Progressive Missionary Baptist Church Executive Summary

I chose to do my religious ethnographic study at my home church, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Youngstown, Ohio on Sunday, May 8, 2016. Tabernacle is an 112-year-old historic Black Baptist church located on the lower Northside of Youngstown surrounded by a mixed income housing development, homeless shelter, Youngstown State University, and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. I would say the average age of a Tabernacle member is 55 years old. About 70% of the members at this church are “middle-class” families. Until about five years ago, its membership was almost exclusively middle class. There has seen an influx of membership in working class individuals and students since the arrival of Tabernacle’s young, vibrant pastor, Rev. Christopher McKee, Jr., three years ago. The church is attentive to the needs of this demographic but remains true to its historic Black Baptist church roots. The church previously struggled with this conundrum until it came to the reality that an exclusivist mindset around worship is detrimental to the body of Christ when it did not have a pastor for over three years. The church was dying because no one was welcome to it and it did not have a leader. Though it was difficult, this reassessment was beneficial in making Tabernacle more relevant and welcoming to the community it is blessed to serve.

In my experience at first progressive Baptist Church I was very much out of my comfort zone because not only did I not feel as welcomed but it was a little awkward because of all the looks I was receiving. I felt I was not dressed as they were and felt as if I didn't fit in and right away I just didn't feel appropriate with my attire. While I was there I actually had people wanting to shake hands and asking me questions about me coming and there was one man who just stared at me and so it was uncomfortable and didn't know how to react. While I was there I started to notice that there is a little difference from the church I go to and the music was way different as well, everyone will talk back with amen or thank you Jesus. The difference

From the Project Director’s experience, it is common to hear and feel a sense of gratitude and positive pride that Lenexa Baptist Church (LBC) is an excellent church from both leaders and the small group setting participants. Any faults found are minor and pale in comparison to many of the issues a church could face. LBC is a regional church with multiple campus locations strategically selected for maximum impact to reach Kansas City with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The First African American Baptist Church was originated in 1773 under the leadership of Reverend George Leile. In 1775 of May he was ordained as the pastor and December of 1777 the church was officially consulted as the body of believers. During the decades of slavery in America, slave association were a constant source of concern to slave owners. Religious exercises of slaves were closely watched to detect plans for escape or insurrection. African-American churches showed an air of militancy in the eyes of white Americans. Insurrections such as Nat Turner's in Virginia, born out of the religious inspiration of slaves, horrified white Americans. Understanding the potential end which could result

Wayland Baptist isn’t a big university as in matter of fact the main campus is in Plainview. It has a community of 25,000 on the high plains of west Texas between Lubbock and Amarillo.

On Sunday, September 24, I visited Champion Forest Baptist Church to observe one of their classes. This class consisted of 3 to 4 year olds. Their overall goal for the program was to honor parents and respect others according to the bible in which they follow. They want children to learn manners and since they are within the church, they use the bible as a reference. I was told that the children learn best by having short lessons and interactive activities. By the end of the year, they would like for the children to apply what they have learned all together into their daily lives, for example, praying and manners. As for discipline, they have a verbal warning first. If the actions continue, they take them away from activities. Lastly, they call the parents.

Church, temple, sanctuary, or the Lords’s house, these are just a few names that your average person might call the place you come to worship God, I have always called it home. The Church I have been attending, Memorial Baptist Church, which is also where I attend high school, I have been attending since I was the age of three years old. Moving to the area that my family lives in now, I do not believe is any accident. At the age of two years old, my father was stationed in Tennessee for the military. After passing away from brain cancer, my Mother moved my two older sisters and me to Killeen Texas, to be closer to her family. Memorial Baptist Church was the only church we have ever been members of since moving to Texas, it has always felt like

The Making of the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message. A. J. Smith Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008.

These are the issue that the modern African American pastor must address currently. His/Her preaching must speak true, authentic words for the oppressed, the down-trodden, the deprived, the captives, the poor, the rich, the illiterate, as well as to the intellect. Presently, the hostile moment of worldliness is a belief that life is to be realized at any cost to self. Thus, here lies the Christian paradox: through the Gospel we have to see Jesus as a truth relevant to humanity’s need to rise higher. The Gospel is to be preached to all. It is a Gospel to save the humanity of African American people but the gospel is beneficial for all. Therefore, the African American preacher’s message must have within its content something more than that which causes the people to enter in a foot-patting, hand-clapping, highly emotional, ecstatic worldly experience, but also a content which serves to balance the life of God’s people on earth.

I am the minority of the usual church; typically I am one of four white people who attend the 8am service. I first went with a friend’s family after she had pass away. I was never nervous about going to a predominantly African American church. Everyone welcomed me. The family I went with had me stand up when they called for new people to the church. It then took me 30 extra minutes to get out of the church because everyone gave me a hug. Going into part two of this project I was actually very nervous about going to the Korean church. I think being by myself had a lot to do with it along with not know the language. I was very nervous about not understanding anything that was going on. Additionally I was worried they would not want me there.

I attend Gospel Light Freewill Independent Baptist Church in Thomasville, NC. It’s a relatively small church, with about 50-70 people on a Sunday morning. My grandmother, my aunt, and my uncle attend this church as well. I consider myself to be a child of God and a true “born again” Christian. Being “born again” means that one has accepted God into their heart and has been changed on the inside. I accepted him into my heart on October 9th, 2012. Growing up strictly in an independent Baptist church, I didn’t know that other churches were different, at least not until I visited my boyfriend’s church which is Southern Baptist. My pastor preaches heavily on hell-fire and brimstone. He walks up and down the altar, yelling and jumping. There are

Religion professor Stephen Prothero says Baptists "were seen as a significant threat" in colonial Virginia. To support his statement, the Anglicans and their elites were deeply rooted in their traditional religion beliefs. Baptists’ new way of thinking about religion was, it is about “the heart”, and it threatened the Anglicans’ way of religious views, it is all about “the head”. Anglicans religious intolerance with the Baptists is what lead to the great shift to religious freedom.

The Holy Bible authorities people to be evangelists for Jesus Christ, and they will impart their beliefs on others, therefore knowing the doctrine of Jesus Christ is important.

Going to a church that is not of your current denomination or faith is an uncommon thing to do. We are accustomed to staying within the group of people that have common beliefs, especially in regards to religion. Therefore, attending a different church can be uncomfortable for some. Personally, I had the irrational fear of being rejected by church goers of a Southern Baptist church for worshiping the same God in a different manner. Despite my initial concern of being left out or unacknowledged at the sermon, Panther Creek Baptist Church was humble, welcoming, and open to talk about the regular attendants.

I never thought to be a Christian leader. As a matter of fact, I am a person who did not know about God for 26 years. I was the center of my life, and there was no room for God to enter. Even when I was attending church service, I was trying not to be exposed to other church people. In other words, I was the kind of person who was afraid to walk into a life of faith. However, in the past three years, God has changed me in many ways, and showed me so many miraculous things. And, finally here I am. Being a Christian leader seems the most challenging job in the world. I am working as the chairman of a youth ministry, and walking on the path to be a church leader. When God called me to work for the