A snapshot of
the state of the Church in Richmond*
The following report was compiled from discussions held between March and April of 2001 by a divers group of Christians from the Richmond metropolitan area, both African-American and White. It is submitted to the greater Church at Richmond for its use in shaping direction and vision for the transformation of the city. Our motivation for entering into this process is a firm belief that Richmond has a God-ordained destiny because of its historic and spiritual roots.
This document covers seven basic elements of community transformation. All subjective comments are to be considered the collective opinion of the assessment team and not a final declaration of the consensus of the entire Body of Christ. The team recognizes that other ethnic groups must be invited to participate in the unfolding city reaching effort for it to be truly the move of the whole church.
The number of congregations in the Richmond metro area is estimated at 1000, with about 3000 pastors (defined as a person ordained by their denomination or fellowship), plus or minus several hundred.
Regular prayer gatherings (outside of the local congregation) include:
The current rhythm of prayer in the city can be described as divided, sporadic, and irregular, but growing and becoming more relational. The long list above of intercessory ministries is composed of mostly very small groups. What is lacking is widespread congregational involvement in prayer, especially across racial lines, rather than just pastors. Such broad-based participation must be encouraged. Common Thread is working to network the various prayer groups and networks to bring coordination and focus to the city’s prayer efforts.
The level of
unity among pastors in and around Richmond is mixed. Groups of pastors have
been able to unite around particular issues such as feeding the homeless,
fighting off taxation of the clergy, marriage preservation, racial
reconciliation, prayer and evangelism. Long-term, broad-based unity based on
both relationship and Kingdom vision has not been seen in Richmond to date.
Emergencies are often responded to, but the root issues creating the chronic
problems are inadequately addressed.
The two major
divides in the Christian community exist between the Black and White
communities and between those more or less comfortable with “conversion”
language. Divisions also exist between evangelicals and charismatics, between
inner city and suburban congregations, between black Baptists and Pentecostals,
between big "successful" and independent churches in the suburbs and
smaller churches with a "city-wide" vision of mutual dependency, and
between north and south of the river. Communication across ethnic lines is sparse.
Bridging these divides, and some of the major theological thorns remaining in
the Church, including in particular between Catholic and Protestant, will prove
to be extremely difficult if not impossible without the direct intervention of
the Holy Spirit.
One
may also think of four streams into which a congregation may fall: sacramental,
social justice, evangelical, or charismatic/Pentecostal. Each has their unique
gifts and insights into the Kingdom, and each has their own (too often
unfavorable) view of the other. There is a need to embrace different gifts
within the one Church as blessings and not defects. We are laborers together
with God.
Most established denominations have meetings that become the "one thing" that pastors attend outside of their responsibilities to the congregation that they pastor. Often the denominational groups are not co-terminus with population segments and are divided in ways that include large areas of landmass that prevent it from focusing on "Richmond," (Episcopalians are divided by the North, and South of the James with vast areas included in each). Pastors often become insular and the "first call" is the required participation in their denominational judicatory meetings. "Second" for them are usually their regional gatherings. Many of the mainline denominations are on the defensive, trying to stay alive. Due to increased mobility in today’s culture, pastors often become very "congregation" focused without much time for broader concerns, unless they have a particular "issue" to which they are drawn. Many of the pastors’ conferences are hampered by "busyness" and not guided by common vision.
Some of the divides are along
geographic, denominational, and racial lines.
Recent
efforts for pastoral unity include:
To improve the situation there is a need to develop a pastoral or pastoral/lay team who would work together to provide some form of oversight to citywide efforts. Lay leadership is not excluded. In fact, greater lay involvement in ministry and reconciliation is essential to the process. Congregations also need to be intentionally and consistently brought together, particularly across racial lines.
Three kinds of
leadership collaborations and partnerships exist. First are the denominational
groups that meet regularly. These include:
·
The Baptist
General Convention (though not Richmond focused)
·
The Baptist
Ministers conference of Richmond and Vicinity
·
The
Richmond Baptist Association
·
Middle
District Baptist Association
·
Dover
Baptist Association
·
Richmond
Methodist Association
·
The
Episcopal Diocese (encompassing more than just Richmond)
·
Catholic
Clergy
·
Disciples
of Christ
·
Lutheran
Clergy
·
Assemblies
of God Clergy
Undoubtedly the most powerful
institutional network in town is the Black Baptists that are centered on the
School of Theology of Virginia Union University.
Interdenominational, regional pastoral
groups include:
·
The East
End Ministers Alliance
·
The
Southside Ministerial Alliance
·
The Jackson
Ward Ministers Alliance
·
The Ashland
Clergy Association
·
Richmond
Area Clergy (until 1995)
·
Richmond
Committee of Ecumenical Clergy
·
Powhatan
Clergy Association
·
Chuck
Crismier’s Pastor-to Pastor
·
Richmond
Area Youth Ministers Association (RAYMA)
·
Korean
Alliance
·
Chester
Clergy Meeting
·
Henrico
Ministerial Alliance
·
Tuckahoe
Ministers Association
·
Varina
ministers’ network
·
New Kent
fellowship of pastors
Richmond’s citywide ministries are:
Experts on the
spiritual history of Richmond include Rev. Ben Campbell,
Dr. Robert Taylor, Rev. B.S. Giles, Lavern Smith, Doug McMurry, Dr. Dombalis,
John Ferranti, Lynne Washington (Episcopal Diocese), Dr. Miles Jones, Dr.
