Journey toward Wholeness

M. Cardwell Brenda, Fox Sr. William K.

Description

With roots stretching to before the Civil War, the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) today serves as the connection between African Americans and the Stone-Campbell Movement. Founders of the African American Convention movement were visionaries, coordinating the opposition to slavery, forced relocation of free African Americans to Africa, and a multitude of social ills. Following emancipation, organizations that later became the National Convocation worked to improve the lives of freed slaves and their descendants. Journey toward Wholeness: A History of Black Disciples of Christ in the Mission of the Christian Church, chronicles the predecessors of the National Convocation and the movement's roots and growth through almost three centuries.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian Church
• History of religions

Informations

• Publié par: Christian Board of Publication
• Date de parution: 09 août 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780827217416
• Langue: English

Extrait

This series is sponsored and published by the Board of Trustees of the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 1989
Copyright 1990 by National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). For permission to reproduce any content, please contact National Convocation ( NationalConvocation.org ).
CBPBooks.com
Print: 9780827217409
Printed in the USA.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
From Convention to Convocation: No Longer Objects of Mission But Partners In the Work (1700-1988)
Prologue
1. Background for Disciples of Christ Mission Among African-Americans
2. Background on the Call to Organize the National Convention
3. Launching the Ship (1900-1917)
4. Refining Objectives (1917-1920)
5. Implementing the Vision (1920-1930)
6. The Convention Develops a Social Conscience (1930 - 1950)
7. Movement Toward Partnership Phase I The Convention Employs Staff and Provides Services (1935-1959)
8. Phase II: Building Toward Merger of NCMC Program and Services (1952-1960)
9. Phase III: The Merger of Program and Servicess (1955-1962)
10. Phase IV: New Directions for New Times (1960-1964)
11. Phase V: Confronting Merger Realities and the Contemporary Secular Scene (1963-1966)
12. Phase VI: Led by the Spirit (1965-1969)
13. Working in the Whole Church and the Whole World: The Partnership Begins (1970-1975)
14. Working on the Adopted Agenda or the Convocation s Role in Enabling the Realization of Black Church Priorities (June 1972-Present)
15. Partnership in the Mission to This Ministry
16. Partnership in Mission to Congregations
17. Partnership in the Mission for Justice and Equality
18. And The Beat Goes On
Notes
Appendices
Assemblies and Leadership
Organization and Functional Relations Development Chart
Star Supporter Graduates
Index
PROLOGUE
by William K. Fox, Sr.
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us by those who from the beginning were eye witnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you... that you may know the truth concerning the things which you have been informed
-Luke 1:1-4. (RSV)
From the mid-1940 s through the 1960 s, leadership of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) endeavored to lead the body politic from a racial separatist position toward racial integration-meaning mainly African-Anglo integration. Within the late 1960 s and early 1970 s a more ultimate goal was added called wholeness in the Church.
The concept of wholeness supersedes that of racial integration. It gives recognition of the pluralistic nature of human society. Biblical foundation is found in the image of the Christian community cited in the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of Paul.
Thus today the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has come to view African and Anglo-Americans as two of several racial and/or ethnic groups which constitute the totality of the Christian community-the whole Church.
However, whether one advocates the racial integration stance, the ultimate goal of wholeness, or a combination of the two, one must understand that two distinctive racial and/or ethnic dimensions do exist. Each dimension has a history and development, which should be understood, appreciated, and allowed to intermingle with the other. The result will be a whole Church, which manifests the Holy Spirit and the servanthood of Jesus the Christ.
In 1986 the Board of Trustees of the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) responded to a challenge from Administrative Secretary John Foulkes and President Alvin O. Jackson, to sponsor a massive historical research project dealing with the life and service of African-American Disciples of Christ. The proposal called for the engagement of several persons to systematically assemble and develop a series of volumes on the subject.
I was asked to be the editor and initiate the series. The intention is to take into account every good work already completed, as well as the utilization of other research documents, knowledge and experiences which were available. The series is being published under the broad leading of JOURNEY TOWARD WHOLENESS. It should present a comprehensive picture.
