Pastor Jean Louis of Free Pentecostal Church of God and Pastor Bisi Asere of Apostolic Church LAWNA meet for the first time in person after participating in online meetings for half a year. Rosa Cabán with R9 Foto for The Emmanuel Gospel Center
Mutual learning is helping Black churches thrive
Black Church leaders reflect on God’s work in Boston.
By Hanno van der Bijl, Managing Editor, Applied Research & Consulting
“I see God bringing people together, having conversations that are important that we haven’t had. We’re being more open with one another and more transparent about ways that we can partner and collaborate.”
That sentiment expressed by Gina Benjamin was echoed by others reflecting on God’s work in Boston at a recent meeting for the Boston Black Church Vitality Project.
Benjamin, social services director of the community center at Mount of Olives Evangelical Baptist Church in Hyde Park, is part of the project’s Thriving Initiative, a cohort of 10 ethnically and denominationally diverse Black churches that are located in four predominantly Black neighborhoods in the city.
Members of these churches participating in the cohort said God is using the pandemic and other challenges not only to unify and strengthen the Church, but also to create opportunities for compassion and evangelism.
The cohort meets together for two hours every other month for fellowship, peer learning, skills-based workshops and group training, and discussions about opportunities for collaborative ministry. During a meeting earlier this year, two church leaders shared their strategies for serving the community and keeping their congregants safe from COVID during worship services.
Caring for the community
At the onset of the pandemic, Fania Alvarez, who heads up The Greater Boston Nazarene Compassion Center (GBNCC), said the leadership team decided they could not stop. But they knew they would have to do things differently.
The GBNCC runs a food pantry that distributes more than 7,000 pounds of food to families in need every week. When COVID hit, people started lining up hours earlier than usual with little social distancing.
The GBNCC decided to open up a couple of hours earlier to accommodate the crowd.
“It was really challenging, but God was in the midst of it,” Alvarez said.
Launched by the Haitian Church of the Nazarene — Friends of the Humble almost 30 years ago, the GBNCC serves low-income families and individuals who have limited access to services and resources in the community.
In addition to the food pantry, the ministry runs a safety-net program, assisting people with government programs such as SNAP and WIC. The GBNCC also provides English language literacy and workforce development classes.
Once the vaccines became available, the ministry served as a vaccination clinic. The shots were a godsend, but some people were hesitant, Alvarez said.
“We had to find strategies to work with them. We had to go out and convince and educate them on the vaccine,” she said. “It wasn’t an easy time, but we made it. We can say we made it.”
Churches that want to develop a social ministry of their own need a dedicated leader who is able to manage programs and secure resources from donors and charitable organizations.
“Pray to the Lord so you can find somebody that has the heart for it,” Alvarez said.
In a meeting earlier this year cohort participants were asked: “What do you see God doing in the city?” Here’s what they said.
Managing churcH through pandemic
In 2017, the Rev. Kenneth Sims at New Hope Baptist Church started bringing bank machines into the church services.
“Some of our real spiritual-deep folk thought that I lost my mind bringing a machine to receive tithes and offerings,” Rev. Sims said. “But that was the biggest aspect of our giving.”
He also felt compelled Sunday after Sunday to tell his congregants to get a smartphone.
“It didn’t really seem spiritual at the time,” he said. “The church eventually caught on. Every Sunday — especially the seniors — would flash their smartphones and say, ‘Reverend Sims, I have a smartphone. I don’t know how to use it but I have one.’”
Then the pandemic hit. No collection plates were passed around to receive contributions. All in-person services stopped.
“I just thank God … because we weren’t scrambling,” Rev. Sims said. “That taught me one thing: to really listen to the voice of God even when it’s in opposition to what many people are thinking. Listen to God because he knows the future.”
Rev. Sims met with nurses in the church to chart a way forward. An executive committee made up of four teams was formed to oversee the church’s response to COVID.
“We knew we were coming back to church,” he said. “We didn’t know when, so we started planning so that we’d be prepared.”
A security team oversees registration, traffic, and parking. A health-and-hygiene team handles pre-screening, including handwashing, mask-wearing, and seating. A social distancing and redesign team handles seat spacing and equipment. A cleaning and disinfecting team cleans the bathrooms after each use.
Rev. Sims said members of the congregation took ownership of the various teams and made a difference.
“It got the people involved, and it wasn’t all about me. I’ve been trying for the last few years to get away from that — to stay in my role, of course, overseeing — but not having to do it directly,” he said. “People have been empowered, and they have taken off. I don’t get in their way.”
After a five-month hiatus, the church resumed in-person worship services in August 2020. Rev. Sims said the church continues to practice the safety measures it put in place.
“Our main concern was that our people remained safe,” he said.
The executive team spent many hours meeting, praying, discussing, and researching their options to balance out the physical and spiritual needs of the congregation.
“I did not believe that New Hope could survive spiritually being away from the church gathering from March 2020 to now,” Rev. Sims said. “I could not see that.”
While some members have come down with the virus, Rev. Sims said it was not due to their worship services as far as they know.
“We have not had any kind of super-spreader situations going on at New Hope since we’ve returned,” he said. “That’s been a tremendous blessing for us.”
With even more tools at their disposal than they had at the beginning of the pandemic, Rev. Sims is confident the church can keep moving forward.
“I’m just of the impression that, yes, let’s do all that we can to be safe: let’s do everything that we can, and then we’re leaving the rest up to the Lord,” he said. “What I can’t control, what I can’t power over, I leave that to the Lord.”
TAKE ACTION
The Thriving Initiative is a three-year process rooted in learning, discerning, and doing ministry. Participating churches are examining their mission and values in light of shifting social and cultural landscapes in Boston.
By deploying tools such as interview guides, congregant surveys, and ministry inventories that BBCVP designed to support churches in understanding the needs and perspectives of congregant and community stakeholders, the cohort leads in a learning endeavor that seeks to model the work of reflection that is essential in order for the Church to remain relevant and vital.
Through online articles, reports on what is being learned, videos, and data visualization, the Boston Black Church Vitality Project project will share these stories of innovation, successful strategies, and effective use of leverage points that exemplify models of prophetic leadership, community care, spiritual formation, and the pursuit of justice.
The Thriving Initiative is generously funded by the Lilly Endowment with additional support from Boston Baptist Social Union and others. For more information, visit blackchurchvitality.com.
