This is part of a series from The Washington Post exploring “The Future of the Black Church.”
The church has been the bedrock of African American communities for centuries, providing much-needed support in every sphere of life, including education, health, child care, upbringing, housing, jobs and civil rights. Our role in the community is quite unlike that of any other racial or ethnic group. It is our safe space, our country club, civic group, community center and, in more ways than one, our sanctuary.
It is a space where we gather to celebrate on Sunday even as we face the uncertainty of Monday. There, we can laugh, cry, dance, scream and be ourselves without feeling self-conscious or judged.
“The Negro church may be said to have antedated the Negro family on American soil,” wrote the early 20th-century scholar W.E.B. Du Bois. He added: “Its tribal functions are shown in its religious activity, its social authority and general guiding and coordinating work; its family functions are shown by the fact that the church is a center of social life and intercourse; acts as newspaper and intelligence bureau, is the center of amusements — indeed, (it) is the world in which the Negro moves and acts.”
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It is also a place where many of us learn myriad skills. The abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass, who as a young enslaved man burnished his language arts prowess by gathering dozens of enslaved men on Sundays for his Sabbath literacy skills classes in a Maryland forest, credited that experience with giving him his start as the greatest orator of the 19th century.
As pastors with more than 50 years’ experience between us, preaching and ministering to people in several of the nation’s largest cities, we maintain that the role of the church as an anchor of the Black community is just as important as ever, despite emerging data that shows fewer young people in our community are embracing the church.
Indeed, a February 2021 study by the Pew Research Center found that 28 percent of Black Generation Z adults (ages 18 to 23) and 33 percent of Black millennials (24 to 39) are religiously unaffiliated, compared with just 11 percent of baby boomers ages 57 to 75. To some extent, the data mirrors a wider societal shift. A 2019 Pew Research study found that nationwide the percentage of religiously unaffiliated was 26 percent, up from 17 percent from a decade earlier. But these numbers do not fully explain church attendance trends in our community.
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So what’s driving them? For one thing, this generation grew up differently. Many of them grew up not going to Sunday school or getting bused to church. For many, their primary exposure to the Gospel was not through prayer meetings or home Bible study but blogs or social media.
The key to engaging more young people in church is to start bringing them to church at an early age. Furthermore, some alliances church leaders have formed with politicians or political parties have alienated many young people. And many don’t find solace in churches or meaning in faith the same way their parents and grandparents did.
Quite a few struggle with knowing how to navigate faith in the real world. Their grandparents’ generation provided the foot soldiers for the civil rights movement, so their faith was rooted in authentic action. Many young people now live in the residue of their grandparents’ faith, not its reality.
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As pastors, we strive for this marriage of faith and action. Sarah’s church in Los Angeles attempts to exemplify this blend of faith and action. It is so uncommon and enticing that people wait in long lines to be admitted to services. People are encouraged to come as they are. No fancy Sunday suits are needed. The worship experience is raw and organic, in line with the 1st-century church. The messages are practical and biblical, but the method has been refined to teach congregants how to more effectively combine life and faith. While our members have an opportunity to be met where they are, we try to create an environment where they can have an encounter with the Holy Spirit.
Share this articleShareSarah’s church in Los Angeles reaches people each month through local outreach, including through a program known as “Called Leaders,” a leadership development movement designed to educate the next generation in several areas, including faith, business and entertainment.
In both Los Angeles and Dallas, we strive to be more than just a collection of members or campuses; we are a big family. In Dallas, during the pandemic, we implemented a mechanism for checking on our older members and, where necessary, getting their food needs met. Our vaunted Boys 2 MEND program teaches adolescent and teenage boys strong character, sound judgment and steers them toward academic excellence.
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It’s true that it is the nature of religion to be traditional. But we have been able to pivot as this generation pivots. As the world changes, our methods will change but the message will stay the same. But one thing that won’t stay the same is the purpose of the Black church, which has evolved for centuries and continues to evolve as our community’s needs change.
When our family first came to Dallas, we worked aggressively to minister to the homeless by providing them clothing, hosting job fairs and offering strategies for upward mobility. Over the past quarter of a century, we have made it our mission to better the lives of people by helping them with their employment needs, teaching life skills and offering wraparound services that help them get and keep jobs.
In recent weeks, we launched a program designed to improve outcomes for those in need of living-wage jobs and sustainable career paths. The program connects people in underserved communities with skills, including job training, resources and services to help them attain meaningful employment. And we have introduced young people to STEAM programs, offering them a window into careers some of them never knew existed.
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Although we closed our doors during the pandemic, we reinvented our online presence by dramatically stepping up our efforts to reach people virtually. As a result, our online membership rose by 50 percent and online viewership nearly quadrupled. The biggest challenge for the church in the 21st century is a willingness to be nimble, adaptable and multidimensional. Getting younger people to come to us is also about going to them.
This ability to see around the corner, to pivot, to adapt to a new age while also staying true to the Gospel’s commandments, will keep the church relevant for ages to come.
Bishop T.D. Jakes is a best-selling author, filmmaker and senior pastor of the Potter’s House Dallas. Sarah Jakes Roberts, his daughter, is a best-selling author, business executive and co-pastor of the Potter’s House at One L.A. and the Potter’s House Denver.
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