Just try to hide when you visit “Mother Emanuel” African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. They welcome you from the pulpit and ask you to stand. They hand you a microphone so you can give your name and your hometown. Then everyone sings Emanuel’s own welcome song, “Mother Emanuel Welcomes You.” As the song puts it,…
Tag: Black History Month
To White Churches at the End of Black History Month: Begin Now!
I was just doing what I thought I was supposed to do as a white pastor of an almost entirely white congregation: invite an African-American preacher to preach on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. An assistant professor of black church studies at a nearby seminary had been worshiping with us lately, so I called her…