FORT MYERS
The Black church isn’t just a house of worship.
For Mt. Olive AME Church’s Pastor James Givens, it’s a pillar, a staple for and in the community.
“The Black church, in my opinion, is still an institution that’s needed in our communities … It’s also about anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Givens said.
“The Black church experience is as diverse as the history, the texture, the soul of Black people,” said Pastor William Glover of Mt. Hermon Church. “It’s spiritual, it’s social, it’s economical. It’s political. It’s just rich in terms of the multi-faceted ways it touched the lives of people.”
Glover adds the Black church was created as a challenge when Black people were not allowed to worship side-by-side and with white people.
Now, it’s the oldest institution owned and operated by Black people.
WINK News takes a look at the state of Black churches. (CREDIT: WINK News)
“It is not a monologue experience is very much a lot of dialogue. The audience is a part of the sermon. We preachers are reliant on the audience to affirm the truth that we preach and put the, you know, hallelujahs And to say it, preachers, preacher to the gospel,” Glover said.
It’s an interactive experience.
But the new challenge Black churches face is keeping the youth engaged and coming back on their own, not because their parents said so.
“I think churches are on a learning curve right now, to learn how to reconnect with that generation to present the gospel in a way that they can connect to, as they do in other areas of their lives,” Glover said. “I think that we need to go back to the basics, sometimes we lose our generations behind us because we don’t go back to the basics.”
And making the church building a place to gather the other six days of the week.
WINK News takes a look at the state of Black churches. (CREDIT: WINK News)
“We have a game room. We have a theater room. They no longer have to go to the movies; they can come to the church,” he said.
But for Glover, it’s meeting the young people where they are.
“We’re making strides, I can speak to that because we’re in that transition, in terms of becoming more social media relevant, and putting the gospel in format that this generation taps into, for their news and their entertainment and increasingly, their spirituality,” Glover said.
WINK NEWS