{"id":4424,"date":"2016-03-09T17:30:47","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T17:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/crcc\/black-lives-matter-is-a-black-church-matter\/"},"modified":"2024-10-14T22:59:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T22:59:41","slug":"black-lives-matter-is-a-black-church-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/crcc\/black-lives-matter-is-a-black-church-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Lives Matter is a Black Church Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Black Lives Matter is a Black Church Matter<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n
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\n\n \n Commentary\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n By<\/span>Najuma Smith<\/a><\/strong>\n \n March 9, 2016<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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“The big deal is we think the power is in us individually…the power is in us collectively. It is in the church.”
\n—John M. Perkins<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While much of the country was focused on Super Tuesday results, I gathered with 300 pastors from across these United States for the Black Church Matters Summit<\/a> in Washington, D.C. Over the past several years, two big questions have been posed about the black church: Is the Black Church dead? And is the Black Church still relevant?<\/em><\/p>\n

The convening in D.C. helped to affirm and confirm what I always felt in my soul: an unequivocal YES to the question of the relevance of the Black Church and an equally emphatic NO to the idea of its demise!<\/p>\n

Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant of Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore brought us together for the summit. He has played a significant role in the Black Lives Matter movement nationally and locally, following Freddie Gray’s death. The Black Lives Matter movement, however, has largely been filled with young people who are not members of any church. In past generations, Black ministers and laypeople led civil rights movements. Now, many worry that the Black Church has lost its prophetic voice.<\/p>\n

Bryant and his team outlined a clear objective. “We are not here for a preaching bowl!” he proclaimed. Instead we were there to listen, learn and leave with strategies to build the communities where we worship, work, live and lead as pastors.<\/p>\n

Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant calls pastors to join him at the conference (the dates were changed after he created this video):<\/em><\/p>\n