Attending a Black church...

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I plan on returning to church, and I am anxious to go back. Although, I am hoping to attend a black church. Even though I'm white, I want to discover the beliefs and practices of the opposite race. There is a local Pentecostal church called Garden of Prayer No. 7 Vision of Faith Ministries, Inc., and I am hoping they can arrange transportation so I can get there. My pops and I are the only ones involved in the church situation and not my ma. She stays out of our business when it comes to me going to church by myself. My parents don't go to church, but, anyway, I am hoping that if I go to a black church, I just might, meet my soulmate there. I'll just have to wait and see.

The are NOT the "opposite race" There is only one race for and of us, that is the human race.

ruveyn

Agreed.

Here's the thing about black churches: Generally speaking, churches are planted to serve the needs of the various people groups and cultures in which they are built. What you have to understand is that blacks in America have a radically different narrative than whites--and this should come as no surprise given the history of slavery and our atrocious civil rights record. Black churches served specific needs of the black community, such as community organizing and fostering a much-needed corporate solidarity in the face of intense marginalization. And just because blacks legally have equal standing with other races/cultures doesn't mean that their struggles are over. Many remain impoverished, uneducated, and continue to suffer from the negative effects of various subcultures within their own society. There is also the leftover resentment and bitterness towards whites that many are not yet ready to release and thus they do not WANT to be forcefully integrated into "white" society. Black churches exist in part to answer for those specific needs among many others, and no white person who has never had those experiences can truly empathize with a culture that has that history so deeply ingrained into them as a people.

The blacks I admire the most are those who have the strength to stand up and refuse to live their lives being defined by the color of their skin. Those blacks who continue to segregate themselves aren't ready to take that stand yet, and I don't begrudge them taking solace in religious institutions that exist to minister to them.

Having said that, I'll also say that the common thread of black/white Christian churches is Christ. I think it would be awfully hypocritical of black church members to look down on you for attending their church based on your skin color. I was speaking with some friends about the church we attend, and the perception among the community is that our church, located on Main Street in a predominantly black neighborhood, is the "rich, white church." And for a long time it has been. The thing that has changed in just the last few years is that many the "rich white people" in our church that contributed to that impression are now dead! Among other things, we've expanded our ministries to reach out not only to people in our immediate neighborhood, but also to more itinerate peoples (like TFA kids, foreigners who are in the USA for job experience, etc.). The result has been that we've had an increase, albeit a tiny one, of black families joining our church as well as having regular visitors from India. Very few of the latter are actual Christians, but they've been impressed with our willingness to help them feel more at home.

My point is that your choice in attending a particular church should depend on your particular needs. If that means attending a black church, then OK. But I think you should carefully examine your motives. You're hoping to meet your soulmate, which to me raises a red flag. From my experience, trying to use a certain church as your dating pool is difficult unless you are VERY patient and have the ability to narrow it down to a specific age group, likely someone 5-10 years younger than you (assuming you are old enough to do that without breaking any laws, of course), and even then you've got the difficulty of mitigating circumstances such as a woman who is education- or career-oriented at that stage of her life. And, of course, being white, you run the risk of being viewed suspiciously by a family who may not be very trusting of whites. The one advantage you have as a white guy trying to date a black girl is your mate's girl friends will be very jealous of any children you may have--black/white unions frequently result in the kids having GREAT hair! But, of course, that's not why you go to church. You're there to worship with fellow believers and to study the Bible. Picking a church based on race/culture exclusively may not help you with any of that if an expositor doesn't present Biblical messages that are culturally or contextually relevant to your experience.

If this is something you have prayerfully considered and you've examined your motives and you still feel that God is leading you in this direction, then far be it from me to mislead you. But I think it would also be wrong of me to be silent about it if it seems your motives MIGHT be misplaced. Church is something you do not just because it's the right thing to do, but because there are right reasons for doing so.

I'm not trying to use the church as a dating pool. I feel honored to go to a black church and worship Elohim. I have heard that blacks sing and dance and feel the spirit as they worship Elohim. I am, as well thinking of attending a Historically Black College/University (or HBCU) called Virginia State University in Ettrick, Virginia when I transfer from my local Community College after I've completed my core curriculum. I'll explain more in School/College later on.
When I was little, I was anointed Baptist. Then, after I turned seventeen (17) while in residential treatment, I was baptized Methodist. Then, after I was discharged in 2007, I reconsidered going back to church. So in 2009, I became a member of my local United Methodist Church, Huntington Court UMC. I started having problems with people at church in 2009 and 2010, so I quit going, and had my membership dropped at my local United Methodist Church.

I'm sorry you had issues with UMC. My wife was raised in a Methodist family, and she loved her church and the comforting ritual of the worship services. The reason she left was she felt that after a charismatic pastor got reassigned that people mostly attended out of social obligation and didn't seem to care about anyone other than themselves. There was a sense of alienation among the young people, and they left the church in droves. My wife eventually came to view UMC as a whole as empty and felt her needs were best met in the Baptist church. I'm sure that's not the case everywhere, though.

Pentecostal churches are increasingly diversifying, probably a lot more than other traditionally segregated denominations. Singing, dancing, glossolalia are important expressions in predominantly white churches as well. The main doctrinal issue I take with Pentecostals is the dependence on glossolalia as evidence of salvation. That implicitly makes Pentecostals dependent on works for salvation rather than grace through faith. I'm not saying it isn't evidence, I'm just saying it isn't alone as evidence, and I disagree with the idea that you're going to hell if you don't do it. Besides that, though, I've often entertained the idea of going to an Assembly of God.

