In one
corner, you have the old-timers who have been in the church since they were yea
high to a grasshopper and maintain all of the old ways to the letter.
In the other
corner are the new generation radicals who aren’t here for the foolishness.
I stand in
the middle as a Generation X husband and father and in my church, the only
deacon under 50 years old at age 38. In fact, I am often the link between the
older folks (if not specifically those who grew up in the small family church
on the corner) and the millennials who are still seeking God in a larger
context than John 3:16 or whatever captivated their hearts to know that there
is a hope that the daily struggle life is not one of vain. This opinion post is only one man’s way of
bridging the gap between the two factions – and in small family-driven
churches, they can almost seem like one and the same.
Praise Service
Depending on
the church, two or three deacons or appointed member(s) lead praise service
usually comprising of two songs, a scripture, and a prayer. Since I’m not the
greatest singer, I typically defer to the brother standing next to me or the
musician to begin the worship experience. In this case, we are likened to the
hype men you have seen at concerts; unfortunately, we invariably end up looking
like clean pieces of furniture if our beginning falls flat. You have to know
the congregation and they also need to understand that praise and worship is
for EVERYBODY to celebrate God and what He has brought us through from the last
time we met in corporate worship. If you don’t know the song, don’t worry; at
least clap along or mouth your way through the parts you don’t know – in some
churches, the words are hanging from a projector for all to see and read. Don’t
let that be an excuse. The order varies with congregations – at my childhood
home, we opened with a scripture then song followed by a prayer and another
backwoods lyric “Watts” (thanks, Deacon Jerome Polk!) before heading back to
our seats. At the Mount, it isn’t as organic:
brief hype man testimony, song, scripture, prayer, another song, and sit
that tail down.
I like
praise dance teams but not to the effect to where their intrinsic value is discounted
due to overuse. It also does not mean bring the twerk team out during “Take Me
to the King”!
Visitors
Let’s be
real: Everyone is a first time visitor
somewhere. Most churches today are getting away from making new visitors and
potential members uncomfortable by standing them up as the head usher or
appointed member reads the welcome paragraph yet a few holdouts do remain. In
those cases, stand up, identify yourself, home church (or the place you
currently worship) with the pastor’s name, and a brief remark of how happy you
are to be here and hope to return. The point of this is for the larger
congregation to make you feel comfortable in joint worship. I remember the
awkward stares from being a first-time visitor in nearly every building – and
in one instance, the entire church consisted of visitors! I’ve found the welcoming
experience critical if I wanted to return – and ironically enough, my current
church did a particularly lousy job of making us feel welcome eight years ago.
Imagine my reaction when my wife told me she was attending Bible study there
after our pastor left his church!
To the
old-school church folks: People do read
the Google reviews and inquire of the services and programs within social
media. A current website would be helpful in this regard; for the tech-savvy
among us, having a smartphone app is a bonus. As we read the Google reviews, keep
in mind most of us are being honest in our experiences and not just stuffing
the stat sheet to generate more traffic each Sunday.
Three things
I look for as a visitor: 1) meaningful Christ-centered
worship, 2) a personal connection, and 3) Wi-Fi. . You can get one without the
others, but if the first thing isn’t happening, please believe there won’t be a
second visit regardless of how kind the ushers are or how quickly the Wi-Fi
syncs to our Androids. Some folks fall in love with the singing or the preacher
doing cartwheels down the aisle or how the mothers swoon or the message is
sweeter than red Kool-Aid on Independence Day or the freebies in the back but
if Christ isn’t the center of morning worship, then it is a time waster. I
don’t expect a grand tour of the place, but at least make my family feel
welcome to worship freely. As for Wi-Fi, I am pretty tech-savvy and would
expect the church to keep up with the times beyond a paper bulletin meaning
connectivity indeed matters.
Offering
Shout out to
the churches that are doing it right with their tithes and offerings because
not everyone will follow Jesus’s teachings in giving. Hopefully there is only one offering instead of the brothers
passing the plate around once and again five minutes later without a specific
purpose. Of course, if you see an ATM outside of the sanctuary, it may be a cue
that true worship doesn’t necessarily happen here.
Who’s doing
it right and how will I know that transparency is here?
You could
ask to see the books, but that is a privilege only extended to the active
members. Read Thom Rainier’s I Am a Church Member to further understand the
context of this statement.