From Convention to Convocation: No Longer Objects of Mission But Partners In the Work (1700-1988), is the first volume of the series. It is a general history of the National Christian Missionary Convention/National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Brenda Cardwell s Master of Divinity thesis in 1981 at Lexington Theological Seminary, Lexington, Kentucky entitled, Three Concerns of Black Disciples From 1917 TO 1969, has provided a basis for several aspects of this historical treatment. 1 Cardwell s thesis deals with (1) the Concern for Education, (2) Concern with Struggle and Alienation and (3) Concern for the Restructure of the National Christian Missionary Convention.
References from the thesis have been used which relate to some of the actions and work of the National Christian Missionary Convention/National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I have collaborated with her in the rewriting of some of these aspects and in the expansion of the original thesis design.
Beside the utilization of formalized sources of documentation, information has come from interviews of contemporary actors in the church, unpublished papers, correspondence files and related materials.
Special reference is made to James Blair s 1958 Bachelor of Divinity thesis entitled, The National Convention Facing Integration. 2 This document became a principal reference when we dealt with the early years of the National Christian Missionary Convention. It was one of the first attempts by an African-American Disciples of Christ scholar to write a serious history of the National Christian Missionary Convention.
In addition, I have drawn upon my own files and extensive experience as one of the principal actors in the life and work of the Convention/Convocation from 1960 through 1982.
At this point in history we celebrate the fact that several among us-both African-American and Anglo-American- are taking the study and recording of the faith journey of Black Disciples of Christ seriously.
CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND FOR DISCIPLES OF CHRIST MISSION AMONG AFRICAN-AMERICANS
Thanksgiving season is a time when our past acts of the year stab our conscience. Like a stinging arrow it gives sudden insight into some tangled area of our living. The American white man has found it is much easier to be prosperous than it is to be civilized...
It would be better if all whites could suddenly turn black and blacks white. Then one group would find out what it means to be in the others place...
Two hundred and forty-five years of labor of the black man without a pay day is not too long for him to give thanks that he is in a country such as we had in 1865. It was the prayers of our forefathers and the few white Christians which gave us our freedom...
-Merle R. Eppse, Black Disciples of Christ historian and editor of The Christian Plea , editorial, Fall, 1940 .
The National Christian Missionary Convention did not soar out of the plains of church history full blown. Its roots lie deep in the socio-religious milieu of the critically oppressive and dark eighteenth century United States slave culture as well as of the beginnings of the industrial society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Its sprouts spring from the swirling currents of social change which rippled from the historic struggle of the War Between the States. Hard against this backdrop were biblical references like the following which were among the watchwords of every devout Disciple of Christ: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:27-28).
But African-American Disciples of Christ-like all other Black members in the Christian faith- whether Protestant or Roman Catholic-were born out of struggle and alienation. Their forefathers and mothers were brought against their will to the shores of the New World in North America. They were stripped of their native clothes, language, customs, folkways and religion. And as mortals considered less than human, they were considered material possessions to be battered and bartered, used and enslaved, sold for profit to the highest bidder.
Little wonder that when the Church of that day looked over the world for a fertile mission field, they saw the enslaved Black person in the United States not so much as a child of God to be, but too often as an object of mission to be secured like cattle in order to raise the material value of the Christian estate. A complete understanding of the rationale for the organization of the Christian Missionary Convention and the function of the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) requires an appreciation of this slave culture and the prevailing concept of mission effort among African-Americans at the dawn of the twentieth century.
BORN OUT OF ALIENATION AND STRUGGLE
James Blair is most correct when he reminds us that there was a direct relationship between slavery and the Restoration Movement. 1 Benchmarks in the history of the Disciples of Christ in the United States scene are (1) the Cane Ridge Revival of 1801; (2) the Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery at Cane Ridge, which was signed by leaders in June 1804, and (3) the organization of the Christian Association of Washington in August 1809. Each of these signal events in the formation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) occurred during the period of United States slavery.
Records of this dark epoch in United States