So why attend a HBCU? Just curious. I've heard that they often have excellent graduate programs and it's advantageous to try to get into them. All public universities have some kind of diversity program, which means if you're white you can go to a HBCU for pennies on the dollar of what it would cost to go to a "white" school or even for what blacks pay to go to the same school.

I feel that HBCUs are non-discriminatory towards other races, and if I go to an HBCU, I'll be able to make friends with the black race, as well as the white race and others as well, plus they have a great History program and they're transfer student process is better than any other colleges here in Virginia. Virginia State University has a better Transfer Policy than say Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, or University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg.

I get along with just about everybody of every ethnicity and I am white!

Before you go, realize that it's going to be a much longer service than you are used to. It also may require some stamina that your usual church doesn't. I'd try something a bit milder first like an AME church. They have the rousing sermon that you may be looking for without the long, long service. It's also got a more definate ending time than some of the others. The more fundamentalist you go, with any church, black or white, the longer the service is going to be.

Putting the question of whether "races" are real or not aside for a moment- and assuming that "races" exist- it is still atleast two kinds of stupid to use the expression "the opposite race" instead of "AN other race".

This rant is aimed at people in the media who use that phrase more than at the op for following their bad example.

The application of the adjective "opposite " to "race" is derived from the older phrase "the opposite sex" which implies that 'race' and sexual gender are analogous. But what makes the sexes 'opposite' is that they are designed to be anatomically complimentary for the species to propagate. You need to two to tango. Hense a dichotomy. Hense the adjective "opposite".

The random variations of skin color, hair type, nose shape, and whatnot, that cause humans to lump each other into categories of 'race' are in no way analogous to that. And besides: those who buy into the reality of race usually use five categories- and not just two- so implying that american blacks and american whites are a dichotomy of 'opposites' analogus to "men and women" is illogical for that reason as well.

So say "another race". Or better yet "another american subculture", or "another ethnic group" because when you're talking about styles of worship you're really talking about culture, and not about race per se anyway. Im not asking you to be "politically correct" (god forbid), but just to abstain from making a fool of yourself by useing dumb sounding expressions.

This passage sounds, I don't know, just a bit racist? "White race" and "black race" and "Sooty race" - these are people you're talking about.

Doesn't sound racist. Just unnecessarily collectivist....in the sense/analogy of "collective guilt" or something. "Make friends with 'the black race". Are you with the foreign service, Mr. Diplomat! Hi, I am ambassador of black america. Let me give you a cultural exchange program. *walks around and translates sayings and analogies*



I am black., have been to 'black church'......and am non-religious, and my solution is to just walk out if they start pissing you off

Then again, I feel tempted to leave if the f*****g pastor talks about the immorality of 'casual dating' and how he only kissed his wife on their wedding day, and discussing whether Jesus was gay, or whatever stupid s**t ministers say

I seriously think they stretch out their discussions because they cannot make a good detailed conversation for a long period of time.....

Best to use the term 'Ethnicity' as 'race' generally implies biologically distinct and immutable characteristics of people, and that people can be rank ordered in terms of the colour of their skin.

I'm friends with many Black Guys and I'm white. I don't really account it towards race or anything. We get along well, have a few good laughs at work.
Race isn't about color contrary to popular belief.

Best Regards,

Jake

I've never been to a "black" church. I'd like to go to an Ethiopian Orthodox church someday, but there's no Ethiopian churches in my state. It'd be different, but the same (we all use the same liturgy...) There's a "black" Baptist church next to my church, and they have white folks going. My church is Eastern Orthodox, formerly Russian, so it's pretty much the whitest church around. We have community cookouts and coat drives and stuff like that, but many young people left, and locally I've heard people compare my church to a museum. And yep, many rich white people, nerdy ones, too. And Russians.

I used to be Charismatic protestant, not quite Pentecostal, but close. In some ways my motives to going to Orthodoxy is I wanted the opposite of that. It's very easy to confuse emotionalism for "the Spirit" and confuse genuine Christian love with just normal group cohesion and bonding. But, if you do feel God calling you to it, then yeah, I don't want to be one to disturb it. But I do disagree a good deal with that sorta theology.

If you find you socialize better with black folks, then that may be your calling and mission. I find I socialize best and am liked most by old people and foreigners, and currently most of the Orthodox Church in America is that. I agree theologically the most, too. So it works. Other people think I'm weird for it and whatnot, but, it's where I guess God wants me. So in your case, if you feel comfortable in such a church and the people appreciate you, then yeah...

Oh well, God bless.

Although where I stay is multi-cultural, it's still a very white country and people of other ethnicities are definitely still very much in the minority. So, this 'black church' that the OP talks of is actually populated by mostly white people here. My best friend is of Jamaican heritage and attends a Pentecostal church. I've been once - for her Dad's funeral. It wasn't like any funeral I had ever been to. I was in the church for 2 1/2 hours and that was just the service. It was a celebration of life and very nice. I like to sing, but I couldn't ever get into raising my hand when singing and to come out with the odd impromptu, 'Hallelulah', 'Amen' and 'Praise the Lord' (that wasn't compulsory ). There was then a burial (with a police escort to the graveyard, due to the numbers) and a lunch for everyone, paid for by the church. Most of the people at the funeral were the usual congregation. They appear to be like extended family. When I went to church, people didn't even know the people sitting next to them, so I doubt anybody realises when a parishoner dies. When my friend was ill, I helped her out with childcare, but every day, one of the congregation would come to her house with a prepared meal.