black church service, but never went because I was too intimidated and fearful that I’d be unwelcomed and unwanted. Based on what I had seen and assumed as fact from TV shows and society, I believed that black church was no place for a white person to ever be in. However, I decided to face my fears and bite the bullet and attend a service at Consolidated Baptist Church, a black Baptist church in Lexington, to observe what really goes on at a black church and to test and see what type of reaction I would get from the regular church members. By observing a service and interviewing a member of a black church, in addition to collecting secondary research, I was able to learn more about what those in the black Baptist community believe in. I also learned about the similarities and differences between the white church community I belong to and the community I observed. In this cultural analysis, I will talk about what I assumed, what I experienced, and what I learned about the black church community.

Black Church Community Description

The members of this community are, for the most part, black Christians. Most black churches allow people of all races and colors to attend their church, but an overwhelming majority of members are African-Americans. As the Consolidated Baptist Church’s website (2010) states, “People from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and age groups call Consolidated their home (FAQ page).  They come from all different places and social classes, but they share a common religious belief. Black churches have been around since the American slave days, when the slaves would gather together and have their own church separate from the whites. The slaves were forced by their owners to be baptized and were given new Christian names. The slaves were forced to practice Christianity and had to abandon their native and tribal religions completely. After slavery was abolished, blacks continued to practice Christianity and formed their own version of Christianity that was designed specifically for African-Americans (Mellowes, 2010). The present-day community hopes to carry out God’s work and worship Him. They do so by attending services, singing, dancing, and serving others.

My Assumptions About Black Churches

I have attended a predominantly white Christian church rather consistently since I was born. I consider myself to be a deeply devoted and heavily involved member of the white church community, and it is where I feel most comfortable. More specifically, I attend a Pentecostal church. The best way I could think to describe what a Pentecostal church service is like is by labeling it as a black church, but with mostly white people in it. My church isn’t made up of strictly white people, as multiple cultures and races are represented, but white people certainly make up the majority. At my church, we are very expressive with our praise and worship. It is not uncommon to see somebody running or dancing in the aisles, or to very audibly hear another person shout “Amen!” during a sermon. Our preacher is white, but he delivers his sermons with the loud, enthusiastic and charismatic manner that is stereotypically attributed to black preachers. All of these characteristics are ones you could expect to see at a black church. If you take away skin color, my church and black churches are nearly indistinguishable from one another. That is why I believe I’ve always been intrigued by the black church community. They are so similar religiously, yet at the same time entirely different socially to what I’m used to. To figure out what exactly those differences were, I visited Consolidated Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky for a Sunday service. What I assumed the experience would be like heavily contrasted from what actually happened.

Going into the community observation, I expected that I would be one of only a small handful of white people in the building. I expected to see the men wearing fancy, colorful suits and shoes and the women to wear long and brightly colored dresses and elaborate hats. I assumed the church wouldn’t have air conditioning and we would have to fan ourselves with paper in an attempt to keep cool. I believed that the choir would sing loudly and dance wildly along to a passionate church organ player. I anticipated people to fall out during the sermon and the preacher to frequently and enthusiastically yell during his message to emphasize what he was saying. Most of all though, I was anxious that everyone else would stare at me and wonder why in the world a white boy was sticking out like a sore thumb in their church. But as the Multimodal Communication Fundamentals textbook (Sellnow & Warren, 2012) explains, feeling uncomfortable or anxious about entering an unfamiliar culture or community is normal. I based all of these ideas from what I had seen on television, namely programs like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and any of Tyler Perry’s Madea movies.

