A Prominent Pastor Responds to 'No Place For Me'
Asks: “What happened to the NAACP, the Urban League, The National Council of Negro Women? Must we as Black Pastors do it all?”
This is Part Two in a three-part series titled, “Letters to The Church.” It is a letter from an unnamed prominent pastor written to Fountain in response to his essay. Part Three is Fountain’s reply years later, his current reflections and an update now nearly 18 years since writing his original essay and penning his book, “No Place For Me: Letters to The Church in America”
By John W. Fountain
“I AM A PROMINENT MINISTER who reads your letter and feels your pain. I shared it with many other Pastors in the hopes that we can hear the soul of it and avoid its disenfranchised duplication. We needed to hear from you. First, I am so glad that not only does your sharp rebuke of the church come through loud and clear but also your wincing pain and love. Thanks for both the blistering critique and the glaring opulent love that provoked it. I am sorry for the pain that you have experienced. I truly am. I know what it is like to be hurt.
Though much of what you have shared does not surprise me at all, it is a perspective that we need to hear. But that perspective is just one side of the elephant that needs to be seen from both sides. I wanted to write to share the side you might not see. I am not debating the rightness of what you have said. I just want you to walk around the posterior of the huge elephant you discussed and see his other side.
I am also a Black man in America who also searches for relevance, though I Pastor and lead one of the most influential congregations in the nation today. My search isn't just the search in church and its blatant "bling bling" approach (though many would include me in that category of a “bling blinger”). I wanted to tell you about the weighted back bent from the heavy lifting of broken people, bent from years of being expected to fill in the deficit, which has us suffering from poor leadership from other areas. Our Pastors have had to fill in for no Black leadership, insensitive presidents, a community who expects its Pastors to maintain the social focus that it did in the ‘60s when there were no elected officials, even though we have thousands of them today.
“I was tired and overworked, exposed to countless people who wanted something from me more than I had to give. I had loaned out money that I needed and was never repaid. I had been hit on by the women, ignored by the brothers who say they wanted to help but who more times than not took the position but not the work that went with it.”
Sadly, 69 percent of our community still see its preachers as its leadership—not spiritual leadership. We are called to be spiritual leaders but required to be everything else. We are lost in a fog of too many demands, unfair job descriptions, endless hours, countless funerals, graveside services, ripped off by builders, forsaken by wives, hated by media, afraid of our own peers and too much more to name in this brief note. It expects us to be its civil rights, social service, psychologist, community builders, event planners, land developers, etc., etc., etc.
Frankly, many Pastors have collapsed and are equally disheartened as you seem to be, trying to be everything in a system that has few others leaders at all. Statistics say that 75 percent of Pastors of all races secretly want to quit, confess secret depressions, struggling marriages and endless demands weighting them down. These are the sons of the ‘60s, the baby boomers’ kids. They tried to grow with the times but have collapsed from the weight of having to be so skilled at so many different areas in order to be considered a great Pastor.
I live in a city that boasts one of the highest crime rates in the nation. No one in the huge white population would think of blaming the white clergy for the lack of responsiveness to that issue. They would bombard the mayor, the police department, the school systems, the poor amount of money given to train and add more competent police officers... They look to the Pastors for spiritual things but not everything. But the Black community brings every issue to the feet of its Pastors. No other culture, from Jews to Anglos, expect so much from one institution. What happened to the NAACP, the Urban League, National Council of Negro Women? Must we as Black Pastors do it all?
The black Pastor who wasn't materialistic in the sixties, had no staff, so he cleaned the church, his family almost starved to death while the affluent congregation (often first generation of educated blacks) struggled to get ahead. His salary wasn't just modest, his children were malnourished, living off of Sunday dinners at the members’ houses. He didn't have adequate buildings, he had to raise money for choir robes to pew rally. He had a tiny office about the size of an office. And yes, his church and house were in the inner-city. But they were both ragged and under-equipped. I could stand all of that but that is not the only problem.
Has he lost his soul? Yes, some have. Some spent the money, trying to look big enough to win back the attention of the wandering congregant who thinks size is everything… Many of the average-range Pastors are just confused as to which fire to put out first: the one in the White house, the one in the church house, or the one at his house!
His congregation was the first one to start moving to the suburbs and he started following them out, even though both the upper middle class and the clergy have left the struggling single mother that you mentioned (who is often a result of the poorly overhauled welfare reform system) to stay behind. The Pastor is asked to stay with them, while his board moved out, his deacons moved up, and their financial support went to white Pastors with large congregations and nice buildings. The black flight replaced the white flight and the members watched TV and started moving into white congregations because the members are now embarrassed to go to the church with the wooden floors and the Martin Luther King fans. Now they want parking and children's church facilities. They want the kind of musician that has to be paid. They shop for a church like you would for a car.
