WHAT IS THE BLACK CHURCH? QUESTIONS GALORE, PT. II

We now move to the second part of this series on the Black Church and draw attention to the major characteristics of the Black Church. What are some of the major characteristics of the Black Church? I submit that these may be determined mainly by its pastoral preaching and teaching.

Is the focus of the Black Church on the eternal and invisible? Is the message from its pulpit anchored in God's eternal purposes which He is unfolding inexorably in our communities and the rest of the world, according to His most perfect, wise and eternal counsel? Do pastors constantly remind their members by precept and practice that their lives are to be shaped by the absolute, transcendent truth of God's Word? Do they exhort them to live in light of the reality that this world and all of its schemes are passing away, are but a vapor?

Related to this issue is this concern: does the Black Church reflect the eternal principles of the kingdom of heaven on earth? That is to say, does it hammer home such counter-cultural principles as taking up our cross daily and following Jesus as a normal requirement for kingdom membership? Does it emphasize self-abnegation, even to the point of losing one's life in order to find it, for the sake of Jesus? Are its ministries concerned with only or mostly temporal matters?

Is the Black Church producing kingdom disciples armed with a theistic worldview and a clear understanding of their responsibilities as citizens of two kingdoms?

Is it equipping its members with an "epistemological self-consciousness" that is rooted in the Scripture, the verbum Dei, the word of God, so that they fully understand that they know only because God has spoken?

Is Scripture the God-breathed, inerrant, infallible eternal Word of God, the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct? Or is it on par, if only in some cases, with other literature?

Are its members actively worshiping and serving God in ways that hasten the day of Christ's return?

Is the Black Church God-honoring, Christ-centered and Spirit-empowered in all aspects of its ministry? That is to say, is the Triune God the focus of all that it does? For example, is God both the Subject as well as the Object in its worship? Are all things properly ordered to grant Him the honor and glory that are due Him only? Is the commitment to glorify God only conspicuous and pervasive in the Black Church?

What is the dominant theology of the Black Church? Or, what are the dominant theologies of the Black Church? Is biblical religion the driving and dominant element in its teaching or is it a sidelined reference occasionally consulted for its exemplary merits?

Is Christ crucified placarded as man's only hope of salvation from sin and from the eternal wrath of a holy God Who must punish evil? If this is so, then, is this truth the warp and woof of the ministry of the Black Church?

Is the scandal of the particularity of Christ and His work a stumbling-block to the Black Church or is it gladly embraced as the ultimate demonstration of the wisdom, love and power of God?

Are the specific claims of the Christian faith faithfully propounded as God's unique standards for all His elect?

Is the Triune God revered as the only God, infinite, unmatchable, supreme, most excellent in the absolute superlatives of His attributes or is He subversively deconstructed to equality with a or any other god variously called "he", "the one", "the man upstairs," god (as in T.D. Jakes’ Sabellian theology) or with the popular god who desires and even guarantees material prosperity for his people?

Is the deity that is proclaimed from the Black pulpit one that can be manipulated into man's service by praise, prayer, tithes, obedience and other human works?

This is the second of three sets of questions on this pressing issue.