[US] Black churches lead the poverty battle

From Fort Wayne.com

BY WILLIAM MCKENZIE

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT) - The picture that got me was of the woman wading through hip-deep water, pushing an older woman in what looks like a shopping cart. Both black, of course. Most images coming out of New Orleans were of African-American families crying for help, either from a rooftop or, like these women, standing in who-knows-what-kind-of-infested water.

The only good thing you can say about these scenes is they have revived a national debate about race and poverty. The black church knows how to lead this discussion - its members deal with these issues every day. Plus, it is one of the few institutions that can go between left and right in divided America.

More than 500 African-American pastors and church leaders gathered in North Texas last week to own the challenge. Five of them sat down with me to talk about race and poverty in America and the black church's role in facing these issues.

What stood out is how deeply involved each pastor is in his community. Dallas. Kansas City, Mo. Minneapolis. Bridgeport, Conn. Cleveland. No matter their home, the pastors were collaborating with other churches in their towns.

"It's about getting out of the pulpit and talking with people," says the Rev. Rodney Maiden of Providence Baptist Church in Cleveland. The United Pastors Mission he's involved with takes on "the dysfunction" within the "social/political" part of Cleveland.

Here in Dallas, Dr. Tony Evans has been at this work for more than two decades. He's pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, and he's also head of Project Turn Around. Its mission is simple: rebuild communities from the inside out.

Consider Project Turn Around's Adopt-a-School program. The goal, Evans said, is to get every urban church to adopt a school.

So far, he's enjoyed success. In Texas, the Duncanville school district turned over its entire mentoring program to Project Turn Around. Struggling students get hooked up with adults who work with them on everything from academics to relationships.

The Rev. Stan Archie agrees that the black church needs to play a pivotal role, especially after Hurricane Katrina. "Katrina washed poverty to the surface," said the president of Kansas City's Christian Fellowship Ministries. "We don't want other cities to look like New Orleans, where poverty was sanctioned."

That's it, isn't it? Whether or not we can agree about race, we should be able to agree there was a wink and nod toward poverty in New Orleans. It goes on in other cities, too. As Archie put it, Katrina only helped us see it.

These ministers, God love them, are placing their churches at the forefront of the discussion. David Myles of Brooklyn Park Evangelical Free Church outside Minneapolis put it this way: "The urban church needs to move to a place of excellence, not mediocrity."

The Rev. Robert Turner has tried this through linking up his Bridgeport Bible Fellowship with suburban churches around Connecticut. "Walk the streets with us," he tells them. The strategy must be working because nearly $500,000 has been raised through partnerships with his and other urban churches to work on programs like Project Turn Around.

The black pew has this kind of reach because its members can talk with authority to liberals and conservatives. Liberals share their concern about poverty, and conservatives identify with them on family issues.

Evans believes the black church can speak to both sides when it stays true to its religious roots. "You can't argue against this approach biblically," he says.

Agreed. And these pastors, plus many others in the black church, are offering a fresh voice.

They aren't like Al Sharpton, who jets from crisis to crisis in search of headlines. They grind it out at home. And their answers are a mixture of religious inspiration, person-to-person compassion and urban/suburban partnerships. "We want to link churches together across the lines of race and poverty," says Evans.

They also want to hold the government accountable. And they aren't afraid to do so. Evans emphasizes their loyalty isn't to Republicans or Democrats.

These are our first responders, the people who need to lead us forward now that Katrina has shoved race and poverty back in our faces.