The Black Megachurch: Theology, Gender, and the Politics of Public Engagement

3--THEOLOGICAL ORIENTATION AS MOTIVE TO BLACK MEGACHURCH PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

51 First AME Church exists to embody Christ both WITHIN THE WALLS and BEYOND THE WALLS by equipping all people regardless of race or origin— spiritually,economically,politically,and morally—making the Word become flesh through tools in education, health, housing, feeding, job procurement, business and incubator loans, venture capital, transportation, adoptions, mentoring and other ministries of outreach. —Mission statement of First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles Consider the above mission statement from First African Methodist Episcopal (FAME) Church. It particularly addresses the theological concern about the church’s role in the world. The church’s very existence is to “embody Christ.” What is interesting about this is that the church’s public engagement is how the church“embod[ies] Christ”or“make[s] the word become flesh.”Given their mission, it is no surprise that FAME Church has a very active social justice and community development agenda. They have a business resource center, entrepreneurial training, a free legal clinic, job placement, an equity fund to invest in small minority-owned businesses, and many more ministries pursuant to this mission. Chapter 3 THEOLOGICAL ORIENTATION AS MOTIVE TO BLACK MEGACHURCH PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT 52 THE BLACK MEGACHURCH While FAME is the prototypical“activist” church, one that participates in a good deal of public engagement activities, other black megachurches have much shorter and narrower lists of activities. This variance leads one to consider why some black megachurches engage extensively while others do so minimally . What motivates churches to engage in public life? This chapter explores the concept of “theological orientation” as a motive for public engagement and explains the guiding role that theological orientation plays in the public engagement activities of black megachurches. There are five theological orientations that emerge as dominant among black megachurches— neo-Pentecostalism, black theology, prophetic theology, nondenominationalism , and the prosperity gospel.While neo-Pentecostalism has no impact on the public engagement activities of black megachurches (active churches and relatively inactive churches exhibit neo-Pentecostalism), prophetic theology, black theology, nondenominationalism, and the prosperity gospel all drive the public engagement activities of black megachurches in one direction or another. Black theology and prophetic theology encourage public engagement. The prosperity gospel and nondenominationalism depress it. At the conclusion of this chapter I present a typology of black megachurch politico-theological orientations that vary along a set of four continua : (1) black theology versus color-blind theology, (2) social gospel versus prosperity gospel, (3) denominational versus nondenominational, and (4) communal versus privatistic.1 Ultimately this set of politico-theological dichotomies helps to explain how the theological orientations of black megachurches guide their public engagement activity. The theological orientation of a church is the set of basic underlying theological tenets of the church. Categories used to determine a particular church’s theological orientation include the way the church as an institution articulates (1) the identity of God, (2) the understanding of human beings as God’s creatures , (3) the understanding of right and wrong, (4) the meaning of the church in the world, and (5) the acknowledgment and meaning of passages in life such as birth, marriage, and death.2 The mission statement of FAME Church is interesting and instructive for this chapter about the influence of theological orientation on public engagement because it tells us about both the theological orientation of FAME Church and the ways in which the church’s activities are guided by their theological orientation. THEOLOGICAL ORIENTATION 53 Theological Orientation as Motive for Public Engagement A number of religion and politics scholars say that religious interests will be mobilized when there is the requisite combination of means, motive, and opportunity.3 The “opportunity” for religious political mobilization refers to what social movement theorists describe as the historical, political, and social environment that encourages political mobilization or at least alleviates some of the barriers to mobilization.4 Public engagement takes place within structures of incentives and disincentives that are extraneous to the churches themselves. In the case of contemporary black megachurches, the policy environment , characterized by an increased emphasis on church/state collaboration through faith-based initiatives and welfare reform legislation, contributes to the context, which provides incentives for certain types of public engagement like developing welfare to work programs.5 This policy environment might also provide disincentives for other types of public engagement like political protest. So even if given the same means and motives, the incentives and disincentives provided by the social and political context...