My expectation of how the choir would be came from a scene in Forrest Gump, pictured to the left, where Tom Hanks joins the choir of a black church in his hometown. The choir is very enthusiastic, swaying left and right and clapping their hands, and I expected a similar style choir at Consolidated Baptist Church. In his song Can’t Nobody, Clint Brown, one of my favorite Christian musicians, describes his experience visiting a black church. He remarks, “But when you go to a black church, I found this out, songs will go for 45 minutes” (Brown, 2004).  Based on the scene from Forrest Gump and the excerpt from Clint Brown’s song, I anticipated that the choir would be lively, charismatic, and long-winded. I had an image in my brain of what I believed was universally true about black churches that originated from how they are portrayed by the media and society. After observing a service, I came to understand that my originally assumptions were merely a caricature version of how black churches truly are in reality.

My Analysis of Black Church Community

What I learned from my experience observing and interviewing within the black church community is that at black churches, the members don’t really care all that much about what race you are or what class you belong to. At black churches, they are welcoming and accepting of everyone who walks through their doors. The picture to the left is displayed on the home page of Consolidated’s website and it enables visitors to their site know that all guests are more than welcome at their church. I discovered first hand that they indeed are welcoming of guests. I was one of the only white people in the audience, yet I was not treated any differently or looked down upon. I sat next to a black family and they were very polite. When the preacher asked everybody to shake hands with the people around them, everyone around me came up, introduced themselves, shook my hand and said “God bless you.”  I anticipated that they would react to me like white blood cells react to a virus. Fortunately, my experience proved my anticipation to be false, and the issue of race was never an issue at all.

One of the common themes I noticed throughout the interview and research was that there is a strong sense of family between the church members. They are not biologically related, but they are still a close-knit group and they support one another. As Jeffery S. Levin states in the abstract of The Role of the Black Church in Community Medicine that “Historically, the black church has been the preserver and the perpetuator of the black ethos, the radix from which its defining values and norms have been generated, and the autonomous social institution that has provided order and meaning to the black experience in the United States” (Levin, 1984). In my interview with Mo Overstreet, my resident adviser who has always attended a black church and currently attends Consolidated Baptist Church, he reiterated Levin’s point, repeatedly mentioning how he is who he is today because of his upbringing in the black church community (M. Overstreet, personal communication, November 12, 2012). What I found is that being a member of a black church is more than a religious experience or preference; it provides a sense of family and helps form identities and instill values that last a lifetime.

I also noticed that they connect better with people who come from similar backgrounds or are going through similar stages of life, regardless of race. In my interview with Mo, he talked about how he feels more comfortable worshiping in front of people who are just like him. The picture above shows Mo singing in his church’s choir, something he feels comfortable doing because of the similarities he shares with his fellow choir members.  He remarked that he finds it easier to express himself spiritually at a black church than he can at a white church because he can better relate to the members of a black church and doesn’t have to fear that they will judge him (M. Overstreet, personal communication, November 12, 2012). From what I can tell, black churches are referred to as black churches only because of the similarities the members share.

Personal Reflection and Lessons Learned

 Reflecting on my experience submerging myself into a foreign community, I have widened my scope of society and culture. Before, I used to stick to groups I was familiar and accustomed to and I rarely ventured out of my comfort zone. After being part of the black church community, I now realize that what you think you know about someone or a group can often be completely false. I assumed that our cultural differences would be too great to overcome and disable us from establishing any common ground. If a white guy can step into a black church and not only fail to encounter any issues, but also establish a shared understanding and connection with the regular members, then I shouldn’t be afraid to enter any community out of fear or intimidation. Challenging myself to broaden my horizons was very rewarding and is something I hope to continue doing in the future.  The lesson I can take away from this experience is that it isn’t the groups we belong to or our skin color that defines us; it is our shared identity as humans and how we interact that defines us.

Previously, I was too afraid and intimidated to attend a service at a black church. Despite always having a desire to see what it would be like, I elected to stay within my own comfortable community for fear that I would be judged and criticized at a black church. But after building up the courage to face my fears, I found out that my expectations that were formed by television and society were completely off base. Through my interview, observation and research, I learned a great deal about black churches and confronted my assumptions. Using the information I learned and experience I now have, I will be more likely to attend another service at Consolidated Baptist Church, except this time it will be for my personal enjoyment.