A Faithful Journey Black Leadership In The Episcopal Church

Recalling his personal journey of faith, the late Bishop of Southern Ohio, Herbert Thompson, offers a candid look at the struggle of the Episcopal Church and America in welcoming and embracing people of color.

“Superb. . . . The first comprehensive history of modern race relations within the Episcopal Church and, as such, a model of its kind.” —Journal of American History Meeting at an African American college in North Carolina in 1959, a group of black and white Episcopalians organized the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity and pledged to oppose all distinctions based on race, ethnicity, and social class. They adopted a motto derived from Psalm 133: “Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Though the spiritual intentions of these individuals were positive, the reality of the association between blacks and whites in the church was much more complicated. Episcopalians and Race examines the often ambivalent relationship between black communities and the predominantly white leadership of the Episcopal Church since the Civil War. Paying special attention to the 1950s and 60s, Gardiner Shattuck analyzes the impact of the civil rights movement on church life, especially in southern states, offering an insider’s history of Episcopalians’ efforts, both successful and unsuccessful, to come to terms with race and racism since the Civil War. “A model of how good this kind of history can be when it is well researched and centers on the difficult choices faced and made by people who share institutional and faith commitments in settings that call those commitments into question.” —American Historical Review “Will be of considerable benefit to scholars, students, church members of all denominations, and anyone concerned with issues of racial justice in the American context.” —Choice “An essential addition to the history of race and the modern South.” —Journal of Southern History

Dean Nisbett has crafted an excellent book that is carefully researched. He is a masterful storyteller, combining theology, sociology, history, scripture and church architecture into a masterpiece. Writing about the struggle of a suburban parish to build an edifice, the author cites numerous parallels between the Israelites' history and that of the parish. He recasts the Israelites' story into the contemporary, making the Bible relevant in demonstrating the ongoing work of God. Nisbett explores the struggle of African Americans to be integrated into the United States of America. He addresses the tension between West Indians and black Americans and notes the latter's significant contribution to the Episcopal Church. He recognizes the indelible contribution of the first African Americans who penetrated the white enclave of Cambria Heights. Recognition is also made of black Episcopalians for their valuable contribution to the society and for challenging the church to be honest to its Catholicity, insisting that they (black Episcopalians) be included into the "Body of Christ."The author explicates the concept of vocation, the "call" to serve God in His church. He shares his personal experience. Very inspiring! A must read for those contemplating the ordained ministry. The book integrates the Church into the life of the community. It is an excellent tool for congregational development, and could serve as a model for congregations to chronicle their history from a theological perspective. In addition, the book will be useful to those researching the history of the ordination of black Episcopalians and the birth of the black Episcopal congregation in the United States. It is a wonderful resource for those considering church construction. Finally, the author theologizes the building and provides a helpful manual for every worshiper whom the author (in reference to 1st Peter) describes as "living stones" built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, "The chief Corner Stone."

First Published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Transformative Pastoral Leadership in the Black Church offers practical wisdom from comparative analysis of the experiences of a male pastor and a female pastor in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Church leaders must be transformed themselves as they are transforming their churches to serve their communities. From his research of the perspectives of laity, clergy, and scholars of the black church, Jeffery L. Tribble offers hopeful stories and helpful strategies for those who believe that the black church must continue its historic mission of being an instrument of survival, elevation, and liberation for its people. Transformative Pastoral Leadership in the Black Church is an important contribution to studies of black religion, womanist thought, and social justice.

"Can a Sistah Get a Little Help? Encouragement for Black Women in Ministry" focuses on how Black women can faithfully continue to navigate the internal and external challenges of ministry. Drawing from experiences throughout her twenty-two years in ordained ministry and as a seminary professor, Teresa L. Fry Brown asserts she has learned that with a set of cultural coping mechanisms and values, African American women can not only survive but thrive as leaders and mentors in spite of the brick ceiling. These coping mechanisms and values include survival skills; network and support systems; a work ethic; mentors and sponsors; a sense of self-worth and self-confidence; spiritual values; a balance in life; a leadership style; and acultural identity. In preparation for the book, Brown spoke with approximately 200 ordained and 450 laywomen in ministry about the issues most relevant to them. Here, in the form of remembrances, vignettes, and discussions, and interwoven with common concerns raised by these women, she shares the lessons learned and to be learned during a journey to self-empowerment in ministry.

Craig D. Townsend tells the remarkable story of St. Philip's, the first African American Episcopal church in New York City, and its struggle for autonomy and independence.

Get to know the first five Black women to be elected diocesan bishops within the Episcopal Church. During this moment, with the #metoo movement, Black Lives Matter, and the increased feelings of division in our country, Black women clergy in the Episcopal Church have voiced a need to come together, believing that their experiences and concerns may be very different than those of other clergy. That need is answered here in This Band of Sisterhood. The five Black women bishops featured in this book can provide a compass for how to journey along these new paths. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Carlye J. Hughes, Kimberly Lucas, Shannon MacVean-Brown, and Phoebe A. Roaf offer honest, vulnerable wisdom from their own lives that speaks to this time in American life. Both women and men will find this book invaluable in discerning how God might be calling them to use their own leadership skills.

America’s first Black bishop and his struggle to rebuild the African American presence inside the Episcopal Church In 1918, the Right Reverend Edward T. Demby took up the reins as Suffragan (assistant) Bishop for Colored Work in Arkansas and the Province of the Southwest, an area encompassing Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and New Mexico. Set within the context of a series of experiments in black leadership conducted by the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas in the early decades of the twentieth century, Demby's tenure in a segregated ministry illuminates the larger American experience of segregation disguised as a social good. Intent on demonstrating the industry and self-reliance of black Episcopalians to the church at large, Demby set about securing black priests for the diocese, baptizing and confirming communicants, and building schools and other institutions of community service. A gifted leader and a committed Episcopalian, Demby recognized that black service institutions, such as schools, hospitals, and orphanages, would be the means to draw African Americans back to the Episcopal Church, which they had abandoned in droves after emancipation as the church of their former masters. For more than twenty years, hamstrung by white apathy, lack of funds, jurisdictional ambiguity, and the Great Depression, Demby doggedly tried to establish the credibility of a ministry that was as ill-conceived as it was well intended. Michael J. Beary skillfully narrates the shifting alliances within the Episcopal Church and shows how race was but one aspect of a more elemental struggle for power. He demonstrates how Demby's steadiness of purpose and non-confrontational manner gathered allies on both sides of the color line and how, ultimately, his judgment and the weight of his experience carried the church past its segregationist experiment.