Consider the
community where the church exists. Is the parking lot open to all or gated only
for the staff to park uphill as others double park a block away with no
security outside? How are finances handled by the leadership? Without
announcing the actual amount collected each Sunday to the entire congregation,
a prospective member can follow the money fairly easily by observing how the
ministries offered are being run. At least I would hope a doorknob has been
replaced once in thirty years if a building fund exists; we are 98% finished
with our building renovation from stem to sternum and brought the building into
the 21st Century. Malachi 3:8 teaches us to give the first tenth of
our fruits as an exercise in faith whereas some pastors push for that ten
percent to come from gross income (before taxes) instead of net income (after
taxes) in a similar vein if not more.
Some of the
older members may gripe about how much money goes out to salaries, but even as
a nonprofit, the church has some costs that are vital: utilities, the van, insurance, outreach
ministries, and following that are the salaries. Musicians and pastors don’t
exactly come cheap yet both are critical to the worship experience; both
require a little bit more than a thank-you and a bucket of fried chicken
meaning give properly as God directs
you.
Appearance
Tradition
also plays into dress codes, as evidenced in the above tweet. While the
religious among us expects a certain style of dress for each Sunday, Communion
Sunday – often observed on the first Sunday of each month – takes it to another
level of customary fashion. Everyone knows that the pastor and deacons wear
black suits with white shirts to signify the solemn approach toward Christ’s
life and death as 1 Corinthians 11:21-32 is read to the congregation before
communion is given and later in outreach ministry to the sick and shut-in
members of the community. Yet, the deaconesses and pastor’s wife wear all-white
not as a symbol of purity rather to embody the cleansing of souls thanks to
Christ’s ultimate sacrifice and resurrection three days later proving that not
even death can stop our Savior from being about our Father’s business of
soul-saving.
Thankfully,
the church has evolved into a position where a “come as you are” dress code is
one of acceptance and comfort to bring in the lost versus the parsonage having
an implicit fashion show. To get a
further understanding, check out “Come As You Are Sundays Aren’t What We Think.
They’re More” from A Dollar and a Dream.
Covenant
Believe it
or not, the church covenant that we recite so often each Communion Sunday is
cribbed from the Southern Baptist Church denomination – the same one that
separated from the American Baptist Association solely on the issue of slavery
some 150+ years ago. In a way, using it as a substitute for responsive reading
is a strange acknowledgment of how white supremacy still has a stranglehold on
our places of worship:
Having been led, as
we believe, by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our
Savior, and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of
our Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we do now in the presence of
God, angels, and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant
with one another as one body in Christ.
We engage,
therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love;
to strive for the advancement of this church, in knowledge, holiness, and
comfort, to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship,
ordinances, discipline and doctrines, to contribute cheerfully and regularly to
the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the
poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations.
We also engage to
maintain family and secret devotion; to religiously educate our children, to seek
the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances, to walk circumspectly in the
world, to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements and exemplary in
our deportment, to avoid all tattling, backbiting and excessive anger, to
abstain from the sale and use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage, and to be
zealous in our efforts to advance the Kingdom of our Savior.
We further engage to
watch over one another with brotherly love, to remember each other in prayer,
to aid each other in sickness and distress, to cultivate Christian sympathy in
feeling and courtesy in speech, to be slow to take offense, but always ready
for reconciliation, and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without
delay.
We moreover engage
that when we remove from this place, we will as soon as possible unite with
some other church, where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the
principles of God’s word.
Since it is not found in the
Scriptures, the covenant is not necessarily indispensable for a church although
it summarizes the New Testament expectations of church members and is a
generally accepted standard that some churches today will tailor to their
congregations. The idea of having a covenant became prominent among the
Puritans who settled America namely a trio of John Cotton, Richard Mather, and
Ralph Partridge forming a “model for the government of the church” in 1648 in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Note that the concept of separation of church and
state did not enter discussion for another century nor did believers of the era
think baptism alone was sufficient enough for salvation instead they felt they
needed a visible union with a physical group to show allegiance. Signing
(rather, call-and-respond in agreement) a covenant indeed makes a church member
more serious, committed, and responsible concerning duties which although
established in the New Testament can easily be neglected or designated to
others.
