8B
RELIGIOrWe Cliarlotte
Thursday, December, 28, 2006
As King’s colleagues leave the pulpit, a new generation steps in
Continued from page 5B
year ago, preaching a social
justice gospel is still viable
and necessary—even with
out King and his compatri
ots.
“God is always raising up a
voice or voices to speak to the
needs of the present day,” he
said. What’s important, he
said, is to follow the example
that King and others set of
working for justice.
The new generation defi
nitely has its work cut out, in
terms of reaching people who
may be paying more atten
tion to a different kind of
preaching: prosperity gospel,
Church pews
remain
separated by
color despite
desegregation
Continued from page 5B
said the man soon left the
church.
“There was simply no com
mon ground. People are sat
isfied with worshipping seg
regated and nothing chal
lenges the church to be inte
grated. That can’t be apply
ing the Word of God. There
has to be unity,” he said.
Tb Lewis, that unity comes
by addressing race as an
issue.
“When you see race in the
scriptures you don’t skip over
them, you address them and
you realize we as people are
much more alike than we are
different,” he said. “If you
don’t make race a public
issue it becomes a silent
issue. Christ broke down the
dividing walls and made us
one on common ground. My
passion, my burden, is to
show that at least one church
in Dothan is that way.”
The Rev. R, Paul HoUman
of the majority black Greater
Beulah Baptist Church con
gregation said he believes
change is happening
throughout Dothan and
must continue through pas
tors. Churches are market
ing integratipn through bill
boards and magazines. Tble-
vision ministries, black and
white, he said, are minister
ing to people through all
walks of life.
“Pastors and leaders must
be the advocates and open to
diversity and we must lead
our people to do so. When you
preach the truth I don’t tWnk
people care what color you
£ire,” he said.
Calvary Baptist Church
hosts several integrated pro
grams for residents in order
to reach everyone with God’s
word, said Wright, associate
senior pastor. The church is
predominantly white.
“There’s still some old school
thinking that everybody has
their own place, but I believe
that’s slowly fading away,” he
said. '
which focuses more on per
sonal health and well-being.
‘T think there’s an enor
mous social justice gospel
education agenda that faces
this generation that succeeds
some of the towering figures
in the black pulpit,” said
Robert Franklin, professor of
social ethics at Emory Uni
versity.
Along with Walker, a mun-
ber of well-known pastors—
many with ties to King-
have either retired recently
or announced intentions to
do so.
The Rev. Fred Shut-
tlesworth, one of the
founders of the Southern
Christian Leadership Con
ference, stepped down from
the pulpit at the Greater
New Light Baptist Church in
Cindnatti last year. The Rev.
James A. Forbes Jr., the first
black senior minister at New
York’s Riverside Church, will
officially retire in June.
Rev. William H. Gray III,
the third generation of his
. family to lead Bright Hope
Baptist Church in Philadel
phia, will step dovm next
month. And the Rev. Jeremi
ah A. Wright, Jr. has
announced he vidll step down
from Trinity United Church
of Christ in Chicago in 2008.
Gray is hopeful about the
future. His church selected
32-year-old Rev. Kevin R.
Johnson, assistant pastor at
Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist
Church, to be the next senior
minister.
“I think one of the mistakes
that we make is to institu
tionalize a person rather
than institutionalize a move
ment,” he said. “Guys like me
moving on, passing the torch
to a new generation of yoimg
folk is good. That’s positive.”
Shuttlesworth agreed. “In
each generation people come
and they affirm their com
mitment,” he said.
Anew generation of leader
ship could also provide an
opportunity, a way to make
struggle for civil rights more
relevant and not something
that ended decades ago, said
Harris-LaceweU.
“I think it’s potentially real
ly healthy for us to move
away from imagining that
the social gospel theological
ly or the civil rights move
ment politically started with
or ended witLi Martin Luther
King,” she said.
“It might actually be good
to move into a new genera
tion that has to make claims
and arguments for civil
rights that are not rooted in
a movement that’s 40 years
old.”
At 32, there is no question
that Kevin Johnson repre
sents the younger generation
as he takes over at Philadel
phia’s Bright Hope Baptist
for Gray, who has long been
one of the nation’s most influ
ential black ministers.
“I see the church as really
the beacon light for the black
communuty,” said Johnson.
“The light may have dimmed
in the past few years, but I
believe with this new genera
tion of preachers, that they
are going to make sure that-
the mantle is carried and the
light stiH shines.”
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