The Pastor is often interviewed to see what he has to offer in comparison with the guy next door. “Rev” is forced to try to keep up because his congregation has spilt in two. His resourceful, talented, influential members are moving into congregations that look like plantations with white Pastors leading the largest black churches today.
Yes, he is far too building-conscious. Much like a guy in a locker room, he has been belittled by his small size. It seems that having a good heart does not compensate for having a small church. You see all guys know that somewhere beneath it all, size does seem to matter to people today and so much so that he tried to get his members back. Size of building, effective staffing, great children's ministries, community programs all matter. But all of those things cost money and he has started to slant his focus.
HAS HE LOST HIS SOUL? Yes, some have. Some spent the money, trying to look big enough to win back the attention of the wandering congregant who thinks size is everything. Others were just greedy self-promoting individuals who saw opportunity and took it. But not all successful clergy are greedy or imbalanced. They are often busy and tired overworked and weary. Many of the average-range Pastors are just confused as to which fire to put out first: the one in the White house, the one in the church house, or the one at his house! Not all of us are the pimp-like creatures you described. Even those of us who have a Rolex buy it to compensate for not having a LIFE!
He is struggling with paying off the mortgage, trying to find out what his role is, and who should set it. Is it the times he lives in, the color of his skin, the bible that seldom seems to be mentioned in such dialogues?
You know, the scriptures themselves ask us to be like Jesus, which is a bit intimidating. If that were not enough to be like him, represent him, teach about him and preach great every Sunday, less they leave you. There is much more.
Now he must be spiritually relevant, socially adept, a great administrator, and so much more. He doesn't want to admit to anyone that he lacks the skills to counsel countless weeping mothers, endless people seeking help with jobs, showing up at court to speak on behalf of how good the young person is who is now being carted off to jail. He is all the things you have said... I just want you to see that the man is weary and spent, imperfect and flawed and he has a story too.
I stopped shaking hands on Sunday morning because I had 40 minutes to get ready for the next service. I was tired and overworked, exposed to countless people who wanted something from me more than I had to give. I had loaned out money that I needed and was never repaid. I had been hit on by the women, ignored by the brothers who say they wanted to help but who more times than not took the position but not the work that went with it. I was tired of shaking hands who only wanted me to pay for the funeral, hire them to do work they used to do for free at their old church and find out ways they could get into my finances. I could go on and on. But I am nowhere near the writer that you are. I am just a preacher who wishes guys like you would come back and help this first generation of churches who now finally have their own buildings, do suffer from misplaced priorities but only because they are trying desperately to keep up with a changing definition of what a great church is.
Boy, we need you. We need your writing skills, your perspectives and your education. I know the things I have listed pale in importance to the plight in our community and the areas that you mentioned. I will admit your accusations have merit. I just wanted to mention a few of the many other issues on the other side of the proverbial elephant. I would write more but I have three services today and I am off to preach a funeral this Monday for the 20-something young man murdered in our community. I have too much to do, too little to do it with, and my children think I am too available to the church, not at home enough with them.
Too bad your Pastors didn't know what to do with you. Some would welcome you and others are scared of your ideas. Your ideas do threaten us but not just because you are gifted and talented and energetic and sometimes absolutely right. But because they represent one more need, one more demand that we have no emotional and sometimes financial resources left to respond to.
Sadly, the Pastor should recognize your validity, share their own issues (which most Pastors will not admit for fear of not looking like Superman) and see how they could work with you to accomplish the goals of the kingdom.
Now I have a list of things at least as big as your greatly written, extremely articulate critique of the church. But I will spare you them as I know you must get thousands of letters. I do so thank you for loving the church. I thank you for this article, which sounded a trumpet in my ears to try harder to be EVERYTHING at all times to everybody who really needs me. I shared it everywhere. It really helped, though I am not sure it is fair. I do think it was needed. I thank you intensely for saying it and I hope you find that right fit for a place where your skills and passion can be utilized. They might not tell you, but Black Pastors NEED you badly!
That's all, I am finished. Excuse the typos, I didn't want a secretary to fix it. I just wanted to talk to you, Black man to Black man. Preachers are Black men too and they are weary also... Let’s stay together. I need you.
Unnamed Pastor
P.S. My church is almost 50 percent men and I love them ALL!!!”
NEXT: John Fountain’s Response
Email: author@johnwfountain.com