The Black Church: A Gift for All

This paper provides a brief overview of the gifts of the Black church and contributes advice for white Christians who are serious about dialogue with their African-American faith partners. The continued invisibility of the Black church for white Christians undermines a credible Christian witness and ensures Christianity in America will be delinquent in matters of racial equity and social justice. The Black church emerges from a set of historical conditions that enable it to hear and respond to the presence of God in a way that produces unique gifts, especially in the form of prophetic tradition and speaking truth to injustice. The Christian religion would do well to stop viewing the Black church as a marginal part of its tradition, but rather as a co-creator of its faith