Posted on 03/10/2018 12:55:25 PM PST by Altura Ct.
Charmaine Pruitt wrote the names of 12 churches on a sheet of paper, tore the paper into 12 strips, and dropped them into a Ziploc bag. It was Sunday morning and time to pick which church to attend.
This time of the week two years earlier, there would have been no question. Ms. Pruitt, 46, would have been getting ready for her regular Saturday afternoon worship service, at a former grocery store overhauled into a state-of-the-art, 760-seat sanctuary. In the darkened hall, where it would have been hard to tell she was one of the few black people in the room, she would have listened to the soaring anthems of the praise bands. She would have watched, on three giant screens, a sermon that over the course of a weekend would reach one of the largest congregations in the country.
But Ms. Pruitt has not been to that church since the fall of 2016. That was when she concluded that it was not, ultimately, meant for people like her. She has not been to any church regularly since.
Ms. Pruitt pulled one of the slips out of the Ziploc bag. Mount Olive Fort Worth. O.K. That was where she would go that day.
In the last couple of decades, there had been signs, however modest, that eleven o’clock on Sunday morning might cease to be the most segregated hour in America. “Racial reconciliation” was the talk of conferences and the subject of formal resolutions. Large Christian ministries were dedicated to the aim of integration, and many black Christians decided to join white-majority congregations. Some went as missionaries, called by God to integrate. Others were simply drawn to a different worship style — short, conveniently timed services that emphasized a personal connection to God
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Blame it all on Whitey and on Trump.
Oh - and the Church Of The Holy Obama exists for who care.
I spent 10 years in the inner city ministering for a mega church. I was the director of a ministry that helped churches which were failing. I worked with many African American churches. Your observation is spot on. They were not preaching the Gospel of Christ but a gospel of liberation theology. It’s the same thing that has happened to the Catholic Church in Central and South America (and some other places). Sin? Humphhhj. No need to preach against that. Most pastors aren’t concerned about it. Keep the checks coming in and endorse baby murdering democrats. That’s whats important.
The 'Balab It and Grab It' gospel, for example, moves as many people out of churches preaching the Gospel as Liberation Theology ever has it's just not seen as being on par with the latter. In reality, it's just another facet on the same anti-Christ gemstone.
JMHo
I’ve encountered senior pastors that don’t seem to be committed Christians and I track it back to the 1960s when draft deferments were given to seminary students. I think the younger ones then who went on to work in churches found it easy and relatively lucrative, so they stayed and preached politics and social gospel. They have watered down Christianity to a social issue presentation in many cases.
More proof that liberalism and race are most important to liberals, even to those proclaiming to be Christian. Their race and politics are more important than worshiping our Savior.
The divide seems to have formed over political expectations.
Summed up, white churches are not feeling the guilt over slavery and Jim Crow, and are not talking asking forgiveness for stuff they did not do.
White churches are not sufficiently beating the Social Justice drum.
White churches are not buying into the Bad Policeman narrative. Dude ambushes five Dallas policemen and they want to talk about bad policemen next time they get together?
White churches are not wanting bigger government.
White churches do not vote for leftist, pro-abortion, big government candidates.
So black people are leaving. It’s not about doctrine.
Is there a quiet exodus of white people leaving black churches? Oh wait, my bad.....
NOT all mind you.
But a significant percentage chose Obama when he flew in the face of Scripture. Given that he acted much like the Antichrist incarnate, that's all I needed to know right there.
Claiming racism deflects attention from cultural issues.
Its about politics, not religion.
If you’re a religious person, politics plays a secondary role in life.
For liberals, politics is religion.
I’m so glad the NY Times is concerned about Christians,
...
What would they know?
When I want an expert on godless commies, then I’ll read the NYTimes.
Because they’re racists.
It cuts both ways.
We drift into groups that are more like us culturally. If the NFL protests and BLM are what matters to them more than the Gospel, they wouldn’t fit in my church.
And we are by far not all Republicans.
>>Notice the article mentions nothing about Black on Black shooting or disrespect to the American Flag and Anthem.<<
And it also says the person is upset (lost sleep, no less) about George Zimmerman’s self-defense against a black thug and could not understand why no one said anything.
That is because God’s word relies on Truth and any narrative OTHER than Zimmerman protecting himself is a lie and does not belong in Go’d house.
I have never seen a church of “white evangelicalism”.
The church I attend has a mixture of people, and a fair amount of racially mixed couples and people of every sort of racial mixture.
Water is wet, and fake news is fake.
I wonder how the Potters House in Dallas, with T.D. Jakes is weathering the storms of social change.
What happened? Obama happened. You’ll note the NYTimes cites the 2012 study and 1998 study - that includes ALL of W’s tenure along with the race baiting that came along with Katrina.
It’s funny that she’s OK with white churches when she thinks they’re voting for Obama but NOT when they voted for Trump (yes it’s ok for her side to vote for the atheist communist)
BS on its face and if she’s picking churches based on her politics and NOT what the church is teaching then she’s going about it all wrong anyway.
That is most always true, I think.
I'd like to add another ingredient, and (as in chemistry, more so than math) it may just be a catalyst: Diversity + Proximity + (Ideology) = violence.
How would they feel about pastors mentioning that more white people are murdered by blacks, than blacks killed by police?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.