James, Wilbur Talley, Alvin Drew, and Dr. Benjamin Roberson, and a team at
Faith Landmarks Ministries. Several books on the history of black
congregations including one by Lavern Smith called Moving On: A
history of First Baptist Church, Southside.
A second area
of concentration has been from Matthew and Sherrie Moore, who have led the
effort to provide a comprehensive map of Richmond’s spiritual history and
present day locations of darkness and light. Others identified as leaders in
this effort include Tama Press, Travis Thigpen, and Doug McMurry. According to
the vision of George Otis’ "Community Assessment Scale," as outlined
in his Informed Intercession, Richmond is at the stage of trying to
build "social reconciliation in the larger Body of Christ," and we
are doing "preliminary spiritual mapping about spiritual bondage in
Richmond" and attempting to identify spiritual strongholds. Elements of
“spiritual backlash” are emerging.
IV. Serving
Previous and current Christian-led citywide (broad-based) serving events
include:
No documented
results have been obtained from any of these efforts except the Convoy of Hope.
In this, 1,050 volunteers from 19 denominations and
104 churches served 4500 guests with 35,000 lbs. of groceries and over $10,000
in bakery products, free clothing, medical and dental services, over 8,000 hot
dogs and 12,000 cold drinks. 768 people made decisions for Christ.
Other
Richmond-focused Christian coalitions have included:
To the extent
that documented results exist for any of the above works, no data has been
compiled for determining strategic direction for the whole Church.
Politicians
from Governor George Allen (welfare reform), Attorney General Mark Early
(mentoring), and Rev. Gerald Glenn (prison aftercare) have encouraged churches
to get more involved in social problems, but the results have been sparse and
less than concerted.
Though not an
expressly Christian initiative, Hope in the Cities’ present racial dialogues
hold promise for opening up the Church to greater awareness of racial issues
that it must take the lead in addressing.
Dozens of
ministries, outreaches, economic empowerment initiatives, etc. could also be
listed, as could countless individuals in service to others, but this
assessment is limed to a broad understanding of the spiritual condition of the
Church as reflected in the level of cooperation that exists for whole Church
impact. Documentation of their overall impact must be assessed as part of the
research effort as this process unfolds.
V.
Leadership
On the whole, leadership is diffused throughout the city and unidentified. There are no widely recognized leaders (no “kings or kingmakers”).
VI. Envisioning
Several
secular groups are involved in citywide vision formation:
Steps taken
to cast a Christian citywide church vision include:
Other than the above, any vision that exists for the city is largely confined to groups of churches that are linked by denomination, geography, or cause.
There is a
need to get out more Transformations Videos and get people to read George Otis’
Informed Intercession and Jack Dennison’s City Reaching. All of
the ministerial alliances and groups are prime targets for vision casting. Capable vision-casters from those listed in
the "Leadership" section should be assigned to cast vision around the
city. We need to do awareness building. There should
be a stated vision, a list of recommended reading, and a training course with a
pilot group to precede dissemination.
What is
positive about the state of unity in Richmond is that all the groups with a
common citywide vision have come to know each other and have grown greatly in
their trust towards each other. These include Jesus Day, CMU, Common Ground,
and Common Thread. The team from the recent Francis McNutt conference and the
leaders of the recent Convoy of Hope are circles of relationships that should
also follow soon.
VII.
Learning
We need a
fresh assessment of the possibilities of linkage with city leaders. Also,
perhaps through Needles Eye and/or Richmond Hill, we need greater linkages with
the business community. Spiritual mapping must probe the areas of need in the
city: spiritual darkness, crime areas, centers of immorality, places of
idolatry and false worship, the hidden darkness in the suburbs, and that which
pervades the media, etc. In addition, historical awareness is certain to reveal
why the enemy has footholds in Richmond today through past sin we have never
repented of, and wounds never healed. This knowledge is being collected through
the spiritual mapping team.
There is an
acute need for each subculture to learn to both share and respect other
subcultures’ uniqueness, as is the corresponding need for each one to be
willing to let go of that part of their culture which is hindering
relationships.
We need greater
communication between each. There is a need for a website for citywide
information with links to ministries and events and congregations.
We
need to learn the gifts that each community brings. God has raised up
individuals from within and brought others into Richmond from all over the
world because our longstanding struggle with racism, that we might together
overcome this hurdle from our past. We need to look at annexation issues.
Richmond Hill is an excellent demonstration of unity among races: from the
beginning African-Americans were brought in on the ground floor. Their
integration from the beginning is a good model.
Our
knowledge and perspective is limited. The work ahead for the Church is
daunting, but not impossible, by the grace of God. We look forward, however, to
joining hands with others to envision a future characterized by the peace of
Christ ruling over this great city.
* The city of Richmond is defined for purposes of this assessment as Richmond, Henrico, Hanover, and Chesterfield and parts of Goochland, Powhatan, Charles City, and New Kent Counties. Future references to “Richmond” imply this definition of the metro area.