Can we re-imagine a church whereby finances are not an issue, a ‘Church without Walls”? This, as I see it, would keep us in concert with the words of John Wesley, “The World is my Parish.” By all means, this will allow the church to be actively in pursuit of the gospel as recorded in Matthew 28:19-20. Can we re-imagine a church that will allow for individuals who are hurting to express their plight, their pain, their predicament, without judgment, condemnation, and reprisal?
Can you re-invision a church where there exists much “sharing of our financial resources” among the churches, “THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS?” Can you re-invision the “church in your house”? Perhaps one of the fundamental missteps in the African American religious community is the separation between religious in the home and religious in the corporate worship experiences. Religion ought not be a way to kill an hour or two on Sunday morning, it ought be a way of life. Can you re-invision a church that is intentional about equipping the home, so that the community itself will in turn be strengthened? Imagine a church where there is a move from “Praise” to “Practice.”
Can we see a church whereby there is an intentional “transformation” of our purpose by the sharing of our CHURCH BUILDING, SKILL SETS, and TECHNICAL SUPPORT? In African American history, the Church has been the forefront of stabilizing the community. As a matter of fact, in countless years past, the black church and the black schools often occupied the same facilities or shared the same properties. Teachers were like surrogate parents. They were authorized by the church and school to be in charge of the classroom. This says to me then that the role of the school is not to teach morality or discipline, for this is the role of the home. It is the school’s role to reinforce or to reemphasize what the home has taught.