Staff
Let me make myself crystal-clear with
this sentence: The only two offices
designated in the church are pastor and deacon (Acts 6:1-7):
Both positions are specifically defined as the pastor teaches while the deacons
serve. Any other roles including auxiliary presidents, trustees, coordinators, and
clerks are merely ancillary functions that potentially can inflate the
officeholder’s egos more than advance Kingdom building in a world that needs to
see true Christianity in action. Otherwise, I want no parts of a country club
culture where a few diligent souls find themselves so overworked and frustrated
they eventually leave sometimes to never return to a church as a result of this
experience.
Sermon and Invitation to Discipleship
After all of the singing and extensive
praying comes the moment all of us should be preparing for: the sermon. In today’s Baptist churches (at
least the ones I grew up and/or worshiped in at one point or another of my 38
years), the sermon is a set of Biblical texts that relate to our daily living
and are intended to serve as a clarion call to continue to serve God or at the
very least, provide a source of encouragement after discouraging news or
surviving a rough week as a road map. A time limit is not specified although
most messages generally last from twenty to forty-five minutes depending on the
speaker’s content, the call-and-response shouts from the congregation such
“Take your time!” and the obligatory “Amen!” when we hear a point we agree
upon. Keep in mind it was not that long ago when you could sit in a church and
hear a sermon being preached for several hours at a time; in an increasingly
secularization of our society, congregants tend to value time a bit more. Then
there is the fact that some popular buffets have limited Sunday hours to take
advantage of the churchgoing crowds that otherwise would end up at Big Mama’s
house eating racks of smoked ribs or gorging on a pork roast left in the
crockpot.
The invitation to discipleship is the
moment which everyone throughout the building is extended an invitation to join
the Christian faith via baptism; unite with a particular church or worship
center of choice to formally make it a new home. For most of us, this period
also allows for wayward members to make a public rededication of their lives to
Christ as well as presents a moment for special prayer requests that were
missed during altar call. Two chairs (or more, depending on how the Spirit
moves) are set toward the front of the sanctuary by two deacons who both extend
the hands to come to Jesus as you are. If someone is compelled to become a
follower of Jesus, he or she walks, runs, skips, does cartwheels, or rolls to
the center aisle to make that proclamation and announces that they indeed are
believers who accept the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
in addition to a Holy Spirit that lives within all of us. Upon that agreement,
the new convert is welcomed and receives all of the rights, benefits, and
privileges of membership as any other member INCLUDING voting!
New Members’ Orientation
This is a crash course of the
guidelines and expectations within a congregation. Because I teach our classes
at the Mount, you’ll have to show up for the estimated 45 minute session to
know the extent of what is required of the new member – and merely having your
name on the church rolls is not enough. For one, the instructor has to know the
procedures and policies fairly well since the majority of members already know
the rote rituals of religion and if he or she is unprepared, he could potentially
open a can of worms or have your credentials questioned. Orientation courses do
vary from one congregation to the next primarily based on the membership’s
needs and the ministries available to them. It also helps new members to know
what is available to them and a weekly schedule of when events transpire in
order for their presence to be made known AND welcomed. For example, someone
who is tech-savvy may be interested in running the audio/visual booth and
maintaining an active internet presence via website and social media pages or
app development; ditto for the cook who has a heart for assisting with a food
pantry; and so forth.
The idea of a new member’s orientation
course is to not only inundate the neophyte with rules of the road but also
presents opportunities for growth and soul-saving that otherwise were ignored
or underutilized by the larger group. With the completion of this course and
during the session, questions will be answered promptly and succulently; those
that do not elicit an immediate response or need an extended answer will be
replied to in a short period of time. In addition, any member has the right to
ask questions if a concern arises in an appropriate forum.
Conclusion
This is nowhere near an exhaustive
detail of the traditions of the black Baptist church by any means, but at 2,800
words, it merely is a summary of my own experiences, frustrations, and
standards that most congregations have generally accepted regardless of church
size and political affiliation. I’ve been a part of fairly large groups (Mt.
Calvary in Hartford), small-to-medium sizes (Greater Friendship, Mt. Zion), and
simply small (Mt. Olive, Labannah, St. Paul) all of which have a differing
methods of getting to the ultimate prize. Having attended such varying churches
has also given an insight of what works for each group: while security cameras alone may work for one
congregation, another may feel the necessity for a security team or rely solely
on the ushers as protection.
